Let's Have Some Fun

April 10, 2014 was the 50th anniversary of a song that has been impossible to forget,"It's a Small World (After All)." Perhaps more associated in our minds with Disney theme parks, the song was actually composed by Richard Sherman for the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York. He thought that after the fair's run, that would be the end of the song. But after the fair closed, the song and its water based boat ride moved permanently to the Disney theme parks around the world and has now become the most publicly performed song of all time. The song's message of peace and brotherhood was influenced by the 1962 Missile Crisis. Walt Disney, who was designing many of the pavilions for the fair, including the one for Pepsi, wanted an upbeat song that could easily be translated into many languages and sung all over the world. Up until the recent closures of the Disney Parks around the world, it was estimated that during a 16 hour operating day of each park, the song was played 1,200 times. I thought of this song immediately after creating this image from one that I took at the local Balloon Festival in 2017. The app that I use to create these tiny worlds is called "Circular." I have had a lot of fun with it and have created several images, each that portray a little world in quite different ways. This one is probably the most whimsical one to date. I will be sharing others with you this week. The realization that our world really is pretty small has become more apparent during the Covid-19 world-wide crisis. Around the globe you can see posters reminding us that "We are all in this together." Maybe it would be a good time for Pepsi to resurrect its ad campaign using this catchy song. I think this upbeat tune and lyrics might be just the thing for us right now. In case you don't remember, here are the lyrics, and I'll be you can sing along, too.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears It's a world of hopes and a world of fears There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all It's a small world after all It's a small world after all It's a small, small world

There is just one moon and one golden sun And a smile means friendship to everyone Though the mountains divide And the oceans are wide It's a small world after all

It's a small world…