Pink Elephants on Parade
Pink Elephants on Parade is the name of a segment, and the song played therein, from the Disney animated feature film Dumbo in which Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse, after accidentally becoming intoxicated (after drinking water spiked with champagne), see pink elephants sing, dance, and play marching band instruments during a hallucination sequence.
The song was written by Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington[1] and sung by Mel Blanc, Thurl Ravenscroft and The Sportsmen. The segment was directed by Norman Ferguson, laid out by Ken O'Connor and animated by Hicks Lokey, Frank Thomas and Howard Swift.[2]
After the sequence, Dumbo and Timothy wake up, hungover, in a tree. It is at this point that they realise that Dumbo can fly. The Guardian columnist Henry Barnes wrote that the role of alcohol in unlocking Dumbo's gift was "a terrible, adult message". He praised the sequence but argued that "Drunken pink elephants have no place in a children's movie".[3]
Covers
- The song was covered by Sun Ra. A recording of this arrangement is available on Stay Awake, a tribute album of Disney tunes played by various artists, and produced by Hal Willner. The song was also covered by Circus Contraption and Lee Press-on and the Nails.
- Daladubz samples the song in his dubstep song entitled Pink Elephants VIP.
- This song was re-recorded by Chicago-based electronic/industrial rock band V is for Villains.
- Bob's Burgers episode Art Crawl parodies the parade segment, as well as the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Test Stress".
See also
References
- ^ The American Film Institute (1971). The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States, Volume 1 University of California Press. pp. 663. ISBN 978-0-520-21521-4
- ^ Langer, Mark, Film History, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1990). Regionalism in Disney Animation: Pink Elephants and Dumbo , pp. 305-321
- ^ Henry Barnes (16 August 2013). "Why I love ... Dumbo's pink elephants". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
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