“When You Wish Upon a Star” | |
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Single by Cliff Edwards | |
from the album Pinocchio (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
Released | February 9, 1940 |
Recorded | 1939 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Length | 3:17 |
Label | Victor, EMI |
Composer(s) | Leigh Harline |
Lyricist(s) | Ned Washington |
Development
Harline and Washington delivered “When You Wish Upon a Star” to the Pinocchio story crew in early autumn 1938, and they recognized it right away as a spotlight song that should be given prominence in the film. Disney decided that the song should play over the opening credits, and used as a musical theme throughout the film. In October, Edwards recorded the song as a “test take”, because Edwards was cast as Jiminy Cricket, and at the time the cricket’s role in the story was limited. When the producers decided to promote Jiminy to the narrator role, using Edwards’ recording made sense as the title theme. In the film, Edwards’ performance plays over the titles, and bridges into Jiminy’s opening scene.Legacy and influence
The Library Of Congress deemed the song “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and preserved it into the National Recording Registry in 2009. The American Film Institute ranked “When You Wish Upon a Star” seventh in their 100 Greatest Songs in Film History, the highest ranked of only four Disney animated film songs to appear on the list, the others being “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ranked at No. 19, “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast ranked at No. 62, and “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King, ranked at No. 99. The song reached the top five in Billboard‘s Record Buying Guide, a predecessor of the retail sales chart. Popular versions in 1940 were by Glenn Miller with vocal by Ray Eberle (No. 1 for five weeks),Disney icon
“When You Wish Upon a Star”, along with Mickey Mouse, has become an icon of The Walt Disney Company. In the 1950s and 1960s, Walt Disney used the song in the opening sequences of all the editions of the Walt Disney anthology television series. It has also been used to accompany the Walt Disney Pictures logos – including the present-day logo – since the 1980s. All of the ships of the Disney Cruise Line use the first seven notes of the song’s melody as their horn signals.Disney Cruise Liner Liverpool June 2016 – When You Wish Upon A Star – Ships horn
As a jazz standard
The piece has become a jazz standard.Family Guy parody and lawsuit
The owner of the rights to the song, Bourne Co. Music Publishers, sued Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuzzy Door Productions, Cartoon Network, Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane to try to stop distribution of a 2003 Family Guy episode entitled “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” that parodies the song in a version called “I Need a Jew”. A federal judge ruled against Bourne Co, stating that a parody of the song did not infringe on the company’s copyright.Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United States (RIAA) | Gold | 500,000 |
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Louis Armstrong – When You Wish Upon A Star
Lea Salonga – When You Wish Upon a Star
Billy Joel: When You Wish Upon a Star
Watch the movie
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