What’s up, dudes? “Disney’s Sing-Along Songs” was a series of videos first released in October 1986! Disney connoisseurs Mike Westfall from Advent Calendar House and Charlie Ague from Closer to Christmas and Ague Designs are here with me to break down one of the releases: Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Songs!
Synopsis
Originally released Oct 4, 1988, Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Songs featured music from various Disney movies, shows, and theme park attractions. Lyrics for each song appeared onscreen, and a Mickey Mouse bouncing ball helped keep track of tempo. Unusually, the first few used theme songs with footage of Professor Owl. There were also a few with Ludwig von Drake and Jiminy Cricket as well. In this case, Jiminy takes center stage as narrator.
This was the 5th of 6 videos that make up part of the first series, using clips of various Disney animations. Pluto’s Christmas Tree, Donald’s Snow Fight, The Night Before Christmas, and Santa’s Workshop are just a few of the sequences. Also, each song was introduced with a splash page of the the score and title card written in neo-Victorian font. Andrew Belling used various synthesizers to compose transitions from musical piece to piece, including several distinct Roland and Yamaha machines. Phil Savenick and Harry Arends contributed additional lyrics.
Canon verses? Check. Color changing lyrics? Got ’em. Off beat claps from “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” spliced in? Definitely! So grab your songbook, put on an oversized coat, and sing along to this episode!
Advent Calendar House
FB: @adventcalendarhouse
Twitter: @adventcalhouse
IG: @adventcalendarhouse
Closer to Christmas
Twitter: @closertoxmas
IG: @closertoxmas
Ague Designs
IG: @aguedesigns
[…] Listen to this episode of Totally Rad Christmas Author: Gerry D / Mike Westfal, Charlie Ague Title: Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Songs (w/ Mike and Charlie) […]