Disney was a genius, we know, but what about his music? He has created a psychologically ambiguous soundtrack for grownups of music that was created for children.NYT
The record swirls with emotional crosscurrents, as mature artists with strong musical personalities revisit the childhood world of Disney songs and in many instances discover the darker sides of material that has traditionally epitomized lighthearted pop innocence.
Featuring Aaron Neville, Andy Rourke, Betty Carter, Bill Frisell, Bonnie Raitt, David Johansen, Garth Hudson, Harry Nilsson, James Taylor, Ken Nordine, Los Lobos, Michael Stipe, Natalie Merchant, Sinéad O'Connor, Suzanne Vega, Syd Straw, The Replacements, The Roches, Tom Waits, Was (Not Was) e Yma Sumac
Rolling Stones and Billboard rated as one of the best record
The songs on ''Stay Awake'' that have had the longest life tend to be those that cut the deepest. Anyone who treasures ''Heigh Ho,'' the indefatigably cheery marching song from Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' should be jolted by Tom Waits's ominous new version.
The Irish folk-rock singer Sinead O'Connor, in ''Some Day My Prince Will Come,'' cuts against convention even more sharply. She intones the ultra-romantic lyric with a sense of sour, contemptuous disbelief.
the Replacements' post-punk version of ''Cruella DeVille,'' from ''101 Dalmatians,'' Sun Ra & his Arkestra joining voices in ''Pink Elephants on Parade'' from ''Dumbo,'' work as novel zingers. Other cuts are shrewdly typecast. James Taylor's ''Second Star to the Right,'' from ''Peter Pan,'' is as intensely wistful as any of his own early 70's ballads. Aaron Neville ennobles the 1955 ''Mickey Mouse March'' with soul singing at its most ardently romantic.
