Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Wow, watching that video shows me the Tragic Kingdom was once Magic. Darn it.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Bolna, Dancing a Catchy Rhythm (which I must confess I love) appeared 5 years after EDL/DLP opened. DLP has always used the main Disney classics with their own arrangements thanks to Vasile Sirli, DLP's composer and arranger. The one that seems to be used most in the advertising and heard around the park is the Around the World Song from the Imaginations parade from 9 years ago. But all sorts of music is used, Celebrate the Future Hand in Hand (from Epcot) is used in the little character parade in the Disneyland Hotel. The awful music for the Toon Train was repurposed from the Disney Express parade at Tokyo Disneyland. That said, I have heard Dancing a Catchy Rhythm used in both WDW and DL, despite it being a DLP original. and of course Fantillusion was composed to be used in all parks eventually, though has only been heard in TDL and DLP as far as I am aware. A little trivia for you, when it comes to music, the Baroque Hoedown heard in the Main Street Electrical Parade around the globe, was actually written originally by a Frenchman. Then Don Dorsey adapted it for the parade.
Originally Posted By Bolna So, I just ordered "Song of the South" on VHS from Amazon.co.uk - second hand for about $ 13 including shipping from UK to Germany. I am really curious about this film, especially since it seems to be so controversial, or perhaps better: since there is a controversy about whether it is controversial...
Originally Posted By Bolna Dave, thanks for the info about DLP music. While I find Dancing a very cheesy tune, it is also very catchy (the title doesn't lie) and immdiately makes me smile. So I like it a lot as well. But if DLP had a "theme" I would want it to be a bit more inspiring and less magical. I will try to find the Around the World Song, at the moment I have no idea what it would be, but I guess I know it when I hear it.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Here you go Bolna: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaDHLpfkTWE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...HLpfkTWE</a> they use the instrumental version though in all the video features. For our LP friends who do not know the DLP music, here is Dancing a Catchy Rhythm: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_QKaY8favo&feature=related" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...=related</a> And here is the current parade song, Just Like We Dreamed It: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wYMYJX_WRY&feature=related" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...=related</a> And the horrid Toon Train Disney Express - I hate this one: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AoCODSah-U" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...CODSah-U</a>
Originally Posted By TDLFAN That horrid one you hate is also from TDL's Party Express event.. one of the most successful event parades at TDL ever.. and probable reason why it's used at DLP and also at HKDL during their Rainy Day Train float.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I was aware of that, and I think sited it as being borrowed from TDL earlier in this thread. But I really hate it, just like I am not a fan of the music to Fantillusion (preferring the score to MSEP by far).
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer >>>A little trivia for you, when it comes to music, the Baroque Hoedown heard in the Main Street Electrical Parade around the globe, was actually written originally by a Frenchman. Then Don Dorsey adapted it for the parade.<<<< Nope... He adapted it in 1971 for Walt Disney World's Electrical Water Pageant. We had the music first, before it was shipped off to DL. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u92dPpcd0A" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...2dPpcd0A</a>
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo But the original song was written before they even broke ground on WDW. It was written by the Audioline and synthesizer pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey in 1967. The Frenchman didn't even know Disney had used in until he went on vacation and came across it's use in the parade (though I had forgotten it was in the Water Pagent first, thanks for the reminder). Even the Beatles sampled it in their 1968 fan record. Lol
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer Oh, yeah. I was just pointing out that it's a WDW song, not a DL one, as all the DL fans would like to claim. The idea for MSEP came from our EWP.
Originally Posted By Bolna Thanks for all the youtube links!! I had heard all of the songs before. Just don't now really when. I remember watching the parade in 2003 and 2007, which ones would those have been? I am not a fan of parades, so they weren't that memorable to me... I agree with you on the character train theme, it feels a bit flat compared to Dancin' A Catchy Rythm (I am liking this more and more... I keep restarting the youtube clip and sing along ;-) I really should have picked up a CD with DLP music when I was there in March, I had planned to do so, but forgot...)
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo 2003 would have been Dancing a Catchy Rhythm, 2007 would have been Just Like We Dreamed It.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> I vote we kick out Sonny Eclipse and bring back the band that performs at the 6:50 mark in the video that Explorer posted. << I'm with you Leo. Sonny is one of my favorites, but those hot pants are pretty hard to pass up on!
