Richard Sherman Shares Stories of Walt on the WDW Radio Show

On Monday mornings, The Munchkin and I sit and have breakfast with Lou Mongello. Yup two hours a week with “Louah” as she calls him, they are pals from way back. The WDW Radio Show takes us to Disney when we can’t get there and we get to meet some really cool people: Samantha Brown, Michael Broggie, Steve Barrett, Jason Surrell, and others. We especially like the DSI Investigations with Jeff Pepper. It’s a fun time and a nice way to start the week.

So why this week, did I find myself choked up about 10 times during the show? Richard Sherman was Lou’s guest this week. Richard Sherman!!! How cool is that? Mr. Sherman is a Disney Legend’s Legend and practically the next best thing to meeting Walt himself.

Why?

For those of you who don’t know, or just need your memory jogged (like me about 47 times a day) Richard Sherman is half of the Sherman Brothers who have written practically every (ok not every) classic Disney song, but certainly many of the biggies. Here is just a sample of a few of their tunes:

“It’s a Small World”
“There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”
“One Little Spark"
“The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room"
and all of the songs in The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins

and this is just to name a few. Mr. Sherman was friendly, humble and gracious. He told many stories about Walt and this was the best part for me, well that and the singing, but there is something that happens to people’s voices when they talk about Walt. Have you ever noticed? There’s an awe and reverence and something else that I can’t quite describe but they have...a spark. The stories he told were all great, some I had heard before but it’s not the same thing hearing them from the horse’s mouth. I was willing Lou throughout the interview to ask him about “Feed the Birds” and Walt. “Feed the Birds” is one of my favorite songs and I sing it to the Munchkin before she goes to bed. I won’t ruin the story for you but check out the podcast and hear Richard Sherman tell the story himself, you won’t regret it.

If you don’t already subscribe to Lou’s show on iTunes, I highly recommend checking it out and make sure that you listen to this week’s show.

WDW Radio Show Site

Getting My Disney Fix - Disney Park Music

Do you love Disney parks music? The shows? Parades? Even the ambient music as you walk down Main Street? I love to read blogs, check out websites and podcasts but I find that I can almost feel like I'm in Disney World thorough our extensive collection of park music. You can frequently find us on Saturday mornings dancing around with our two year old to Balafon Marimba Ensemble’s music from Adventureland or the pre-show music from Illuminations.

Have you ever wondered how you can find this wonderful music?

My first suggestion would be to purchase the park music CDs. You can always buy them when you are on vacation but you can also find some on iTunes and most of them on Amazon. If an album is out of print you may be able to find it on ebay. You might be surprised, once your start digging, at what is out there.

Keep humming a tune you heard at the parks but don’t know the name? Disney Music Loops is a website where you can find out the artist, song and album title of practically any song you hear in any of the parks. Want to know the names of the songs played on Main Street USA from 1971 to 1992? Or perhaps you loved the Space Mountain music at Disneyland Paris. This is the place to get your questions answered. You cannot download any music from this site but it does tell you what information you need so that you can find the music elsewhere. The site will also point you to iTunes when a song or album is available there.

There are also some fabulous podcasts that provide sounds from park attractions along with music from the parks. Paul Barrie’s A Window the Magic is fabulous and WTTM24 (by Paul as well) is equally engrossing. Strap on your iPod and close your eyes, you can almost smell the popcorn. I want to do a whole feature on this podcast so keep your eyes open for it in the coming weeks.

Don't necesarily need to own something just need a little touch of Disney Magic? Here are the links to three separate online radio stations that play Disney Parks and Disney Soundtrack music.

Subsonic Radio is run independently with songs chosen by forum members. They use a free points system to allow users to make requests. Members get more points by posting on the forums. This is an independent radio station, and is not affiliated with one of the mega stations.
Subsonic Radio Link

Mouse House Radio is fed by a feed from Live 365. They have a live request show on Sunday nights and go by a traditional broadcast schedule i.e. Music from the Wilderness Lodge on Wednesdays from 7 - 9p.m. This station is primarily ambient music from the parks.
Mouse House Radio Link
Station Schedule

WDWLive is another Live 365 Station. This station features more soundtrack music in addition to music from the parks. This station does not have a set schedule and does not play ambient music loops. If you go to their regular site they have wonderful photos, live in park webcams and ridiculously addictive puzzles of high resolution photographs. More than once I have lost an hour here.
WDWLive Link

So there you have it, how I get my Disney fix. I would love to hear how you get yours...let me know in the comments section.

Got a Song in Your Head?

Looking for a park soundtrack song but don't know the name? This site has play lists for all of the parks. There is no music to download just the names and artists so you can find them.

Link

The Most Beautiful Music in the "World"

I want to draw your attention to a post from yesterday at Grumpy's Hollow. Music at the parks is one of my favorite subjects and it is how I survive between trips. Grumpwurst, the author, writes about what he calls Disney Hymns, which I won't attempt to explain here. He articulates his love of this wonderful music better than anyone else, I have encoutered. This is a thoughtful post expressing what so many of us feel when we are hearing the wondrous and emotional music at the parks. Secular or religious, I think that human emotion expressed in music often transcends all differences and is a language that we all speak. If you have a moment this is a worthwhile read:

Link

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Mouse World Radio

Not able to get to the parks anytime soon? When I’m feeling like a need a little taste of the parks (it was -20 here the other night!) I go to this site and listen to music from the parks. It’s free and if you close your eyes, you can almost smell the popcorn...

The Sound of Magic - The Magic Experience

For the Disney ambient music fan (yes I'm showing my really geek colors here). Want to hear the Christmas music from the parks? Music from Disneyland Paris, The Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Hollywood Studios. I want to especially highlight the music of Buddy Baker who has written a lot of the music for the World. You rarely hear about this composer but his contribution has been significant.

Disney Music for the Holidays

WORLD WIDE DISNEY (holiday shopping edition):

Music Edition
iTunes.com
http://www.libertyvoices.com/
http://radio.disney.go.com/music/itunes.html
http://www.magicalmountain.net/emporium/DisneyiTunes.asp
http://www.offkilter.net/
http://www.morockin.com/
http://www.harmonize.com/DapperDans/musicsound.htm

These are all places to purchase Disney music, park music, musicians
that perform in the parks, soundtracks and music from Disney radio.