3. Pirates of the Caribbean

In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson fatefully wrote some lyrics to a fictional song mentioned in Treasure Island. One of the lyrics was Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum. What Stevenson couldn’t have imagined is that the vivid imagery of a drunken pirate would resonate with a Disney Imagineer roughly 80 years later.

That Imagineer, an illustrator with no prior experience as a lyricist, would forever alter the nature of sea shanties. His name was Xavier Atencio, and Walt Disney randomly picked him to start writing song lyrics for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It was almost as if Uncle Walt could see the future and knew that his employee would stumble upon a chorus that would stand the test of time.

By now, you know the song by heart. Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me) is more than just a set of catchy lyrics. It’s also the loose inspiration for the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. The producers of the film even cheekily acknowledged this by giving Captain Jack Sparrow a famous quote that celebrates not just Atencio’s lyrics but also the original words of Stevenson. “Why is the rum always gone?” The answer is so that a pirate always wants for more.

2. Haunted Mansion

The ghosts, they are grim. The ghosts, they grin.

Such is the paradox of The Haunted Mansion as a theme park attraction. Is it supposed to be funny? Is it supposed to be scary? The answer to both questions is yes, as the Imagineers who developed the attraction had differing opinions about its core concept.

When tasked with writing the lyrics for this attraction, Atencio was on a hot streak after Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me). Emboldened by the success of that song, he became fearless in writing the lyrics for The Haunted Mansion’s theme song, Grim Grinning Ghosts. He understood that the ultimate appeal of the attraction was its marriage of the silly and scary. So, his lyrics reflect both sides of the debate.

One of the creatures is absolutely harmless. Consider this lyric: “silly spook may sit by your side shrouded in a daft disguise, they pretend to terrorize.” He only pretends. Others in the mansion aren’t so harmless. “Spooks arrive for the midnight spree, creepy creeps with eerie eyes, start to shriek and harmonize.” Atencio perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy of The Haunted Mansion through the lyrics of its theme song. I actually consider Grim Grinning Ghosts THE best Disney attraction song of all-time, but I can’t argue against the math that supports…

1. It's a Small World

“I need ONE song that can be easily translated into many languages and be played as a round”

That’s the fateful quote from Walt Disney that has changed the lives of many people. Once he delivered this message to the Sherman Brothers, his musical wunderkinds, the siblings returned with an unforgettable piece of music. You literally cannot forget no matter how much you may want it gone out of your head.

It’s a Small World as an attraction is permanently married to It’s a Small World the song. It’s a simple, repetitive set of lyrics that aptly mirrors the Little Boat Ride that Walt Disney created for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Time Magazine has named it as THE most played song of all-time. That makes it an easy choice as the best musical accompaniment for any Disney theme park attraction to date.