Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell,[1] which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon Three Little Pigs, where it was sung by Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig (voiced by Mary Moder and Dorothy Compton, respectively)[2] as they arrogantly believe the Big Bad Wolf (voiced by Billy Bletcher) is not a serious threat.[2] The song created a market for future Disney tunes and led to a contract with Irving Berlin Publishing Co. that same year, securing the sheet music rights over Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies.[3] The song's theme made it a huge hit during the second half of 1933.[3] As Neal Gabler wrote in his 2007 biography of Walt Disney, the song "indisputably became the nation's new anthem, its cheerful whoop hurled in the face of hard times."[4] It remains one of the most well-known Disney songs, being covered by numerous artists and musical groups.

  1. ^ "WHO S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF". ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Three Little Pigs (1933)". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 16, 2008.
  3. ^ a b TIME magazine: Piglets' Tune, September 25, 1933.
  4. ^ Gabler, Neal (2007). Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 186. ISBN 9780679757474.