It's a Small World, July 1977
Pretend you are sailing in your quiet, comfortable boat, riding through "It's a Small World". You can smell the chlorinated water, feel the smooth rush of current beneath you, and hear the infernal music drilling its way into your brain, where it will lay thousands of parisitic eggs.
In no particular order (because I'm lazy), here are some excerpts from the Disneyland Storyteller album: "The sky is filled with magic flying carpets gliding over the Middle East's brightly colored towers and festive market places, while down below dancers with tambourines entertain us." You get two countries in one with this slide.... Winston Hibler says: " India's mystery and beauty are represented by the lovely veiled girls dancing by the Taj Mahal. Across a cool pond, a youthful snake charmer takes up the song with his pipe." 
I stupidly labeled this slide "india", when it is in fact from the Bali portion of the ride. Once again quoting the storyteller record: "A many-armed golden goddess silhouetted in a temple door reigns over the beautiful land of Bali. Looking a bit like delicious birthday cakes, Balinese umbrellas shelter a variety of dancers and musicians - and one grinning Bengal tiger". They look like wedding cakes to me, so I must sue the Walt Disney Company. Pain and suffering, you know.
Our storyteller album fails us here, I could find no mention of the cheerful girls dancing in their grass skirts. Is this Hawaii? Tahiti? Does it just fall under the green leafy umbrellas known as "Polynesia"?
"Friendly llamas climb the peaks of the Andes mountains as we start up the South American continent. We hear a little Chilean boy playing on his reed flute. Gauchos and senoritas, balancing jars and fruit on their heads, add their Latin American rhythm to the theme".
And here's another one I'm not entirely sure about. It looks like Africa, but I couldn't find a track that described this exact scene. That giant totem in the back bears a striking resemblance to H.R. Pufnstuf! 
I used to listen to that storyteller album over and over as a child. It was fun to revisit it after so many years!
6 comments:
Always dug the vieled pin-haired sun hehe
i have that album, too! : )
these bright, colorful images are some of the nicest ive ever seen (mine are always too dark) so extra special thanks today!
I believe the record for the DL version of the attraction was the same as the one for the World's Fair version, but with a different cover. I think I read somewhere that the attraction was shorter at the fair and that they added some scenes for DL....possibly the Polynesian area? Maybe someone out there knows for sure....
TokyoMagic is quite right, the script for the record is for the World's Fair version, which had a slightly different configuration than the DL show.
I also had the record, which has an opening reference to the "Tower of the Four Winds". The description of the tower has nothing in common with the Disneyland facade* and when I was little, I was deeply puzzled by this. I didn't see a photo of Rolly's Four Winds Tower until I was in my 20's - only then did the record narration make sense.
*My All-American keyboard is a cedilla-free zone.
Post-haste Post Script:
Save your comments - I was not listening to Disney Children's records in my 20's, thank you.
I just have a very good memory. (It co-ordinates nicely with my vindictive disposition).
Now that you mention it, you are right about the mention of the Tower of the Four Winds. I listened to a digitized version of the album, so I skipped around trying to find the various countries. But I know that it does mention the TOTFW at the end.
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