Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Diana Ross & the Supremes
Here's another track from the unreleased album by DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is one of the best tracks on the album and one of the most fun too! Some of the words have been changed to be relevant to the gender. Here is an example:

Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lass
Me father gave me nose a tweak and told me I was sassy.

Clocking in under two minutes, this track is a great cross between motown and showtunes and features a great horn section.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Diana Ross & the Supremes 1967

Labels: mary poppins, motown, showtunes, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, supremes, supremes sing disney classics

  ¶ 10:36 AM 3 Comments Links to this post

  Mary Poppins Medley - Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

Since this Wednesday is the forty-fourth anniversary of Mary Poppins, I thought it would be fun to declare this week Mary Poppins Week! All of this wee will feature songs from the classic movie!

To kick off the week, I'm sharing with you the Mary Poppins Medley that was recorded by the CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA, conducted by ERICH KUNZEL, with the Indiana University's Singing Hoosiers providing the vocal work, from the Grammy nominated album, A DISNEY SPECTACULAR from 1989.

The medley is well put together and includes a good variety of the different songs featured in the film. Here is what you will hear in this medley:

Chim Chim Cher-ee
Jolly Holiday
A Spoonful of Sugar
Let's Go Fly a Kite
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Step in Time

Mary Poppins Medley Erich Kunzel & the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra 1989

Labels: a disney spectacular, chim chim cher-ee, cincinnati pops orchestra, erich kunzel, jolly holiday, let's go fly a kite, mary poppins, spoonful of sugar, step in time, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 2:54 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Louis Prima & Gia Maione
To start off your week, I have have chosen a track off LET'S FLY WITH MARY POPPINS, an album that LOUIS PRIMA recorded in 1965. The album was made up of songs from Mary Poppins arranged in Prima's unique style.

Mary Poppins was released in 1965 and was a huge success, and Prima, whose career was starting to wain, recorded this album to capitalize on the popularity. Unfortunately, the album was not considered on of his best.

Sharing the album credit is Prima's fifth wife, GIA MAIONE, who married Prima in 1964 and stayed with Prima and the band until 1975.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Louis Prima & Gia Maione 1965

Labels: gia maione, let's fly with mary poppins, louis prima, mary poppins, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 2:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifraigilsitcexpialidocious - Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five
With beats that sound like they're straight outta the Powerpuff Girls, YASHUHARU KONISHI takes this classic Mary Poppins song and combines the electronic beats we heard on Monday and and jazz we heard yesterday and creates a wonderful cover song.

I can't stress enough how much I like the creativity that these guys bring to the table. The PIZZICATO FIVE was a group that Konishi formed in the late 80s. The group went through many different musical evolutions and eventually came to a style that sound quite similar to what you hear on this album. Pizzicato Five recorded over a dozen albums before breaking up in 2002. This album was released a year later by Konishi, probably as a way to get a couple more bucks out of the Pizzicato Five.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Yasuharu Konishi & Pizzicato Five 2003

Labels: electronic, mary poppins, pizzicato five, readymade digs disney, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, yasuharu konishi

  ¶ 7:29 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - Connie Francis
CONNIE FRANCIS was one of the most well recognized pop singers of the sixties. Her distinct voice and catchy tunes helped her sell millions of records over the decade she was active.

Here is a track from a lesser known Connie Francis album called CONNIE FRANCIS SINGS WITH THE KIDS NEXT DOOR. I don't know much about this album but it I do know that it was one of three albums that wasn't released on her regular record label, MGM Records. The album contains her versions of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and A Spoonful of Sugar, both from Mary Poppins which would have come out two years before this album was released. The inclusion of these two songs on the album was probably to help sell records as the music from Mary Poppins was very popular at the time.

