Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

FROM : Original track listing of the “Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5” album

RELEASE DATE :  December 12, 1969 (album version)

LENGHT : 3:18 (album version)

LABEL : Motown Records

RECORDING DATES : May 1969

STUDIOS : Hitsville U.S.A (Motown Recording Studio in Detroit, Michigan)

SONGWRITER(S) : Ray Gilbert, Allie Wrubel

PRODUCER(S) : Bobby Taylor

RECORDING ENGINEER :

LEAD VOCALS : Michael Jackson

BACKING VOCALS : Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson.

MUSICIANS :

David Blumberg, David Van DePitte, Paul Riser, The Corporation – arrangements

ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS*

*Worked by MJ during his lifetime. Covers and remixes by other artists are not included.

LIVE PERFORMANCES BY MICHAEL JACKSON :

-August 11, 1969 : The Jackson 5 J5 perform the song at the Daisy’s Disco 326 Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for 300 guests invited by Motown including Berry Bordy.

-February 21, 1970 : The Jackson 5 perform “I Want You Back”, “ABC” and a medley of “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah/There Was A Time” on American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark.

-The song was performed during the Jackson 5 first national tour during summer 1970 including on June 20, 1970 (concert at the Forum, Inglewood).

SHORT FILM : No short film

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD : Not eligible

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

-Motown CEO Berry Gordy brought the group to Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. studio in Detroit, Michigan, and assigned them to work with Bobby Taylor as their producer. Taylor, who had personally brought the Jacksons to Motown, began having Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon record cover versions of current and past soul compositions, including many in the Motown catalog. Over two dozen of these recordings were done, including covers of songs by the Temptations (“(I Know) I’m Losing You”, “Born to Love You”), Marvin Gaye (“Chained”), Stevie Wonder (“My Cherie Amour”), the Miracles (“Who’s Lovin’ You”), and the Four Tops (“Standing in the Shadows of Love”). Among the non-Motown covers done were versions of Sly & the Family Stone’s “Stand!”, the Delfonics’ “Can You Remember”, and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from the Walt Disney film Song of the South. The Jackson 5 also re-recorded “You’ve Changed”, a song they first recorded in 1967 which was released on the B side of their first local hit single Big Boy for the Steeltown label before joining the Motown roster.

-“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” is a song composed by Allie Wrubel with lyrics by Ray Gilbert for the Disney 1946 live action and animated movie Song of the South, sung by James Baskett. For “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”, the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was the second Disney song to win this award, after “When You Wish upon a Star” from Pinocchio. In 2004, it finished at number 47 in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs, a survey of top tunes in American cinema.