On Wednesday, the Periscope community had the opportunity to “visit” the New York Botanical Gardens with Clay Aiken. While following the stream on the grounds, Clay sang some Disney music to us. He sounded great as he walked by the water!
On Thursday, one of his friends who visited the grounds with him, sent a tweet and Clay answered:
#Disney songs in my head this morning. @clayaiken, this is your fault. #MULAN #beaman
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The hashtag says it all!!
Silly? Yes…but I couldn’t help but think about Clay and Disney. I can hear Clay in my mind as he performs the song, Proud of Your Boy.
It reminds me of an interview with Alan Menken, the man who is said to be the musical genius of Disney productions. Besides writing the music for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, Alan wrote the music to Aladdin.
Scott Wolf at Mouse Clubhouse asked Menken many questions about his career as a composer. The answers allowed the readers to get to know more about the beautiful music and the composer behind it.
One of the last questions and its answer was wonderful to read:
Question: Do you have any favorite memories from all your work with Disney?
Answer: There’s so many, but I remember when we went in and they were re-releasing “Aladdin” (on DVD) and we went in and did “Proud of Your Boy” with full orchestra. It only existed as a piano vocal demo for like fifteen years, and then Danny Troob came back to do the orchestration and Clay Aiken came in and they started playing this song. You could feel it; it felt right out of what we had done for “Aladdin,” I was emotionally blown away.
I have always wished that Clay could sing more for Disney!
So…lets go back to 2004 and hear Clay sing Proud of Your Boy
Recording Proud of Your Boy
Rehearsing With Menken
This song is special to me, always has been. It always made me think of my son. Before and after he was gone. It's one of Clay's songs that I have on many of the CD's I have made for my traveling pleasure in my car. Love love love it!
Love this song!! I was always surprised Disney didn't use Clay for more songs in Disney movies.
I don't have a phone that can get the periscope app, so I'm missing out on all of the cool things on their site….DARN!!!
I love this song, too! Clay was the perfect choice to perform this classic Disney medley! I agree with Menken that Clay should do more Disney songs, I have the special edition of Aladdin DVD with OMC performing "Proud of Your Boy" on the special feature section! Song reminds me how proud I am of all my children 2 boys and 2 girls!
Clay did an excellent job on that song. His voice seems to be perfect for Disney movies. I sure hope one day we will all be able to hear him on the big screen….How wonderful would that be????
Love this song, Clay put his whole heart into it, I know his mom is very proud of him as we are too. Thanks so much Martha. xo
I'm so glad CANN is back. I also love this song – music and lyrics are wonderful!
This song still gives me the chills as Clay puts his whole being into the lyrics. No one could ever sing this song with more humanity. I imagine Clay was prohibited at the time via his "American Idol" contract to participate in any Disney films. He certainly would have been a fantastic addition!
In the future, I believe Clay's spending so much time in New York will provide him with a variety of opportunities, and we all know how multi-talented he is!!! I'd love to be his "fly on the wall"!