CONNIE FRANCIS SINGS WITH THE KIDS NEXT DOOR is long since out of print. I don't think there are Amazon or iTunes links that I can give you (although you can prove me wrong!) but you can download a copy of the album at Dartman's World of Wonder.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Connie Francis 1966

Labels: connie francis, connie francis plays with the kids next door, mary poppins, oldies, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 8:21 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  SuperCali (BoiOB Version) - Orlando Brown
Let's all say happy birthday to ORLANDO BROWN who turns twenty today! To celebrate, I have chosen a track that Brown recorded for DISNEYMANIA 4 in 2006.

SuperCali (BoiOB Version) is actually a rap song that uses samples from Mary Poppins and segments of the word supercalifragilisticexpialadocious through out the song. Brown has new lyrics that have nothing to do with the original piece and raps them throughout.

Brown's career is in acting, not singing/rapping. He started when he was seven and got cast as 3J in Family Matters. But his most famous role is as Raven's best friend, Eddie Thomas, in That's So Raven. Brown is a Disney Channel kid and now appears in various Disney tv shows, tv movies and like all Disney Channel kids, he has been pushed into the music career to milk him for all he's worth. He has sung on a bunch of compilation soundtracks like THAT'S SO RAVEN SOUNDTRACKS and the DISNEYMANIA discs.

I have to comment on the lyrical content of this song. It doens't make any sense! The original made sense in a nonsense sort of way but I can't tell at all what Brown is talking about! Here's a sample (I have no idea where the punctuation is supposed to be):

Tick tock look at the wrist watch its time to go
Like fantasia amazinly time is gold
Walt Disney gave me the okay to roll
So I'ma speak up on this word till I cant no mo'
So califragili is be T-shirt wrist be
Face be getting busy for Walt Disney
Word to Mickey ya'll must of missed me
I ain't got time to play

Tell me if you can make heads or tails out of that. The second half of the verse actually does make sense but is sounds so contrived coming from a song that was produced by Disney Records:

You can find me on the young star spaceship miles away
Negativity away from me. It sounds weird but
Dear Mr. Walt Disney this is a letter
To let you know that because of you a lot of things are better
I went to Disney World, boy some imagination
You built a whole nation
And it's all in your name, nobody can get it twisted
Disney, sweet, safe and magnificent

Disney Records has put a rap song on most of their DISNEYMANIA albums. This one is the worst of them all.

SuperCali (BoiOB Version) Orlando Brown 2006

Labels: disneymania 4, mary poppins, orlando brown, rap, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, terrible

  ¶ 7:41 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Orange Blossom Special - The Polyjesters
We continue Country Music Week today with a non-Disney cover from the Polyjesters. I'm not in the habbit of posting non-Disney songs but you'll see why I'm posting this one once you hear it.

Orange Blossom Special is a fiddle tune named after the Orange Blossom Special passenger train that ran in New York City in the early to mid 20th century. Now, before I get many comments about how this track is actually bluegrass, let me explain:

While traditional bluegrass music has roots in jazz, blues and folk, there was a movement in the 70s that introduced electronic instruments into the all acoustic genre creating what people call progressive bluegrass, or newgrass. This style has become popular amongst modern country artists and many have recorded bluegrass albums. Today's post is an example of traditional bluegrass while tomorrow's post will be more progressive.

But let's talk about this track for a bit. Orange Blossom Special was written in 1938 by Ervin Rouse and Robert Russell "Chubby" Wise and popularized by the grandfather of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. Johnny Cash has a version of it too on the album of the same name.

The POLYJESTERS have taken this song and have stuck in a few other songs just for fun. You'll hear Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins), Be Our Guest (Beauty and the Beast), I've Got No Strings (Pinocchio), and Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins) as well as the theme to James Bond.

Check out this other post for more info on the Polyjesters.

Orange Blossom Special The Polyjesters 2001

Labels: be our guest, bluegrass, chim chim cher-ee, fiddlestix, i've got no strings, orange blossom special, polyjesters, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 5:03 PM 4 Comments Links to this post

  Silly Symphony - On the Record Cast
In 2004 Disney produced a Broadway musical that would feature over 70 over the songs from their ever impressive library. The musical was called Disney's On the Record and was about four young people who were brought together in a magical recording studio to record a compilation album. There's magic, there's romance, blah blah blah... but the most important part is that the soundtrack features two discs full of Disney cover songs!

