Chances are, if your childhood occurred after 1960, you grew up listening to and singing songs written by the Sherman Brothers Richard and Robert Sherman are responsible for some of the most beloved children’s songs of the last four decades. When they worked for Walt Disney, they wrote the songs for Mary Poppins, the Winnie the Pooh series, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks among many others, and their non-Disney works have also made significant impact with songs for movies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which was based on an Ian Fleming book, and Charlotte's Web. With all those accomplishments, however, their most famous song would have to be “It’s a Small World (After AIl),” a song written for a 1964 New York World's Fair exhibit and still one of the most popular attractions in Disneyland.
The Sherman Brothers came from a very musical family. Their father, Al, was the well-known songwniter of such songs as “No, No, a Thousand Times No” and “Now’s the Time to Fall in Love” Al was the one who suggested that his sons collaborate on songwriting, and though they wrote many pop songs, it was their songs for Mouseketeer Annette Funicello that caught the attention of Walt Disney. The rest, as they say, is history.
I had a chance to talk to Richard, the younger of the two Sherman Brothers (at age 75; Robert is 77). […]
