'Twas Brillig - Camarata Chorus & Orchestra



Here's a rare treat: A cover of the short chorus that the Cheshire Cat sings to himself in Alice in Wonderland. This chorus was originally written by Lewis Carroll for his book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, with music by Oliver Wallace. It is part of the much longer poem, Jabberwocky, which is made up of many nonsense words. Humpty Dumpty offers Alice an explanation of many of these words:

Brillig — Four o'clock in the afternoon: the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.

Slithy — Combination of "slimy" and "lithe."

Tove - A combination of a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew. They are very curious looking creatures which make their nests under sundials and eat only cheese.

Gyre — To go round and round like a gyroscope.

Gimble — To make holes as does a gimlet.

Wabe — The grass plot around a sundial. It is called a "wabe" because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it, and a long way beyond it on each side.

Mimsy — Combination of "miserable" and "flimsy"

Borogove — A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, "something like a live mop".

Mome — Possibly short for "from home," meaning that the raths had lost their way.

Rath — A sort of green pig.

In the preface of his book, Carroll notes that gyre and gimble are pronounced with a hard g, and that slithy is pronounced like two words: sly and thee. The Cheshire Cat gets everything right, but Tutti Camarata and his Chorus gets all of this wrong. It also sounds like they are singing borogroves instead of borogoves.

It's a fine cover and the added bridge, which is not part of the original poem, is a nice addition to what would be a very repetitive song. However, it does bug me that they didn't pronounce those words correctly.

This song can be found on the 1957 Disneyland LP record ALICE IN WONDERLAND: MUSIC FROM THE SCORE which features new arrangements of the music from the film by Tutti Camarata. The entire album is available exclusively through iTunes.

Labels: alice in wonderland, alice in wonderland lp, jazz, tutti camarata, twas brillig

  ¶ 2:25 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  I'm Wishing - Mary Martin
Off of HI-HO! MARY MARTIN SINGS AND SWINGS, this is I'm Wishing, a song not often covered from the soundtrack to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

I'm Wishing Mary Martin 1958

Labels: hi ho mary sings and swings, i'm wishing, mary martin, oldies, snow white and the seven dwarfs, tutti camarata

  ¶ 6:48 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  The Magic Song (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo) - Mary Martin
MARY MARTIN is an artist who has recorded many Disney songs and this is the first one to grace the pages of Covering the Mouse.

A star of Broadway, Mary Martin is most well known for her roles as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music, two characters that she had the pleasure of portraying for the first time for the original Broadway performances. She is also quite well known for her portrayal of Peter Pan for the Broadway show as well as her famous Peter Pan television special. Martin won a Tony Award for all three roles.

In 1958, Martin recorded HI HO! MARY SINGS AND SWINGS WALT DISNEY FAVORITES for Disneyland Records. The wonderful arrangements are by Tutti Camarata who produced hundreds of records for Disneyland records over his 19 year association with them. I love his arrangements and this album is full of his great work.

Included on the album is this cover of Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo which is a noteworthy cover because it is the first time the song is called The Magic Song. Here is an excerpt from the liner notes:

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo from Walt Disney's Cinderella got a new title for this album - The Magic Song and Tutti Camarata's arrangement, like many in this album, is full of surprises from the low-down New Orleans-style verse in the beginning to the gentle slip into samba half way through to the Bibbidi-Bop-iddi burst of brass at the end.

The Magic Song (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo) Mary Martin 1958

Labels: bibbidi bobbidi boo, cinderella, hi ho mary sings and swings, jazz, mary martin, tutti camarata

  ¶ 8:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post