The Disney Song Encyclopedia - fieldi

A BRIEF HISTORY OF DISNEY MUSIC xv
Song of the South also garnered the studio its second Oscar for best song
with “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” In all of these cases, music played a major role
in the storytelling.
As the financially fraught 1940s ended, the studio needed a hit and it
found one in Cinderella (1950) by returning to the formula that was successful
in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: a maiden in distress, a handsome
prince, a wicked stepmother as a villain, and help from enthusiastic
animal friends. The movie hit pay dirt. More importantly, it marked a
return to the style of storytelling that used a musical score, in this case by
Mack David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman. Disney hired these Tin
Pan Alley composers to create his first musical score that was more in step
with those of the modern musical theatre. The result was a hit score that
included “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” “The Work Song,” and
the Oscar-nominated “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.” Cinderella marked the first
time Walt Disney took control of the recording and distribution of a film’s
music; thus Disney Records was born and a long tradition of bringing music
and storytelling to families began.
The 1950s saw the rise of television as a new venue for Disney Studios,
and music was a regular requirement of this emerging art form. Disney began
hosting his own program, entitled Disneyland, which debuted in 1954.
The following year, The Mickey Mouse Club made its debut. From these
two popular shows, legions of new songs were introduced to the American
public, especially within The Mickey Mouse Club’s variety show format.
Television proved to be a potent place for Disney to exercise his ideas for
family entertainment. The studio has upheld this tradition over the years,
and in the 1980s it spawned its own network in the form of the Disney
Channel. More TV shows meant more theme songs, so there are literally
hundreds of Disney songs ingrained in our collective psyche through the
availability and affordability of television entertainment.
In 1955 the Disneyland theme park opened in Anaheim, California, and
with it came dozens of Disney attractions, shows, and parades full of original
songs. Later, other Disney parks would spring up in Florida, France,
Japan, and China, each utilizing the ever-growing list of popular Disney
musical numbers, including “It’s a Small World,” “Grim Grinning Ghosts,”
and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.” Walt Disney World in
Florida is currently the most-visited attraction in the world, with millions
of patrons passing through the gates each year, all of them entertained by
delightful Disney music.
The 1960s found Disney stretching himself with new musical storytelling
ideas, experimenting with new forms of music, and perhaps finding the apex