Note: During the months of November and December, I will be posting something I am thankful for within the spectrum of Disney. With so much negativity in the world, I encourage everyone to be thankful and count their blessings.
Sometimes a song can take you away to another place, or help you believe that dreams come true. I know I’m thankful for songs like these.
There are memorable songs from movies – you know, the songs that you find yourself humming long after the film ended – and then there are songs that transcend movies. Leigh Harline and Ned Washington’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” goes far beyond the film it was written for. This is not in anyway a knock on Pinocchio. No, the movie is among my favorite Disney animated movies – quite possibly my favorite, depending on the day! It’s just that the song itself is so much more. It’s become not only a theme song for the Walt Disney Company in general, but one to dreamers everywhere as well.
Like a bolt out of the blue…
The notion of wishing upon a star may seem silly, but the idea of dreams coming true? Well, this is something we all long for. Now, in the “real world” we realize we can’t sit back and wait for things to come to us. If Walt had simply wished upon a star without actively pursuing that dream…. well, I don’t think that would have turned out very well. However, the notion of dreams coming true if we have the courage to pursue them (hmmm… now THAT sounds catchy!) is a noble one. Throw in a wish on the evening star as well? Believe in your dreams, and you never know.
Every time my family goes to Disneyland, we always pause underneath Sleeping Beauty’s Castle to here Jiminy Cricket sing his anthem to passers by. Combined with the magical feeling that the park brings, that song means even more there. And I’m certainly thankful for the feeling it brings.
I feel it only fitting to close out this thankful post with the song itself – perhaps my favorite cover of “When You Wish…” Take it away, Pops….
Confessions Of A DisNerd 
I have to say, of all the music Disney has created over the decades, this song is the most timeless. It is so perfectly crafted and written. It is no wonder the Disney Company chose it to represent the company and theme park but I think a good contender would be Cinderellas, ‘A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes’. It falls under a similar premise like ‘when you wish upon a star’. About dreaming and believing that goodness will come if you are true and love with all your heart. Besides being 2 of Disneys best songs, I would rank it with the greatest songs ever written along with ‘God only knows’ by the beach boys and other greats. I often listen to it when im thinking of Disneylanf so I can imagine being there, eating the perfect popcorn, riding splash mountain with my daughter or pinnochios daring journey with my son. Its timeless because no matter where I am or what time it is, I can go back to that place and feel those exact feelings as though I were in that moment again. Just pure GENIUS!