I was sad to wake up to the news that Robert Sherman passed away yesterday (Mar. 5). I love the Sherman Brothers music, partly as a Disney fan, partly as a lover of good music, and partly to the fact that Robert was my dad's name too. (Silly sentimentalism with the latter, but it's there just the same.)
Several are taking the opportunity to chide one of Walt Disney's favorite Sherman Brothers songs, "It's A Small World (After All)" because it sticks in the head. It's a round, created specifically to overlap from room to room; when Walt showed them the initial demo for the World's Fair, it had all the countries' theme songs overlapping. So blame Walt, not Robert and Richard. But since it's stuck in your head now, try humming Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
They did much more than just Disneyland rides and Mary Poppins. I actually know the Annette Funicello song Tall Paul that got them their real start. There's a fun song about photography called Makin' Memories. And Disney had nothing to do with the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Snoopy Come Home. On Broadway, they wrote a show for the two surviving Andrews Sisters, Patty and Maxene, called Over Here. And that show gave a Broadway start to several now-famous performers, including 1) the guy who sang Sebastian in the animated Little Mermaid and the live Lion King Musical Mufasa, and 2) John Travolta.
I recently got two coveted Sherman Brothers creations. One is a version of Tom Sawyer, the other is a version of Cinderella called The Slipper and the Rose. I'll be listening to these soon and redoing my Sherman Brothers tribute. RIP, Robert. Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide, you made the world seem like a friendlier place.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment