News Country Bear Jamboree is getting new songs and acts

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Nightmare fuel...
But I'm sure they patted themselves on the back for that ad.

Oh, there's worse! Disneyland's 30th anniversary tv special opening with the AA's sing about being excited of having *Ahem* "Relations"....Of course with alterations but the chorus...Is still the same..and oh soooooo wrong.

 

[Brer Panther]

Nightmare fuel...
But I'm sure they patted themselves on the back for that ad.

The creepy singing Grizzly Peak is what makes it.

Disneyland's 30th anniversary tv special opening with the AA's sing about being excited of having *Ahem* "Relations"....Of course with alterations but the chorus...Is still the same..and oh soooooo wrong.

Suddenly that Frozen Fun ad doesn't seem so bad anymore...

I like how they made that one pig from America Sings sound like Porky Pig. Please don't sue us, Warner Bros!

 

[Casper Gutman]

Classic Disney was family stuff, but it had an edge - one of the things that let it appeal across eras and across generations. It wasn’t saccharine. That edge was present in Bears, Pirates, Mansion, Cruise - all the great attractions.

In some cases, that edge caused genuine issues in which outdated material clashed with newer social and cultural standards. There were legitimate reasons to change the auction scene in Pirates, for instance - the problems were that the scene had become genuinely iconic and the chosen replacement was deeply stupid.

More often, however, we’re seeing a cowardly management balking in the face of two factors: we are in a neo-puritan age in which what is considered “family friendly” is absurdly narrow and popular memory incorrectly remembers Disney content as far safer and more infantile then it actually was. It’s a broader manifestation of what Muppets faces - Muppets always had a lot of adult-oriented material (they debuted on SNL, after all), but popular memory has forgotten that, so even relatively mild material is met by armies of outraged Moms.

Country Bears, as is, is a masterpiece. It’s very funny. I’m glad the bears are staying, but they’re about to be rendered toothless, just like much of modern Disney. Family content CAN have an edge, whatever cowering execs and Moms With Torches may say.

(And Song of the South was ALWAYS understood to be deeply problematic, that’s not a result of modern sensibilities - lest my point be misapplied)

 

[WondersOfLife]

Yes, I’d rather it be gutted than turned into a Disney singalong. I’d feel the same way if they decided to have the pirates in POTC start singing Let it Go or the ghosts in the HM singing Friends on the Other Side. Yes, these are Disney parks, but there’s already many, many other shows and attractions showcasing Disney movie songs. This is unnecessary and likely won’t move the needle for long on increasing guest count. If you want to change the script, then change the script, but this is not the way to reimagine what was once a unique attraction. At this point, it’ll be Philharmagic with animatronic bears and a twangy accent.

I don't disagree with you... And I used to be as passionate as you about these types of things...

But time to move on... I should have moved on 10 years ago. Took me a while.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Cmon if they don’t have “We don’t talk about Buford, no, no, no” in the new show, every creative on the project should be fired.

You guys do know that the songs chosen have to make a little bit of sense... Right?

I feel like this is mostly going to be 90s/early 2000s Disney music

 

[drizgirl]

Classic Disney was family stuff, but it had an edge - one of the things that let it appeal across eras and across generations. It wasn’t saccharine. That edge was present in Bears, Pirates, Mansion, Cruise - all the great attractions.

In some cases, that edge caused genuine issues in which outdated material clashed with newer social and cultural standards. There were legitimate reasons to change the auction scene in Pirates, for instance - the problems were that the scene had become genuinely iconic and the chosen replacement was deeply stupid.

More often, however, we’re seeing a cowardly management balking in the face of two factors: we are in a neo-puritan age in which what is considered “family friendly” is absurdly narrow and popular memory incorrectly remembers Disney content as far safer and more infantile then it actually was. It’s a broader manifestation of what Muppets faces - Muppets always had a lot of adult-oriented material (they debuted on SNL, after all), but popular memory has forgotten that, so even relatively mild material is met by armies of outraged Moms.

Country Bears, as is, is a masterpiece. It’s very funny. I’m glad the bears are staying, but they’re about to be rendered toothless, just like much of modern Disney. Family content CAN have an edge, whatever cowering execs and Moms With Torches may say.

(And Song of the South was ALWAYS understood to be deeply problematic, that’s not a result of modern sensibilities - lest my point be misapplied)

I don't think Disney's current purge is in response to "Moms with Torches".

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Do you think they'll just directly lift the songs or rework the lyrics with bear puns?

 

[PiratesMansion]

Do you think they'll just directly lift the songs or rework the lyrics with bear puns?

Directly lift the songs. We can't allow for nuance or creativity to sneak into this! If they do change the songs, it'll probably be to update problematic (or "problematic", as the case may be) lyrics and nothing more.

 

[LittleBuford]

I would be very, very surprised if they didn’t rework the songs substantially to make them humorous parodies.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I would be very, very surprised if they didn’t rework the songs substantially to make them humorous parodies.

And I'd say that there's a possibility your expectations may be too high.

Given that they apparently think they can just put the Hatbox Ghost wherever they want in the Haunted Mansion (and explicitly go against the logic of the attraction in the process), it wouldn't be shocking to me if they went with the most facile, toothless renditions of Disney songs any of us have ever heard.

 

[LittleBuford]

And I'd say that there's a possibility your expectations may be too high.

Given that they apparently think they can just put the Hatbox Ghost wherever they want in the Haunted Mansion (and explicitly go against the logic of the attraction in the process), it wouldn't be shocking to me if they went with the most facile, toothless renditions of Disney songs any of us have ever heard.

