The Spectrum Song facts for kids
Quick facts for kids "The Spectrum Song" |
|
|---|---|
| Song by Paul Frees as Ludwig Von Drake | |
| Released | 1961 |
| Genre | Disney song, children's song |
| Composer(s) | Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman |
"The Spectrum Song" is a fun song written in 1961. It was created by the famous Sherman Brothers for Ludwig Von Drake. He is a cartoon character from Walt Disney. The song is mostly about different colors. But it also talks about some silly, made-up colors!
Contents
The Spectrum Song Explained
This song was made especially for Ludwig Von Drake. He is a smart, but sometimes goofy, duck professor. The song was meant to be his special tune. It starts by naming colors like red, yellow, green, and blue. Then it gets a bit wild! It mentions colors like cerise (a bright pink-red) and chartreuse (a yellowish-green). It even talks about plaid, which is a pattern, not a color!
How the Song Started
The song first appeared in a cartoon called "An Adventure in Color". This cartoon was shown on September 24, 1961. It was part of a new TV show called Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. This show was on the NBC channel.
The cartoon also introduced the character of Ludwig Von Drake. The song and the cartoon helped Disney promote his new TV show. It was a big deal because the show was in color! This was new and exciting for TV viewers back then.
The Sherman Brothers wrote "The Spectrum Song". They also wrote another song for the show's opening. It was called "Wonderful World of Color (Main Title)". The Sherman Brothers had just started working full-time for Disney in 1961. Before that, they had worked on other Disney projects, like Zorro.
What the Song is About
The song is sung by Paul Frees, who was the voice of Von Drake. It teaches about different colors and how they mix. The song does not directly mention television. But it does quote from an older song. It uses a line from "Lavender Blue".
Near the end of the song, Von Drake gets confused by all the colors. He then says, "Whatever happened to just plain old 'Lavender Blue, dilly dilly,' dilly dilly... silly?"
Colors and Music Notes
The first part of "The Spectrum Song" connects each color to a musical note. It is like the colors on a toy xylophone. For example, the word "red" is like the "Do" note. "Yellow" is like the "Mi" note. "Green" is like the "So" note.
So, the first four notes of the song make a major chord: Do-Mi-So-Do. This is sung as red-yellow-green-red. It is a fun way to learn about music scales. It is similar to the song "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music. The Sherman Brothers wanted to show that "Color has its harmony," just like music.
