Feed the Birds
“Feed the Birds” … a new, solo piano arrangement of the timeless song featured in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins”.
Unlike the other music in that film, this song is peaceful – really a lullaby – and was the first popular song written about the act of charity. What better subject to be thinking about during the holiday season: a time for gifts of charity at the end of the year.
The song was written by the Sherman brothers, Richard and Robert. They specialized in music and songs for musical films and, in addition to this song, wrote the entire film score for this film. The song is about a poor, old woman (played by Jane Darwell in her last ever film appearance) who spends each day on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London selling bags of crumbs to people passing by so that they can feed the birds.
When the brothers played and sang the song to Pamela Travers, the author of the Poppins books, she thought it would be better sung by a woman. Even then, she continued not to favor the song. However, Walt Disney immediately realized the power and unique nature of this song. He (fortunately) managed to convince her to allow it to be used.
(Some of that interaction is covered in the film “Saving Mr. Banks” – which is a dramatization of the acquisition by Walt of the film rights and subsequent production of the film in light of Ms. Travers’ beliefs about how her story should be visualized and told.)
Not only was it used as intended by the Sherman brothers in the cathedral scene, but it also became part of the main orchestral overture score for the film.
It is rumored to have become one of Walt’s favorite songs and he apparently had the brothers perform it regularly for him in his office. The song became famous worldwide, translated into many languages and performed by many, many singers. The Sherman brothers won the Academy Award for their work on this film.
What better song could there be with which to start off celebrating the holiday season?
MUSIC INSIGHTS:
This song is written in ¾ time. It flows smoothly and evenly with the tempo of a typical lullaby. It begins in a minor key – with a bit of an initial overture section. From there it develops into an AB format with the A section being a mix of the original minor key and its relative major. The B section, perhaps the best-known section, is entirely in the relative major key.
I have arranged it with some variations in the melodic themes in addition to moving them up and down the registers of the piano. The accompaniment consists of chords arpeggiated in a narrow range to form a slight counter melody. There are a few moments of chromatic transition in the harmony but otherwise no differences from the original harmony.
I choose to vary the tempo somewhat and use rubato to capture the emotions of the original lyrics.
VIDEO INSIGHTS:
The video consists of scenes in which people are interacting with and feeding birds – just like one would expect given the song’s lyrics.
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“Feed the Birds” was arranged in early December 2023. It was performed on a Nord 3 piano and recorded using Ableton Live 10 with final voicings from sample libraries from Spitfire Audio and Native Instruments. The post processing and master mix was done with iZotope Ozone 9.
At some time in the future, it will be released for streaming.
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