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Song of the Day #5,995: ‘All of You’ – Encanto test

Continuing my countdown of favorite Disney Animation movies following my marathon viewing of all 64…

My Top Ten Disney Animation Movies
#9 – Encanto (2021)

When Lin-Manuel Miranda gets the right material, the results are breathtaking. I’m not sure what happened on Sony Animation’s Vivo, which I found horrible, but the same year Miranda delivered one of his finest set of songs for Encanto.

This story of a Colombian family gifted with magical powers is beautifully animated and its story is touchingly told, but it’s the music that really elevates it.

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Song of the Day #5,994: ‘Lead the Way’ – Jhené Aiko

This year, my movie project was to watch all 64 Disney Animation feature films, from 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to this year’s Moana 2. It took me about 11 months to finish the job.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll count down my top ten of those films and offer up some other lists and thoughts on the catalog as a whole.

In compiling this list, I tried not to give any deference to historical importance. Snow White might be a groundbreaking achievement in the art form, one that paved the path for nine decades of excellence, but it’s a rather dull movie.

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Song of the Day #5,993: ‘Ringo’ – Lorne Greene

The 60s were a strange time, when Bonanza‘s Ben Cartwright could score a #1 hit with a spoken-word country and western song. That’s exactly what Lorne Greene did the week of December 1, 1964, when his ‘Ringo’ topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week.

Accompanied by a promotional recording explaining that the song was not about The Beatles’ drummer, this tale of the bond between a gunslinger and a lawman became an unexpected hit for a man whose other musical attempts were largely met with crickets.

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Song of the Day #5,992: ‘Teach Me Tonight’ – The DeCastro Sisters

Throwing back to the week of November 30, 1954, we find The Chordettes atop the Billboard chart with ‘Mister Sandman,’ followed by two more repeats: Eddie Fisher’s ‘I Need You Now‘ and Rosemary Clooney’s ‘This Ole House.’

In the fourth spot, on the way to a peak at #2, was ‘Teach Me Tonight’ by The DeCastro Sisters, a trio of Cuban-born siblings. This was the fifth version of the song to land on a Billboard chart between 1954 and 1955, and the one that made it the farthest.

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Song of the Day #5,991: ‘Slipping My Mind’ – Michael Penn

Husband of Aimee Mann, brother of Chris and Sean, talented singer-songwriter Michael Penn… now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.

To be fair, Penn did show up on a couple of Random Weekends about five years ago, so I’ve at least encountered him more recently than the others I’ve featured this week. But here’s a guy I used to listen to religiously, somebody with a sound and perspective that really hit home for me.

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