Free Download of a "Lost Chord"

Today you get to unwrap a D23-exclusive download of a song that didn't quite make it in to one of our favorite Disney movies!

Years before the Disney Studio staff reimagined Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows and Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow into The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), the story of Mr. Toad was originally planned as a stand-alone Disney animated feature. Lyricist Larry Morey and composer Frank Churchill, who previously collaborated on songs for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, penned several new musical numbers for the film—ones that were ultimately lost after the project was reduced to a featurette.

Decades later, while mining the Walt Disney Music Company storage vaults in preparation for his book series Disney's Lost Chords, Disney author, artist, and historian Russell Schroeder came across a song cut from the film: a festive Christmas carol by Morey and Churchill titled "The Bells of St. Bartholomew."

As part of D23 Days of Christmas, the MeloD23 Singers—comprised of Cast Members and employees from across The Walt Disney Company—recorded a special arrangement of this lost chord by composer and musician Marshall Bowen. We are pleased to share with you today a downloadable Christmas carol that we hope you and your family will enjoy!

The MeloD23 singers performing "The Bells of St. Bartholomew" at D23's Disney and Dickens in 2013.