Monday, March 30, 2015

Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) - Cinderella and So Dear My Heart

When I went to see Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella one of the big surprises to me was the sweet song "Lavender's Blue."

The song immediatly caught my ear because I knew this song as the Disney Oscar nominated Original Song "Lavender Blue" from the 1948 Disney film So Dear My Heart.

The Burt Ives version is certainly a different feel than the newest version of this tune, and in fact it was so strange to hear the song with a different style and melody. Hear both below.


My initial thought was a little bit of shock. Why would Disney take it's 1948 property and teleport it further back into magical time, but with a little quick research was pleased to see that this recycled Disney property was actually an English nursery rhyme dating back at least to the 17th century.

So instead of disappointment, I was pleased with a new piece of musical/film trivia coming from this film - who would suspect that this same lyric inspiration would show up in these two different places.

Speaking of film trivia - at the 1950 Oscar ceremony where the song Lavender Blue was nominated for best song, it did not take home the prize, but another song - a holiday classic (shall I say an annoying holiday classic) took home the prize instead.

From the Red Skelton and Ester Williams romantic comedy Neptune's Daughter the winner was (click video below to listen and hear)...