It's a Small World

[Mike]

You won't likely get through a Disney theme park without hearing it...

It's a world of laughter

- A world of tears

It's a world of hopes

- And a world of fears

There's so much that we share

- That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world

There is just one moon

- And one golden sun

And a smile means

- Friendship to every one

Though the mountains divide

- And the oceans are wide

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world

It was mocked in Shrek! And here we have the culprits!!

They wrote the songs that made you sing

NEW YORK (AP) -- Richard and Robert Sherman are the authors of the most-played song on Earth, and for that they would like to apologize to some of you.

The song is "It's a Small World (After All)," the tune that plays on a continual, multilingual loop every few minutes at Disney theme parks across the world -- a fact that Disney employees are only too well aware.

"They must go out of their minds," says Richard Sherman.

"We've driven teenagers crazy in every language," says Robert Sherman.

The Sherman brothers have built a career writing songs like that, the kind that crawl into your head and stay put. Just scratch a baby boomer and a Sherman song will likely tumble out. They wrote the award-winning tunes in "Mary Poppins" and songs for animated movies like "The Jungle Book" and "Winnie the Pooh."

Now, the brothers are pulling into Broadway with a refurbished vehicle -- "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," the stage adaptation of the 1968 movie that has been playing in London for three years. The duo have added new lyrics and four new songs.

During a recent interview after a matinee preview at the Hilton Theatre, the pair reveled at the boisterous crowds streaming out into the street, many still humming songs created almost 40 years ago.

"It's very heartwarming," says Richard, 76, the younger of the pair. "It's gratifying to have a new generation responding to something we originally created a long time ago. It's a new show to us even though it's an old friend."

"Chitty" concerns a madcap inventor who sets about restoring a magical old car with the help of his two children and a lady friend. Banding together, they save the car from the clutches of the Vulgarians, a fictional dictatorship that bans children and rounds them up.

Like all Sherman works, "Chitty" works on multiple levels. Kids can enjoy the funny flying car and goofy Germanic accents, while adults can hear echoes of the Nazis and admire the playfulness of the lyrics.

"Bob and I, we learned from the master -- Walt Disney," Richard says. "He once told us, early on in our career, 'Don't insult the kid -- don't write down to the kid. And don't write just for the adult.' So we write for grandpa and the 4-year-old -- and everyone in between -- and all see it on a different level."

The Shermans began a decade-long partnership with Disney during the 1960s after having written hit pop songs like "Tall Paul" for ex-Mouseketeer Annette Funicello and "You're Sixteen," later recorded by Ringo Starr. They wrote over 150 songs at Disney, including the soundtracks for such films as "The Sword and the Stone," "The Parent Trap," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocrats" and "The Tigger Movie."

One day, Disney handed them a book by P.L. Travers. He asked them if they knew what a nanny was. "We said, 'Yeah, a goat,' " Robert recalls. No, said Disney, a nanny is a British nursemaid. So he asked the brothers to read the Travers book and let him know what they thought. They furiously underlined sections, changed the timeline and combined characters. Then they returned to Disney's office. He asked them if they'd like to work for him and the brothers said he told them, "Call me Walt."

The Shermans won Grammys and two Academy Awards for the resulting movie "Mary Poppins," and went on to pen songs for "The Slipper and the Rose," "Snoopy Come Home," "Charlotte's Web" and "The Magic of Lassie." Their only other Broadway musical was 1974's "Over Here!"

"Something good happens when we sit down together and work," Richard says. "We've been doing it all our lives. Practically since college we've been working together."

"Fifty years!" says Robert, 79, shaking his head.

"It's a long time," Richard laughs. "And I'm only 39!"

The two credit their father, composer Al Sherman, with their love of wordsmithing. His legacy of songs includes "You Gotta Be a Football Hero," "(What Do We Do On a) Dew-Dew-Dewy Day" and "On the Beach at Bali-Bali." His sons went on to popularize the terms "fantasmagorical" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

For "Chitty," the Sherman brothers were given a gift with a great pedigree: a musical adapted by Roald Dahl from fiction by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. It came with wonderfully inventive characters like Truly Scrumptious -- as well as the title role.

"When we heard 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,' we thought, 'Wow,' " says Richard. "I remember Bob and I just began playing: 'Oh, Chitty. You, Chitty. Pretty, Chitty, Bang Bang.' Play with it! It's a great sound."

The Shermans tease songs out of each other, brainstorming song titles and then trying to top each other with improvements. "Being brothers, we sort of short-cut each other," Richard says. "We can almost look at each other and know, 'Hey, you're onto something, kiddo.' "

There is one rule: Both brothers must agree. Then they shake hands.

That's how the new song "Teamwork" came about. Robert and Richard were sitting with "Chitty" producers and adaptors trying to pitch ideas for a new tune. Someone in the room said they'd nail it as long as they all worked as a team.

"I thought, 'Teamwork would make a dream work,' " Richard says. His brother shot him a look. "He looks at me and says, 'Has that been written down?' I said, 'I don't think so.' He says, 'That's our song!' It was like -- bang. We built on that."

The first draft of the song was written in 30 minutes.

Not all ideas come so easily, of course. The pair spent two weeks trying to nail down a snappy title for a song sung by the nanny in "Mary Poppins." They considered, and then nixed, "An Apple a Day" and "A Stitch in Time."

"Nothing was coming," Robert says. Then one day his 8-year-old son came home from school. "I said, 'How was school?' He said, 'Great. We got the Salk vaccine today.' I said, 'Oh, did it hurt?' He said, 'No, they just stuck medicine on a lump of sugar.' I went, 'Ohhhh!' That was it!"

"He came in the next day all glassy-eyed," Richard recalls. The final lyric would become world famous when it emerged from the lips of Julie Andrews: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."

Over the years, the two have raised families and pursued their own interests, yet still live close to each other in Beverly Hills, California, and continue to create the soundtrack for a new generation.

In some ways, their relationship sounds almost too good to be true -- something they themselves would script for a feel-good film. Is it possible that there's been no sibling tension?

"We're human. We have frailties and weaknesses. But we love each other very much, respect each other," says Richard. "I'm happy that he's a successful guy. That makes me a successful guy."

SOURCE OF STORY

[DJ Kat WQAQ98.1]

That was a great article. THanks for posting it. Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm also kinda excited about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang coming to Broadway.

Random Factoid: Once Chitty hits the Broadway stage, the Sherman Brothers will have two of their musicals running on stage. Mary Poppins is currently on stage in London, preparing for a Broadway debut soon.