The Best Time of Your Life

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"The Best Time of Your Life" is a song written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman in 1974 as a replacement song for the General Electric pavilion's "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" (a song which they also wrote). At different times, both songs were featured in The Carousel of Progress at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was later reintroduced to the revamped pavilion in 1993, retiring "The Best Time of Your Life."

1 1974 and the Sherman Brothers
2 History
3 Literary Sources
4 References

[edit] 1974 and the Sherman Brothers

The writing of this song marked a brief, albeit non-exclusive, return of the brother songwriting duo to the Disney fold where they had left exclusive employment in 1968. The Shermans worked exclusively for Walt Disney from 1960 until his death in 1966. Becoming disenchanted with the studio, the brother team left in 1968 working on a myriad of film and stage projects for various producers and studios. They returned briefly to finish work on The Aristocats and Bedknobs and Broomsticks for which they received two Academy Award nominations (for the latter film).

1974 also marked the return of the Shermans to Disney to write "The Glorious Fourth" which was written for the then, upcoming American Bicentennial celebrations at Disneyland. Temporarily transforming the "Main Street Electrical Parade" into "America on Parade", the revamped spectacle featured nightly fireworks and ran twice a day from 1975-1977.

In 1974 the Shermans enjoyed the release of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!, the third Winnie the Pooh featurette to spotlight their songs.

Outside of Disney, the Shermans also saw the release of Huckleberry Finn (MGM/UA) for which they authored both the songs and the screenplay as well as a hit Broadway musical, Over Here! starring the Andrews Sisters and John Travolta. The Shermans' song "You're Sixteen" (sung by former Beatle, Ringo Starr) reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 list all in that same historic year.

[edit] History

The song was written by Richard and Robert Sherman for the Carousel of Progress, one of four attractions Walt Disney and his Imagineers developed for the 1964 New York World's Fair. The lead vocal was by Rex Allen, Jr., a frequent Disney narrator who also provided the speaking voice for the Audio-Animatronic host of the attraction. When the Carousel of Progress moved to Disneyland after the fair, the song came with it. The attraction opened at Disneyland in 1967. In 1973, the Carousel of Progress closed and moved to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World to make way for Disneyland's new attraction, America Sings.

In 1974, General Electric, the sponsor of the Carousel of Progress, commissioned a new theme song, "The Best Time Of Your Life", also written by the Sherman Brothers. In 1982 GE commissioned a third song from the Sherman Brothers called "New Horizons", but in the end, opted not to use it. GE's CEO wrote a song instead. This change disappointed many fans of the attraction. When General Electric dropped sponsorship of Carousel of Progress in 1986, the newer song initially remained. But in 1994, Disney brought back the original theme, "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," and renamed the attraction Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. At that time, the song was rerecorded to feature the current voice cast, including Jean Shepherd as the Father character.

At Disneyland, the attraction that had replaced the Carousel of Progress, America Sings, closed in 1988. The building, known as "Carousel Theater," sat empty for ten years, until the new Tomorrowland opened on May 22, 1998. The new occupant of the Carousel Theater building, Innnoventions, pays tribute to the older attraction by reviving the 1964 song. Tom Morrow (the audio-animatronic host of Innoventions) sings it at the beginning, end, and during transitions of sets. This version of the song features new lyrics written by the Sherman Brothers in 1998, and is sung by Nathan Lane. The attraction is updated periodically to include newer elements, but still uses the original theme song between each transition. However, the different Tom Morrow scenes are not directly linked in a continuous show as the old attraction was. The original Rex Allen recording is the current exit music for the ASIMO show inside Innoventions.

The Sherman Brothers write in their joint autobiography regarding the history of the pavilion:

“

Three years after Walt Disney World openned, the Carousel of Progress moved east from Disneyland to Florida, and we were invited to write a brand new theme song: "The Best Time Of Your Life". In 1996, as a special tribute to the dreams of Walt Disney the Carousel of Progress was "updated" back to its original show, featuring our original theme song, "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow".^[1]

”