The Disney Song Encyclopedia - fieldi

PREFACE
There’s a terrific power to music. You can run any of these pictures and
they’d be dragging and boring, but the minute you put music behind
them, they have life and vitality they don’t get any other way.
—Walt Disney
Songs written for Disney productions over the decades have become a
potent part of American popular culture. Since most Americans first discovered
these songs in their youth, they hold a special place in our collective
consciousness. Yet there have been few serious studies of these beloved
songs. The purpose of this book is to describe and discuss hundreds of famous
and not-so-famous songs from Disney films, television shows, Broadway
productions, records, and theme parks, from the 1930s to the present
day. The goal is not only to inform readers about these many songs but also
to rekindle memories readers have associated with them.
What is a Disney song? For the purposes of this book, it is any new song
written for a Disney product, be it a feature or short film, a Broadway musical,
a television show or special, a made-for-video production, a record,
or a theme park. But a Disney song is also a state of mind, a lyrical and
musical expression of an idea that harkens back to the simple but potent
premise that first distinguished Walt Disney more than nine decades ago.
Whether it is an animated fairy tale, a live-action adventure, a silly sitcom,
or a Disneyland attraction, a Disney production is distinguished by its fine
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