Tomorrowland BGM [1994] - Raymond Scott

Status: Retired. Heard ca. 1994.

Running time: ~15:00

Playlist

01. Powerhouse
02. Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals
03. The Toy Trumpet
04. Moment Whimsical
05. Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner
06. Steeplechase

All tracks are sourced from The Raymond Scott Project, Vol. 1: Powerhouse (Stash Records, 1989).

Notes

Playlist compiled by sds910 and originally posted 04/2006 on Magic Music of the Mouse discussion board.

According to information posted 10/2004 (and repeated from an older post) on Magic Music of the Mouse: “When the rehabbed Tomorrowland first opened, it moved to the quirky beat of original Raymond Scott recordings. Scott was the prolific composer of jazz music that would later be remembered by most as being the underscore of several Warner Brothers cartoons. The 'B' section of his masterpiece 'Powerhouse' usually accompanied cartoon visuals of any assembly-line process or factory. After a number of months, the scratchy original recordings of Scott's work gave way to newly recorded music which sounded exactly like Raymond Scott songs but were in fact close approximations of the tunes, changed enough it would seem to avoid having to pay royalties. This music cheerily played for several months more, until it too suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced once again by the New Age loop which was played in the 'old' Tomorrowland. I was baffled, as Scott's tunes were the perfect aural counterpart to Tomorrowland's new look. And Esquivel's take on 'Harlem Nocturne' was still blaring away in Space Mountain's exit tunnel. Several years later I discovered the Raymond Scott website (raymondscott.com) and on a page detailing [with] public performances of Scott's works, found this entry: Tomorrowland - DisneyWorld[sic]: (Orlando, FL) six Scott Quintette compositions and recordings blatantly used as musical template for constantly-running soundtrack loop at renovated theme park attraction; infringement settled out of court (1995-96). So there it was – Disney was too cheap to pay for Scott's songs and was busted for it.”

Last updated 11/16/2022.