Mary Poppins [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

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Mary Poppins [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review

by William Ruhlmann

Prior to their 14-song score for Mary Poppins, songwriting brothers Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman were best-known for the Top Ten hits "Tall Paul" by Annette Funicello and "You're Sixteen" by Johnny Burnette. Mary Poppins changed all that. It won the brothers Academy Awards for best original musical score and best song -- for "Chim Chim Cher-Ee" -- and the soundtrack album won them a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV Show, as well as winning Best Recording for Children. The album also topped the Billboard LP chart for 14 weeks and reportedly sold 2.3 million copies in its first year of release. Of course, all this success could not be the sole result of the brothers' writing ability, as also expressed in memorable songs like "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)." A great deal of it could be credited to the many unnamed talents at the Disney studio, and not a little to Julie Andrews, who embodied the character of Mary Poppins so perfectly that she never really escaped it. But Mary Poppins had a lot of songs for a movie musical, no less than 13 separate numbers, and they were all very good, from Mrs. Banks' (Glynis Johns) declaration of "Sister Suffragette" to Mr. Banks' (Dave Tomlinson) transfiguration, "Let's Go Fly a Kite." The brothers had clearly paid attention to Andrews' stage triumph My Fair Lady, and not just to learn how to craft songs for her. They wrote what might have been a new song for that show's Henry Higgins character in Mr. Banks' statement of purpose as a self-satisfied British male in "The Life I Lead." But their primary influence was the popular music of the period in which the story was set, Edwardian England, specifically the British music hall style of the pre-World War I era. That gave them the buoyancy and glee of many of the numbers, but the wonderful melodies of songs like "Chim Chim Cher-Ee" and "Feed the Birds" were their own. And they benefited from an excellent cast that included Johns, Tomlinson, and Ed Wynn in minor parts, and Dick Van Dyke (sporting an awful, but nevertheless entertaining Cockney accent) in a major one. Best of all, of course, was Andrews, simultaneously warm and proper, bringing out the best in the material.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
1
Mary Poppins~Overture
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Irwin Kostal 03:01 SpotifyAmazon
2
Mary Poppins~Sister Suffragette
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Glynis Johns 01:45 SpotifyAmazon
3
Mary Poppins~The Life I Lead
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
David Tomlinson 02:02 SpotifyAmazon
4
Mary Poppins~The Perfect Nanny
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Karen Dotrice / Matthew Garber 01:39 SpotifyAmazon
5
Mary Poppins~A Spoonful of Sugar
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews 04:09 SpotifyAmazon
6
Mary Poppins~Pavement Artist (Chim Chim Cher-Ee)
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Dick Van Dyke 02:00 SpotifyAmazon
7
Mary Poppins~Jolly Holiday
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews / Dick Van Dyke 05:24 SpotifyAmazon
8
Mary Poppins~Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews / Pearlie Chorus / Dick Van Dyke 02:03 SpotifyAmazon
9
Mary Poppins~Stay Awake
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews 01:45 SpotifyAmazon
10
Mary Poppins~I Love to Laugh
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews / Dick Van Dyke / Ed Wynn 02:44 SpotifyAmazon
11
Mary Poppins~A British Bank (The Life I Lead)
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews / David Tomlinson 02:08 SpotifyAmazon
12
Mary Poppins~Feed the Birds
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews 03:51 SpotifyAmazon
13
Mary Poppins~Fidelity Fiduciary Bank
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Merchant Bankers / Dick Van Dyke / Nackvid Keyd / David Tomlinson 03:33 SpotifyAmazon
14
Mary Poppins~Chim Chim Cheree
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Julie Andrews / Karen Dotrice / Dick Van Dyke 02:46 SpotifyAmazon
15
Mary Poppins~Step in Time
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Dick Van Dyke / Mary Poppins Cast Ensemble 08:43 SpotifyAmazon
16
Mary Poppins~A Man Has Dreams (The Life I Lead)/A Spoonful of Sugar
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Dick Van Dyke / David Tomlinson 04:29 SpotifyAmazon
17
Mary Poppins~Let's Go Fly a Kite
Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman
Dick Van Dyke / David Tomlinson 01:54 SpotifyAmazon
18
Interview With the Sherman Brothers Includes Demo Recording Of
The Sherman Brothers / Robert B. Sherman 16:07 SpotifyAmazon
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Mary Poppins [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

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