I know it’s popular in this forum to default to the most pessimistic reading of everything, but it’s just not an approach that I find fruitful or realistic.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I know it’s popular in this forum to default to the most pessimistic reading of everything, but it’s just not an approach that I find fruitful or realistic.

I'm not opposed to optimism where it seems warranted. But how did they do with the last sorts of makey makeovers?

POTC auction scene?
Pixar Pier?
San Fransokyo Square, featuring the world's most incompetently assembled bridge?
The beautiful Moana water thing that would have fit considerably better elsewhere?

They have not earned the benefit of the doubt.

 

[celluloid]

I'm not opposed to optimism where it seems warranted. But how did they do with the last sorts of makey-makeovers?

POTC auction scene?
Pixar Pier?
San Fransokyo Square?
The beautiful Moana water thing that would have fit considerably better elsewhere?

They have not earned the benefit of the doubt.

Test Track! XD

Exactly. The concern and frustration is warranted. Disney's moves are laurel based, to the point where they just retheme the laurels that they rested on. It is eating itself alive now.

 

[LittleBuford]

I'm not opposed to optimism where it seems warranted. But how did they do with the last sorts of makey-makeovers?

POTC auction scene?
Pixar Pier?
San Fransokyo Square?
The beautiful Moana water thing that would have fit considerably better elsewhere?

They have not earned the benefit of the doubt.

They’ve made other changes recently that I quite like. But again, I realise that the general trend here is just to assume the worst.

Back to CBJ, I remain confident that the songs will be reinterpreted. The original announcement promises just that (“the bears will be reinterpreting favorite Disney songs in different genres of country music”), though it’s not clear whether the reinterpretation will be lyrical as well as stylistic. My money’s on both.

 

[celluloid]

They’ve made other changes recently that I quite like. But again, I realise that the general trend here is just to assume the worst.

Just curious, what rethemes have you liked? And I don't think it is bad to realize that there is not much expectation when the majority have not been even close to home runs.
Three Cab is probably the only decent one for me, but I think more of what its original did correctly should have remained.

 

[PiratesMansion]

They’ve made other changes recently that I quite like. But again, I realise that the general trend here is just to assume the worst.

Back to CBJ, I remain confident that the songs will be reinterpreted. The original announcement promises just that, though it’s not clear whether the reinterpretation will be lyrical as well as stylistic. My money’s on both.

The problem I have with that assumption is that the Imagineers demonstrated with the previous CBJ overlays that they didn't understand the essence of the attraction and what made it work.

If they didn't get it then, it seems unreasonable to assume they will get it now.

 

[LittleBuford]

Just curious, what rethemes have you liked?

I’m a big fan of Runaway Railway (which I’ve ridden over at Disneyland) and consider it superior to the Great Movie Ride. I also think the Jungle Cruise modifications (again, I’ve only experienced them at Disneyland) were well done.

 

[LittleBuford]

The problem I have with that assumption is that the Imagineers demonstrated with the previous CBJ overlays that they didn't understand the essence of the attraction and what made it work.

If they didn't get it then, it seems unreasonable to assume they will get it now.

Time will tell. I’m choosing to remain optimistic in the interim.

 

[aladdin2007]

The problem I have with that assumption is that the Imagineers demonstrated with the previous CBJ overlays that they didn't understand the essence of the attraction and what made it work.

If they didn't get it then, it seems unreasonable to assume they will get it now.

true, one can hope though the team working on it gets it, or at least with Vaughn back in Imagineering things seem to be getting a little more on track than where they were. But I think this is more of a local Imagineering team effort, so yeah I can understand the angst.

 

[prberk]

A few thoughts:

The album, “O Mickey Where Art Thou,” that Disney released during the “O Brother Where Art Thou” craze around 2000, demonstrated that Disney can produce first-rate country/bluegrass interpretations of classic Disney tunes when they allow Nashville A-Team musicians, artists, and vocalists to produce it. That album involved folks in Nashville who had deep country roots and approached the project with passion. Look it up.

That said, they can also produce a fun, entertaining show that affectionately calls us to another time with or without “Disney” songs to bring us out of it. The original Country Bear Jamboree took us to an old fashioned “medicine show” style revue of “our musical heritage of the past,” to quote the show. It was well-researched and produced with obvious passion at the time by writers, artists, musicians, and voice actors who knew the genre, including western star Tex Ritter (“Big Al”) and the Stoneman Family, the patriarch of whom was at the 1927 Bristol Sessions - the historic recordings considered to be the first commercial recordings of Appalachian folk music that was to become recognized as “country music.” The first show, like this one, seemed to employ both Disney or Hollywood voice talent with country (and western) music professionals who knew the genre to produce a show that paid homage to Americana and the musical heritage of the past while being entertaining in a new way.

I think they could do that again.

Could the current show use an update? Yes. Are there modern folks in Nashville who can do music that pays homage to the past but have a foot in the present? Absolutely! (Marty Stewart, Riders in the Sky, and Opry band members who play with both classic artists and newcomers every week, for obvious examples.) Can Disney songs be involved? Yes. (Even the original threw in “Davy Crocket.”)

So, I would love to see an update helmed by Nashville artists along with writers and vocalists who understand the music and medicine shows of the past. That’s the beauty of it. It can even involve Disney songs. But I really wish it would not be a Disney song revue. Think of the Hoop De Doo Revue. It represents a similar time period — old western medicine show revues — and its value, just as Walt envisioned for his themed lands, is that of bringing us to a time and place with unique showmanship.

I don’t mind an update, and I trust that there are Nashville and Disney artists who can do it with passion and understanding of the genre and time period. But it should not be all Disney songs. It should be Americana songs representing our “musical heritage of the past,” with a little bit of “chit chat and flip flam,” to quote Henry.