Some of the songs don't stray far from the originals while others are quite different. Many are medleys, such as this one that I have posted today.

The main quartet on this soundtrack are Ashley Brown, Kaitlin Hopkins, Brian Sutherland, and Andrew Samonsky. Katlin Hopkins replaced Emily Skinner who was the original Diane for the live show.

This medley, dubbed the Silly Symphony, is made up of several Disney songs that feature nonsense lyrics. This medley is probably the best and most clever of all the songs in this musical!

It starts out with a verse from Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and features the choruses from Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious (Mary Poppins), Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (Pinocchio), Following the Leader (Peter Pan), Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Song of the South) and Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo (Cinderella). The best part of the song is when they start singing all of them AT THE SAME TIME! Brilliant!

Then, to top it off, they use The Dwarfs' Yodel Song (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) as a bridge! Perfect!

In the liner notes it says that Higitus Figitus (Sword in the Stone) is the first song in the medley, but I can't seem to hear any of it anywhere. If anyone can't help me out with this please leave a comment! UPDATE: Thanks to Jane Dark who let me know that the fanfare intro is the chorus to Higitus Figitus! It's so obvious to me now! I don't know how I missed that before!

Also thrown in there are tiny snippets from Chim Chim Cher-ee (Mary Poppins), Hakuna Matata (The Lion King), and the Mickey Mouse March (Mickey Mouse Club). Wow. They put that together very well. This is the best song in the show and a masterpiece of a cover song.

Silly Symphony On the Record Cast 2005

Labels: bibbidi bobbidi boo, dwarfs yodel song, following the leader, hi diddle dee dee, on the record, showtunes, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, zip a dee doo dah

  ¶ 4:32 PM 7 Comments Links to this post

  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - The Vandals
Punk music started as an underground music scene and to this day punk rules the indie market and bar scene. There are more punk bands in North America that any other style of music. The VANDALS started their career the same way in 1980. They played countless bars and clubs but stood out from the rest because they chose to sing about more humorous topics rather than being political like all the rest.

They jumped around to a few different labels and in 1995 ended up on Nitro Records, a record label owned by the Offspring's Dexter Holland. It was here that they reached the mainstream market with their album LIVE FAST, DIARRHEA which includes the Mary Poppins cover of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

This is not your standard punk cover. The Vandals don't just speed up the song and put it to a punk beat (which is what I find happens with most punk covers). They actually put some thought into crafting a good cover. They also take elements from two Bad Religion songs, We're Only Gonna Die and Fuck Armageddon... This Is Hell, and mash them up with this song.

This isn't the only Disney cover that the Vandals do. There is also a version of Heigh-Ho by them, but that will be for another day.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious The Vandals 1995

Labels: live fast diarrhea, mary poppins, punk, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, vandals

  ¶ 10:31 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Mary Poppins Medley - Jim Brickman
Mary Poppins has over a dozen songs featured in the film and another dozen that didn't make the cut. How was it so easy for the Sherman brothers to write for Mary Poppins? Was it the lyrical content? Is it that they knew exactly what the movie called for? Or are they just that good? Whatever the answer, the songs of Mary Poppins have become ingrained in our heads since childhood.

It also appears that Mary Poppins is the movie that I have the most cover song of. I have dozens of versions of the various tunes as well as a few full albums devoted to Mary Poppins cover songs!

The track I have chosen for today is a medley by contemporary pianist JIM BRICKMAN off his album THE DISNEY SONGBOOK. He has seamlessly weaved Chim Chim Cher-ee, Feed the Birds, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Let's Go Fly a Kite together to create a very beautiful song.

Mary Poppins Medley Jim Brickman 1995

Labels: adult contemporary, chim chim cher-ee, disney songbook, feed the birds, jim brickman, let's go fly a kite, mary poppins, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  ¶ 12:35 PM 1 Comments Links to this post