When You Wish upon a Star
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"When You Wish upon a Star" is a popular song written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline and introduced in the 1940 Walt Disney movie Pinocchio, where it is sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket, over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the film.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song that year, and became a theme song for the Disney company, used in the opening sequences of Disney anthology television series and in Walt Disney Pictures' opening logos. The ships of the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Wonder and the Disney Magic, use the iconic first seven notes of this melody as their horn signals.
The American Film Institute ranked "When You Wish Upon A Star" seventh in their 100 Greatest Songs in Film History, the highest ranked Disney song.
In Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the song has become a Christmas song, often referring to the Star of Bethlehem. The Swedish language version is called Ser du stjärnan i det blå, roughly translated: "do you see the star in the blue(sky)", and the Danish title is "Når du ser et stjerneskud", which roughly translates as "When you see a shooting star". In Sweden the song is played on Swedish television every Christmas eve and this is considered a major Swedish tradition.
Because Pinocchio, the movie, plays a small role in the plot of Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, John Williams's score for that film quotes "When You Wish Upon a Star".
The song is performed in the 1947 Walt Disney Studios animated cartoon Donald's Dilemma directed by Jack King. The song is performed by Donald Duck himself, become a well-known crooner after a flower pot fell on his head.
[edit] See also
- The Rainbow Connection - A song performed by Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Movie, which has had the same role for The Jim Henson Company.
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz |
Academy Award for Best Original Song 1940 |
Succeeded by "The Last Time I Saw Paris" from Lady Be Good |
