WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy (Un)Birthday to Alice in Wonderland

 

On this day, July 26 in 1951, Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Walt's feature length animated adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, premiered in London.

The film would open in New York two days later and start playing in theaters around the rest of the country in September. So, unless you're British, I guess today would be Alice in Wonderland's UN-birthday.

Let's celebrate by going down the rabbit hole and playing some Alice-related songs, starting with this sappy little 1963 schlock-rock hit from Neil Sedaka:

Of course, I prefer this 1954 R&B ode to one of the most beloved characters in Alice, "Tweedle Dee." (The song mentions his brother "Tweedle Dum," as well as another Disney character, Jimminy Cricket:

Five decades later, Bob Dylan would honor both brothers with "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum." Here we learn the sad and bitter fate of the two ("Tweedle-Dee Dee is a lowdown, sorry old man / Tweedle-Dee Dum, he'll stab you where you stand") Here's the song from Dylan's 2001 album Love & Theft:

Of course if you want to know the best-known Alice song you'll have to go ask Grace, Grace Slick of the Jefferson Airplane, that is. Here's a worthy cover version of that from another San Francisco-area band, Shannon & The Clams, who recorded it in 2012.

So happy (un)birthday, Alice. You're always welcome on this blog, because, as they say, we're all mad here!