Sheet Music Song Book from Finland

Something new for me, some sheet music from Finland!  Way cool.

Interesting that the title is listed in both Finnish (red) and Swedish (green).  Really bizarre color scheme on this, red green & white, everyone looks a little possessed.  Interior has music and lyrics for three songs in two languages.  Pretty damn cool and the only one I've ever seen.

English Sheet Music - How D'You Do and Shake Hands - Set Complete!

I love completing a set.  This is the very rare (and only recently confirmed to exist) English sheet music for How D'Ye Do and Shake Hands.

Similar to the US sheet, this title does not appear on the song list on the other sheets (in this case All in the Golden Afternoon)

but it does on its own sheet!  Does that mean that this sheet was produced after the others?

The world may never know.

Alice in Wonderland Tune-Dex Cards

When I first saw these, I thought they were those miniature sheet music cards used by marching bands in the attachments on their instruments.  But not so.  These are Tune-Dex cards.

What are Tune-Dex cards you say?  That is a very good question, and one that I spent some time finding the answer to, thanks mostly to an in-depth article on pop-song piracy in the Spring 2004 issue of Stay Free magazine, a portion of which is reprinted here with permission.

"In 1942, George Goodwin, a radio-station director, initiated a subscription service, the Tune-Dex, which he hoped would serve as a card catalog for the music industry, helping individuals in film, radio, recording, and advertising in the day-to-day routine of operations involving programming or licensing. 

The front of each 3- by 5-inch card gave the most familiar phrases of a pop-song melody, with lyrics and chord symbols--shorthand guides to piano and guitar accompaniment. 

The back of each card identified the copyright holder and the performing-rights agency controlling the song's licensing, and it gave references to published versions of the song.

In May 1942, Goodwin sent out the first monthly issue of 100 Tune-Dex cards. The Tune-Dex was a huge and immediate success, adopted industry-wide. 

It ran to 25,000 cards and ended in 1963 only because ill health forced Goodwin's retirement. (He died in 1965.)"

So, gentle readers, what we have here is a piece of pop-music history!  A small part of the music industry's card catalog of popular music if you will.

I've never seen any other examples of Tune-Dex cards from the Alice film, but there must be more out there somewhere, locked away in some radio station filing cabinet.

Orignial Release Sheet Music - Canada

Second new discovery of the new year, sheet music - from Canada!

I had always assumed the US and Canadian music was the same, but not so.  This copy of Very Good Advice just acquired proved me wrong.  Most notable of the differences is the lack of song writer credit in the title area.  And of course the Canadian company overprint in the lower right.  Compare this to the US sheet.

Only 22 years to find a single copy of Canadian music, I should have the complete set when I turn 180 years old...so probably won't happen.

French Multi-Color Sheet Music

Yesterday you may recall I showed what I think is the original release sheet music from France. Today we see another piece of sheet music from France that I don't really know anything about - not that I really know anything about yesterday's either.

This is one of a set of monotone sheets, where each title is a different color. So far I've seen three colors: green (All in the Golden Afternoon, Very Good Advice),

blue (Alice in Wonderland, In a World of My Own),


and red (I'm Late)

I do not own copies of The Unbirthday Song, Twas Brillig or March of the Cards. Presumably one of them is red, and perhaps there is a fourth color I've not seen yet for the remaining two (which would be nicely symmetrical), perhaps black, brown, yellow or orange.

The thing about these sheets that is so odd is that except for their size (roughly 2/3 the size of the sheet from yesterday) and the fact that these are printed on the world's cheapest paper, they are the same as yesterday's sheet. Same publisher, same address, same set of songs listed, same advert on the back for Cinderella music. So I really have no idea what these are. It is possible that these are from a later period, but seems unlikely since re-releases produced far fewer song sheets, usually only I'm Late. I suppose these could be an inexpensive variant, perhaps for schools or something. I'll probably never know for sure.

Original Release Sheet Music - France

More sheet music from the original release (I think), this time from France. Notice again the same artwork - or nearly. It is slightly more primitive looking, especially the Cheshire Cat.

Notice also the similar weird color scheme as in the American and Australian sheets - combinations of blue, yellow and green, although not exactly the same.

This is the only piece I've found that looks like this and is about the same size as the American and Australian. I have however found some other French sheet music that is more different still. Stay tuned tomorrow.

Original Release Sheet Music - England

Continuing in my lazy posting mode, we have more sheet music, this time from England. As with the American and Australian sheet music, all titles have the same art, although this time it is this bizarre two-tone orange and black (yuck).


The same eight songs are listed on the front as on the American and Australian editions, I do not know if there is the ninth title (How D'You Do and Shake Hands) as I have not seen one. I am missing only a single (known) title - Twas Brillig - to complete my set.

Notice also that there are two other items listed here - Piano Selection and Children's Album. Stay tuned for future posts!

Original Release Sheet Music - Australia

So I'm feeling lazy, and this seemed like an easy way to get out of a lot of scanning. The Australian version of the sheet music is identical to the US version - even has the same additional song not listed. Art is the same, size is the same, everything is the same except the price and the printer - D Davis & Co Pty Ltd rather than Walt Disney Music Company.


Also I don't have the full set of Australian sheet music, I'm missing the title song so that's a convenient excuse to not scan the full set too!

Original Release Sheet Music

Alice in Wonderland has more songs than any other Disney film. As such, it has a LOT of sheet music, although not every song in the film.

Sheet music from the original release has a fully illustrated cover - oddly in a three color process - and the same art is used for each title.

There are a total of nine songs issued as individual sheets, which is odd when you look at the list of available titles on the cover of each.

This title, How D'You Do and Shake Hands, is not listed on the cover but was (obviously) issued.

The other songs from the film that did not get a sheet are The Walrus and the Carpenter, A-E-I-O-U, Painting the Roses Red, and The Caucus Race.

The sheet of March of the Cards is particularly tricky, as it has an additional insert page that is often lost.

Original Studio Music Sheet - The Caucus Race

In honor of today's 57th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland receiving a nomination for an Academy Award^® for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, I present to you an original studio mimeo of the music for The Caucus Race.

I'm not exactly sure what the proper name for this is, but it is a large format (Life Magazine size) sheet music printed on one large piece of card stock, folded once. Reproduction is not great (those who remember mimeograph will recall what that looks like), but a cool piece of ephemera from the studio nonetheless.

Italian Song Book

Very nice song book from Italy "All Songs from Alice in Wonderland", from the original release, Edizioni Curci of Milan publisher, which is still in business today. Great cover art on this one. I've not seen individual sheet music from Italy as of yet, just this song book.

Has music from seven songs - Alice in Wonderland, In a World of my Own, All in the Golden Afternoon, I'm Late, Very Good Advice, The Unbirthday Song, Twas Brillig.

No interior art, just the music. Interestingly, lyrics are in both English and Italian.

I gotta get a larger scanner...any suggestions?