"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (which is also called "The Magic Song") is a novelty song, written in 1948 by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston. It was introduced in the 1950 film Cinderella, performed by the Fairy Godmother (Verna Felton). It was nominated for AFI's 100 years...100 songs, as one of 15 from Disney and one of 17 from an animated movie to be nominated. The ones that eventually made the cut were "When You Wish Upon a Star" (#7), "Some Day My Prince Will Come" (#19),"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (#36), "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" (#47), "Beauty and the Beast" (#62), and "Hakuna Matata" (#99).
Ilene Woods and The Woodsmen with Harold Mooney and His Orchestra recorded it in Hollywood on October 26, 1949. It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 31-00138B and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog numbers B 9970, SG 2371, HM 3755 and JM 2678.
A recording by Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters was the most popular. It was recorded on November 7, 1949 and released by RCA Victor Records as a 78 rpm single (catalog number 20-3607-B) and as a 45rpm single (catalog number 47-3113-B). The flip side was "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes". The recording reached #14 on the Billboard chart. The same single was released in the United Kingdom by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as a 78rpm single (catalog number B 9961). It was also released with catalogue numbers HN 2730, X 7279, SAB 8 and IP 615.
Another recording, by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae, was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 782. The record first reached the Billboard charts on December 16, 1949 and lasted 7 weeks on the chart, peaking at #19. It was backed with "Echoes" on the flip side.
On the Cash Box Best-Selling Record charts, where all versions were combined, the song reached #7.
This song was included in the videos Disney Sing Along Songs: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and Disney Sing Along Songs: Collection of All Time Favorites: The Magic Years. "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" was also one of the songs to which Ilene Woods auditioned for Cinderella. In the House of Mouse episode "House of Magic", Jafar and Iago use the famous magic spell Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo to return the House of Mouse after Daisy magically causes it to vanish, and were tricked by Mickey to receive Agrabah as a reward for their good deeds.
The lyrics of the song, as with the title, are composed nearly entirely of gibberish, featuring the title of the song. The 1948 recording, however, has several extra English lines that were not used in the animated film, including: "If your mind is in a dither, and your heart is in a haze, I'll haze your dither, and dither your haze, with a magic phrase", and "if you're chased around by trouble, and followed by a jinx, I'll jinx your trouble, and trouble your jinx, in less than forty winks." The tempo of the various recordings also differs widely.
Lyrics
Salago-doola
Menchicka boola
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together
And what have you got?
Bibbidi-bobbidi-Boo
Salago-doola
Menchicka boola
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It'll do magic
Believe it or not
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Now salago-doola means
Menchicka boole-roo
But the thingmabob
That does the job
Is bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Oh...
Salago-doola
Menchicka boola
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together
And what have you got?
Bibbidi-bobbidi...
Bibbidi-bobbidi...
Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Other Appearances
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
"Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" was arranged by Yoko Shimomura and used as the field theme for Cinderella's world, Castle of Dreams.
Cinderella (2015)
In this version, it was sung by Helena Bonham Carter. It can be heard during the credits of the film.
Parodies and Puns
- Akira Toriyama, creator of the popular anime and manga franchise Dragon Ball has stated that he is a fan of Disney films. As a result of his fanaticism, Toriyama has created three characters in his Dragon Ball series named after this song. The characters names were an evil wizard named Bibidi, his son Babidi, and the powerful demon they created, Majin Buu. Most Japanese merchandise spells Buu's name in the proper "Boo", just like the song.
- The song is also parodied on the Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain episode "Narfily Ever After", a parody of Cinderella.
- A parody version recorded by Mickey Katz is entitled "The Bubbe, the Baby, and You".
- In the Hercules episode "Hercules and the Gorgon", Hades used the word itself to turn Medusa human.
- In the House of Mouse episode "House of Magic", Jafar and Iago from Aladdin perform the song.
- One Palace Pet, Cinderella's pony Bibbidy, gets her name from this song.
- The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, found in several locations in the Disney Parks, is an obvious play on the song's title.
- The Platinum Edition of the film refers to the bonus features as "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Bonus Features".
- The song is referenced in one episode of the first season of the anime Little Witch Academia. The episode parodies the Cinderella fairy tail, with the three main characters using a spell to transform their school uniforms into dresses and a pumpkin into a three-man bicycle in order to sneek into a noble's galla, while the incantation for the spell being "Bubide-Bubbibabbi-Boo".