When you wish upon a star it is possible that you wind up with a fun night of familiar songs, lots of laughs and toe-tapping music. Tonight's theme was Disney Tunes and I must say it was rather enjoyable. Joining us were Jen, Ken, Dan, Bill, Vin, Jack, Steve, Sam, Scott, Suzan, Christy, Lydia and Angie.

First up was I WANNA BE LIKE YOU from "The Jungle Book" submitted by Bill. I picked on him a little in the days prior, thinking his custom chord sheet (he added a cool walk down) had incorrect wording. And so he changed it. After watching the YouTube video I concede that he was correct in the first place. I'm sorry Bill. It's a fun song with elongated vowels and I will go back to this one to play it b-e -e- t--ter.

Next was IT'S A SMALL WORLD. Ken and I both suggested this one so I'm not sure whose chord sheet was used although it doesn't really matter. Easy fun song from the Small World ride at the Disney theme parks. Written after the Cuban missile threat for the 1964 World's Fair to promote peace and brotherhood throughout the world. You float through gondolas while watching a mechanical display of children in costumes from all over the world. The song repeats incessantly throughout the ride in every Disney park.

I never paid much attention to UNDER THE SEA from "The Little Mermaid" so when Ken posted the chord sheet Key West Karen gave him (and I do hope she and Bounce and their home are OK after storm - give us a sign). I listened to the song and decided I love it. Ukulele Mike has a nice video (different chords of course) so give it a try.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is about how Belle and the Beast have learned to accept their differences and in turn change each other for the better. Jen always finds nice songs that I am not familiar with at first look. Today was no exception but this one from Beauty and the Beast was rather pretty. I plan to go back to it.

On to A DREAM IS A WISH YOUR HEART MAKES from "Cinderella", also suggested by Jen. Here, Cinderella, who we all know was in a very difficult situation, is telling her animal friends to never stop dreaming of a better life. This was another pretty one to play.

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR from Ken was played slow and we enjoyed the nice chords. Written for "Pinocchio", it was song Jiminy Cricket sang to Pinocchio to encourage his desire to become a boy. It's also the iconic Disney theme song. In the original version of the movie Cliff Edwards, also known as Ukulele Ike, was the voice of Jiminy Cricket. He has been credited with increasing the popularity of ukuleles.

June, in absentia, suggested CHIM CHIM CHER-EE. A delightful song from "Mary Poppins" sung by Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Challenging chords that only a few were able to manage.

On to "Pocahontas" with COLORS OF THE WIND brought to us by Ken. Not difficult and if my memory serves, I think we all liked the results. It points out the viewpoint that EARTH is a living entity and how humankind is connected to everything in nature.

Dan and I contributed ZIP A DEE DOO DAH. Funny how we both thought it was sung by Jiminy Cricket in "Pinocchio". Wrong. It's from a live and animated 1946 Disney movie called "Song of the South". In fact it won an Academy Award for best original song. Go figure. The film was considered (and still is) controversial for it's portrayal of African Americans after the Civil War.

If you're still with me, Dan did a marvelous bluesy solo version of Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah that he remembered from his childhood. He comes up with such interesting solos and we love to hear him sing. Dan, befriend YouTube! I just might ask you to sing it again so I could record and enjoy whenever I want.

WOW this is a wordy piece this week. Well, the subject matter calls for it. Stick with me. Almost done.

Now on to THE BALLAD OF DAVY CROCKET from Vin. Here's one I knew by heart when I was a kid. With a my fake coonskin hat and my fake gun belt with red caps. I just loved the smell of those caps. But I digress. Introduced in 1954, this was sung by Fess Parker for the TV series "Disneyland". Very simple we did enjoy it.

Back to "Pinocchio" with I'VE GOT NO STRINGS. A quick fun one that Wendy Sue asked for.

Another from me, YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME written by Randy Newman for "Toy Story". I remember trying this 3 years ago when I first had a modest proficiency in only handful of chords. The results were not pleasant. I am considerably better now but there are still some issues. Bill said "this would be easy if you had a lot of Wite-Out!" And it did NOT get the easy button.

Wendy Sue via me: LET'S GET TOGETHER from "The Parent Trap" where Hayley Mills play twins separated at some point each living with one of their parents. Somehow they find each other and try to get their parents back together. That's all I remember. The song is fun, fast and easy. A good old fashioned rock and roll number. Yeah yeah yeah.

HEIGH HO from "Snow White" contributed by Wendy Sue. On the surface this looked easy and I was looking forward to it. But half way through the chords were wrong. Don't you hate that? Oh well.

Sam spontaneously suggested THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT. I will rank this as the best and most fun of the night other than Dan's solo. I did not know it was written in 1939. I think most of us know it from "The Lion King". Also known as In the Jungle, Wimoweh or Awimbawe as well as Mbube.

Our little newbie, Angie, asked if we could do PART OF THAT WORLD from "The Little Mermaid". Sam knew it and did a wonderful job. You're such a talented fellow Sam.

Wendy provided chords for BEAR NECESSITIES from "The Jungle Book". No one knew how to sing the verse but we all knew the chorus so we sang it about 10 times. Another "Oh well moment."

Dan commented that he was thinking of suggesting a song called Minnie's Yoo Hoo from the end credits of a Disney show called "The Mouse Factory" but it was too fast to figure out. After watching the video, Sam felt it wasn't nearly challenging enough so we changed the YouTube speed setting to 2x. He also gave us the tip that you can also slow it down.

And finally we come to the end of the evening with enough time to play THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB MARCH. This was Ken's idea but Bill gave us the chord sheet for the TV Themes jam last month.

Our next meeting will be two parts: A tutorial on the Circle of Fifths plus Elton John Songs theme jam.

Until then, you keep strumming,

-- Arlene