"When You Wish Upon a Star" is one of the best-known - if not the best-known song - in Disney's musical canon. Ned Washington (1901-1976) and Leigh Harline (1907-1969) composed it as the theme to Pinocchio (1940), Disney's second full-length animated feature. Cliff Edwards (1895-1971), the actor who voiced the Jiminy Cricket character in the movie, was the first to record it. Not only did this song win the Academy Award, it also went on to become the Disney company's theme song.
Washington was a lyricist who had success with writing other pop standards, including "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" (w/ Bing Crosby), "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (w/ Hoagy Carmichael) and "The Nearness of You." Harline was a composer who previously scored music for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney's first animated feature.
According to Susan Sackett in her book, Hollywood Sings!, their inspiration for "When You Wish Upon a Star" partly came from "Wishing (Will Make it So)," the Oscar-nominated song from Love Affair (1939). She writes that "When You Wish Upon a Star" was a Depression-inspired homily to comfort people who suffered greatly during the 1930s. Ultimately, it is about the Pinocchio character and his transformation from wooden puppet to real boy.
Pinocchio is adapted from an Italian fairy tale by Carlo Collodi (1826-1890). The Adventures of Pinocchio is his most famous work, published in 1883. Pinocchio is depicted as a marionette prone to trouble and mischief. The cricket in Collodi's story is all talking and no singing, and is a minor character. Disney, however, elevated the cricket to major character status, and does not suffer a violent end like in Collodi's original. It's interesting to note that the name 'Jiminy Cricket' was derived from a soft expletive euphemism for Jesus Christ.
Cliff Edwards was a popular vaudeville and jazz singer in the 1920s. Nicknamed 'Ukulele Ike,' Edwards combined his unique and warm voice with a frantic ukulele. It was his voice work in Pinocchio that revived his career. Edwards recorded another version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" for single release. One major difference between it and the film version is a bridge that isn't heard too often. It goes like this:
When a star is born,
They possess a gift or two.
One of them is this,
They have the power to make a wish come true.
Edwards' single version charted at no. 10 in the US, according to Joel Whitburn's book Pop Memories 1890-1954. This version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Jiminy Cricket's happy-go-lucky personality made him a instant hit, and Edwards would voice him again in the 1947 feature Fun and Fancy Free. Edwards later performed the character on and off in a series of educational albums and cartoons until 1970. The Walt Disney Company inducted Edwards into its Hall of Fame in 2000. Washington and Harline were inducted in 2001.
Glenn Miller, Dion & The Belmonts, Johnny Mathis, Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Ronnie Milsap and Ringo Starr are among the many artists who have covered "When You Wish Upon A Star." The American Film Institute ranks it at no. 7 in their 100 Greatest Movie Songs, making it the highest-ranked Disney song on the list.
Washington was a lyricist who had success with writing other pop standards, including "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" (w/ Bing Crosby), "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (w/ Hoagy Carmichael) and "The Nearness of You." Harline was a composer who previously scored music for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney's first animated feature.
According to Susan Sackett in her book, Hollywood Sings!, their inspiration for "When You Wish Upon a Star" partly came from "Wishing (Will Make it So)," the Oscar-nominated song from Love Affair (1939). She writes that "When You Wish Upon a Star" was a Depression-inspired homily to comfort people who suffered greatly during the 1930s. Ultimately, it is about the Pinocchio character and his transformation from wooden puppet to real boy.
Pinocchio is adapted from an Italian fairy tale by Carlo Collodi (1826-1890). The Adventures of Pinocchio is his most famous work, published in 1883. Pinocchio is depicted as a marionette prone to trouble and mischief. The cricket in Collodi's story is all talking and no singing, and is a minor character. Disney, however, elevated the cricket to major character status, and does not suffer a violent end like in Collodi's original. It's interesting to note that the name 'Jiminy Cricket' was derived from a soft expletive euphemism for Jesus Christ.
Cliff Edwards was a popular vaudeville and jazz singer in the 1920s. Nicknamed 'Ukulele Ike,' Edwards combined his unique and warm voice with a frantic ukulele. It was his voice work in Pinocchio that revived his career. Edwards recorded another version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" for single release. One major difference between it and the film version is a bridge that isn't heard too often. It goes like this:
When a star is born,
They possess a gift or two.
One of them is this,
They have the power to make a wish come true.
Edwards' single version charted at no. 10 in the US, according to Joel Whitburn's book Pop Memories 1890-1954. This version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Jiminy Cricket's happy-go-lucky personality made him a instant hit, and Edwards would voice him again in the 1947 feature Fun and Fancy Free. Edwards later performed the character on and off in a series of educational albums and cartoons until 1970. The Walt Disney Company inducted Edwards into its Hall of Fame in 2000. Washington and Harline were inducted in 2001.
Glenn Miller, Dion & The Belmonts, Johnny Mathis, Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Ronnie Milsap and Ringo Starr are among the many artists who have covered "When You Wish Upon A Star." The American Film Institute ranks it at no. 7 in their 100 Greatest Movie Songs, making it the highest-ranked Disney song on the list.
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