Originally Posted By MPierce >> So, I just ordered "Song of the South" on VHS from Amazon.co.uk - second hand for about $ 13 including shipping from UK to Germany. I am really curious about this film, especially since it seems to be so controversial, or perhaps better: since there is a controversy about whether it is controversial... << Make sure and slip a review in one of your post.
Originally Posted By leobloom Re: Song of the South I saw it when I was a kid in the 1980s. It must've had a re-release around '85 or '86. I purchased the Japanese laserdisc (remember those?!) back in the mid-1990s and transfered it to VHS. I had someone transfer the VHS to DVD, but I haven't watched it in a long time. I'm sure the quality isn't pristine, but I should watch it again. As for the controversy, the movie is no more offensive than "Gone with the Wind." (And in fact Hattie McDaniel, a pioneering African-American actress, was in both films.) The issue, as you all have mentioned, is the portrayal of Uncle Remus and the other "workers" (slaves?) on the plantation. The depiction of the black characters is indebted to Margaret Mitchell's (and other novelists') romantic view of the Old South. It was not uncommon at the time to downplay the suffering of slavery and to overstate the "paternal" treatment of good-hearted white slaveowners. Again, nothing that you wouldn't find in "Gone with the Wind" and quite a few Hollywood movies over the years. As far as I can tell, the primary reasons "Song of the South" is a lightning rod for controversy are as follows: 1) The source material itself is controversial. Joel Chandler Harris, a white man, recorded the Brer Animal stories that he heard while working on a plantation. He wrote these stories in dialect that many people today find offensive (and hard to read!), though it was an accepted literary device of that time. The Uncle Remus character has been attacked for being a stereotype of the old, wise, passive, benevolent black man who accepts his lot in life. So from the start, the source material raises a lot of eyebrows. 2) It's a Disney product, and it's "interesting" how a company that prides itself on being wholesome and family-friendly and unoffensive once produced films that dealt in racial stereotypes. (We might wonder if later generations will look back on the Disney of today with similar complaints!) Not that this criticism should be surprising -- it's just a reflection of the culture of the mid-20th century -- but the Disney name adds a lot to the controversy. 2) Disney makes the film seem more risque by burying it and pretending they have moved beyond it. In some ways, the "cover up" makes the "scandal" much more remarkable. Like I said, there's nothing in the movie that you couldn't find in other Hollywood films of the time. The highlight of the movie is the animated segments with the Brer characters. At least a couple of them were screened on Vault Disney as part of an old "Wonderful World of Disney" episode. If they released the film on DVD with a mandatory introduction by a film historian like Leonard Maltin, it would probably help minimize the backlash. But there would be a backlash, and honestly I wouldn't show the movie to a child who couldn't understand the historical context so I understand Disney's reluctance to release it. But what I find so remarkable about "Song of the South" is Splash Mountain. Absolutely no way that ride would be built today. Disney has always been ultra-sensitive about their image, but our society has become ultra-sensitive about offending people that there's no way they would think of building that ride in America today. Pardon my essay!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I was aware of that, and I think sited it as being borrowed from TDL earlier in this thread. But I really hate it, just like I am not a fan of the music to Fantillusion (preferring the score to MSEP by far).<< Likewise, I detest "Catchy Rhythm" and "All around the World". They are the most mediocre parade music ever composed for a Disney park. And that "Halloween..loween..loween.." Garbage. It's not wonder why they keep borrowing music from Tokyo.
Originally Posted By leobloom >> Well, it did have a lot of stereotypical situations in it by today's standards but considering the time it was filmed it is actually pretty progressive. It very strongly showed a black man that was wise, caring and nurturing whereas the white folk were self involved, insensitive and terribly bigoted. That's probably why it is offensive. Strikes a nerve I think. << I would disagree with this, in part. The depiction of black characters is hardly progressive. It is standard-issue stereotyping from postbellum Southern literature that romanticizes life on the plantation. The white characters may be petulant, especially the mother, but so is Scarlett O'Hara. Anyway, wouldn't say it's progressive, but wouldn't say it was culturally divurgent give its time period, either.
