Main Street Electrical Parade - Music

Music

The Main Street Electrical Parade's underlying theme song is entitled "Baroque Hoedown." The original version was created in 1967 by early synthesizer pioneers Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. Originally, the parade's soundtrack had the same themes as the current recording, but was a different arrangement by Jim Christensen and Paul Beaver. In 1977, it was updated and arranged by electronic music artist Don Dorsey and Jack Wagner at Jack Wagner Studio, which was used until January 2009 in Disney's Electrical Parade.

The various float-specific counter-music heard throughout the parade quotes other songs. For example, the music for the Pinocchio units uses the melody from the song "I've Got No Strings" from Disney's Pinocchio film, while the music for the To Honor America units quotes several American patriotic songs.

When the parade returned to Disney's California Adventure in June 2009, it began using the updated, orchestrated DreamLights soundtrack from Tokyo, but with changes made as certain floats in the California parade are not included in the Tokyo parade. The soundtrack for the current version, the 2009 version of Disney's Electrical Parade, The Main Street Electrical Parade (currently running at the Magic Kingdom), as well as Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade DreamLights version were arranged, programmed and performed by Gregory Smith. Mr. Smith also arranged the music for Disneyland's Remember... Dreams Come True show (which also contains a snippet of the original Don Dorsey arrangement, which then concludes in a grand orchestral finale arranged by Mr. Smith) as well as Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations fireworks shows.

The soundtrack to the parade has been released numerous times, here are a few releases that contain the multiple versions of the parade:

• Main Street Electrical Parade (1973 soundtrack) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort)

• Main Street Electrical Parade (1977 soundtrack) (Disneyland & Magic Kingdom)

• Fantasmic! Good Clashes with Evil in a Nighttime Spectacular (1992) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort) - contains Return To Oz & Disneyland's 25th Anniversary floats, no character voices

• The Main Street Electrical Parade (1999 CD) (Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World)- parade soundtrack only, without character voices

• Les Parades En Musique (2000 CD) (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort Paris)- Show edit version

• Disney's Electrical Parade (2001 CD) (Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland Resort) - full parade soundtrack, character voices included

• Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights (2001 CD) - features two tracks, the first one is Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights, with Character voices and Sound effects and the second track is Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade, as well as character voices and sound effects

• Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights- Show Mix Edition (2001) - features two tracks, the first features character voices, sound effects, and the parade underliner and second one is just the orchestra soundtrack without character voices, sound effects, and the parade Underliner.

• Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights ~Christmas~- During the Christmas season at Tokyo Disneyland, the Electrical Parade gets a new soundtrack, it is mostly the same soundtrack with added Christmas songs, mixed in with the theme music. Features full parade with Character voices and sound effects.

• Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights (2011 Renewal Version)- features the revised 2011 version, includes the new Aladdin, Tinkerbell, and Toy Story Units, and a tweaked Pete's Dragon Loop. also includes Character voices and Sound Effects, and No Underliner.

• A Musical History of Disneyland (Disneyland Park, Disneyland Resort) - show edit version, character voices included

Don Dorsey used the following synthesizers to create the soundtrack: Moog Model III, Mini-Moog, Steiner-Parker Synthacon, Oberheim 8-voice, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Fender Rhodes Piano, New England Digital Synclavier II, Bode 7702 Vocoder, Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter, Yamaha DX7 and Yamaha TX7.

Jack Wagner provides the synthesized vocoder voice for the intro and outro to the parade. Don Dorsey took over after Wagner died in 1995 by adding the word "Disney" to the introduction and outro of Disney's Electrical Parade in Disney California Adventure Park. When the parade visited The Magic Kingdom in 1999, Bill Rodgers provided the synthesized vocoder announcement.

While the original soundtrack is played solely on synthesizers, the Tokyo Disneyland version utilizes a full orchestra with adult, teenage and children choirs in addition to harmonies and synthesizers. This version also includes Character voices in both English and Japanese. This version was also orchestrated, programmed, conducted, and performed by Gregory Smith. During the Christmas season at Tokyo Disneyland, the Electrical Parade gets a new soundtrack, it is mostly the same soundtrack with added Christmas songs, mixed in with the theme music.

The version of Disney's Electrical Parade at Disney California Adventure Park and current Main Street Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom utilizes much of the soundtrack created for DreamLights, with new loops created for the Cinderella, Pinocchio, and To Honor America units. However, the new soundtrack retains a more electronic sound than that of Tokyo's in that many of the orchestral parts of the DreamLights soundtrack have been replaced by synthesizers in this version. A new loop was created for the Dumbo sequence, however, this sequence was cut from the parade.