Strange Things 9: Laughing Sky Edition!

Holy Cheshire Cats, "Beyond the Laughing Sky" is on iTunes! Time for another edition of Strange Things -- Recordings of Disney tunes which are offbeat, rarely heard or performed in unexpected ways. All are available on iTunes and Amazon MP3.

This first one, a stealth release from Disney, is one fans have been waiting for since the days of laser disc!

TRACK: Beyond the Laughing Sky
ALBUM: The Lost Chords: Peter Pan

The Lost Chords are short albums highlighting songs which were not used in the Disney films they were written for. Past releases include songs from Cinderella, The Aristocats and The Rescuers. Each lets you hear the original demo version, followed by a new recording of the piece.

"Beyond the Laughing Sky", however, is a special song--one that forever links the production history of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. If you watched the bonus material on the Alice in Wonderland laser disc or recent DVD releases, you probably know its history. The song was written for Alice, but not used. With a new set of lyrics, the song became "Second Star to the Right" in Peter Pan. Here's a music clip from the video releases, hosted by Kathryn Beaumont, the voice of both Alice and Wendy:

The new recording (by Vangie Gunn) on iTunes is beautiful. If you buy one Disney song this week, this is the one to get. Its history is strange, but its performance is wonderful.

Next up (we've got five picks today): Time for a classic 20,000 Leagues song as sung by a bunch of scallawags...

A Tribute to Monstro, Fantasyland's Biggest Villain

Welcome to Whale Poetry Thursday! What better subject than the wondrous and despicable Monstro, who stars in two Fantasyland attractions: Storybook Land Canal Boats and Pinocchio's Daring Journey. The Disney Hipsters have the realm of park Haikus perfected, so all I can do is pay homage to Lewis Carroll and Isaac Watts...

How doth the massive angry whale
Improve the flower beds
And swallow elder toymakers
N' little woodenheads.

How scarily he lunges forth
By Daring Journey's track

And grosses out canal tours
With his epic layers of plaque.

Monstro the Frequent Snacker

People often use the word "charming" to describe Disneyland, but what we need is a word that means, "charming in often weird and unexpected ways." Fantasyland's Monstro fits that description perfectly. This behemoth, after nearly bringing a tragic end to the story of Pinocchio, found a new career swallowing boatloads of happy park-goers.

No matter how hard the big lug tries to look fierce, however, he just can't escape the fact that he's surrounded by beautiful, serene landscaping. As the "gateway to enchantment" for the Storybook Land Canal Boats, Monstro adds another fun, quirky puzzle piece to the one-of-a-kind atmosphere of Disneyland's Fantasyland. He looks surreal and yet so perfectly at home.

I can tell you, when I rode the Canal Boats as a small child, I always held my breath 'till we'd motored safely past the teeth.