Someday My Prince Will Come

Frank Churchill composed this romantic waltz in November 1934 for Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the studio's first feature-length animated film, with lyrics by Larry Morey. Disney instructed Churchill to write something "quaint," and the result was a wistful melody in B-flat major sung by Adriana Caselotti as Snow White's bedtime song, later reprised twice more in the film. The song's atypical harmonic quality, built on a fragile chord structure that conveys longing and spontaneity, proved unexpectedly suited to jazz improvisation. A 1940s plagiarism lawsuit alleged similarities to the 1909 composition "Old Eli March," but the court ruled in Disney's favor after finding Churchill had created the melody independently, composing directly on paper rather than drawing from Disney's music library. The tune's transition from animated film ballad to jazz standard began in 1957 when both the Dave Brubeck Quartet, on the album Dave Digs Disney, and trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded jazz interpretations. Bill Evans recorded a highly regarded version in 1959, and Miles Davis titled his landmark 1961 album after the tune, cementing its place in the jazz canon. Churchill, who also wrote "Heigh Ho" and "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?," died in 1942 and never witnessed the song's second life as an improvisational vehicle. The Snow White score received an honorary Academy Award nomination, and the tune remains one of the most frequently performed Disney compositions in jazz.