Feed The Birds - A Defense of Disney Music

Read this as a poem, and tell me now that you think that all Disney songs are just for kids.

Feed The Birds

Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul's
The little old bird woman comes
In her own special way to the people she calls,
"Come, buy my bags full of crumbs;

Come feed the little birds,
Show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do
Their young ones are hungry
Their nests are so bare
All it takes is tuppence from you

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag
Feed the birds," that's what she cries
While overhead, her birds fill the skies

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares
Although you can't see it,
You know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares

Though her words are simple and few
Listen, listen, she's calling to you
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag"

(Music and Lyrics By Richard & Robert Sherman)

What the Sherman brothers were saying was simple and profound.  It was Walt Disney's favorite song of their many offerings to the Disney company.  Often Walt said to Dick Sherman, "play the song" and Dick knew what he was talking about.

Walt once said to him after staring off, listening: "That's what it's all about, isn't it?..."

In a world that seems more heartless and cruel, people often forget it takes just a little thing, spending "a tuppence" that can lighten the darkest skies.  One could spin the story and say the woman is capitalizing on people to feed birds, that the birds are cruel and that the whole thing is rubbish, but before one does, take a step back and let it seep in.

It's about the humanity of going the extra mile for someone.   Of caring about making the world better.

And even though the Disney company has been accused of and in sone cases, like many other corporations, has sold out and has been the evil money grubbing menace that we often see and love to hate, it holds a legacy of great work, art, and inspiring music.

That's why I love Disney so much.  That's why it matters to me...