Walt Disney Records will release the original motion picture
digital soundtrack for Disney's 'Saving Mr. Banks' and the
'Saving Mr. Banks' 2-Disc Deluxe Edition on December 10, 2013.
Thomas Newman composed and conducted the original score. 'Saving
Mr. Banks' will release in U.S. theaters on December 13, 2013,
limited, and open wide on December 20, 2013.
One of the most respected film composers, Newman has scored over
50 films. He has been nominated for ten Academy Awards with nine
in the Best Original Score category for 'The Shawshank
Redemption,' 'Little Women,' 'Unsung Heroes,' 'American Beauty,'
'Road to Perdition,' 'Finding Nemo,' 'Lemony Snicket's A Series
of Unfortunate Events,' 'The Good German,' 'Wall-E,' and
'Skyfall.' Newman won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
for The Living Proof from 'The Help.'
Newman said, 'The rare rtunity of writing music for a movie
about the making of Mary Poppins was impossible to ignore. The
fact that it could provide emotional content in of the
struggles that the Sherman brothers and Walt Disney endured was
reason enough to take on the challenge. Like the story itself,
the music is at times joyous and hopeful and other times, full of
despair and nagging regret. All by way of England and America in
1961, with stops along the way to rural Australia in 1906. What
more could anyone ask for...?'
The soundtrack also features the songs 'Chim Chim Cher-ee,'
'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,' and 'Let's Go Fly a Kite'
performed by Jason Schwartzman (as Richard Sherman) and B.J.
Novak (as Robert Sherman) as they 'demo' the songs for P. L.
Travers. Richard Sherman served as Music Consultant for the film.
Director John Lee Hancock said, 'The songs are so terrific. The
fact that we still hum them and sing them and know them
immediately speaks to the genius of the Sherman brothers.'
First released in 1964, the Mary Poppins original motion picture
soundtrack featured 14 original songs by legendary Disney
songwriters and composers Richard and Robert Sherman. The
soundtrack was the #1 album for 14 consecutive weeks in 1965,
maintaining the #1 position that year longer than the Beatles
(Beatles' 65, Beatles VI, and the Help! soundtrack), Elvis
Presley (Roustabout soundtrack), The Rolling Stones (Out of Our
Heads) and The Sound of Music soundtrack. The Mary Poppins film
garnered 13 Academy Award nominations and won five Os, two of
which the Sherman brothers received for 'Chim Chim Cher-ee' and
the film's original musical score.
Showcasing the musical talents of O-winning legend Julie
Andrews (Mary Poppins), beloved actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke
(Bert), British comedian David Tomlinson (Mr. Banks) and the
Sherman brothers, the second disc revisits five unforgettable
favorites including 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,' 'Chim
Chim Cher-ee,' 'A Spoonful of Sugar' and 'Feed The Birds.' Also
included are four previously unreleased pre-demo s
performed by the Sherman brothers: 'The Pearly Song
(Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious), 'Cim Chim Cher-ee,'
'Tuppence a Bag [Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)] and 'Let's Go
Fly a Kite.'
Richard Sherman added, 'Walt loved that song, 'Feed the Birds.'
He knew that was the keynote of what we had in 'Mary Poppins,'
the message that it doesn't take much to give love. And that's
what Bob and I were saying without saying it in those words. It
doesn't cost much to buy a bag of bread crumbs. We had touched
Walt with this very spiritual note. Every once in a while, he
would call us up and say play that. He didn't even have to say,
'Feed the Birds.' He would say play it and we would go to his
office and play it for him.'