A four-chord jingle selling international brotherhood, it begins with this verse: “It’s a world of laughter / A world of tears / It’s a world of hopes / And a world of fears / There’s so much that we share / That it’s time we’re aware / It’s a small world after all.” And then there’s that insistent, infernally unforgettable chorus: “It’s a small world after all / It’s a small world after all / It’s a small world after all / It’s a small, small world.”
If you’ve never been to a Disney theme park, you may not have heard “It’s a Small World.” If you have, no operation short of a lobotomy will extract it from your memory. There’s little debate that Patty and Mildred Hill’s “Happy Birthday to You” (originally “Good Morning to You”) has been performed more than any other song, but not in public if you do, and don’t pay royalties, the possessive copyright holders at Warner/Chappell Music will sue your pants off - and take all your birthday gifts, too. Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” introduced by Bing Crosby in 1942, has inundated the airwaves ever since, but for only a few weeks each year. alone, and many more in the rest of the world. Various sources cite the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” (1964) as having more than eight million plays on radio and TV, and The Beatles’ “Yesterday” (1965) with at least seven million in the U.S. And it was first heard 50 years ago this month. Yet “It’s a Small World,” also known as “It’s a Small, Small World” and “It’s a Small World (After All),” is very likely the most played song in music history - nearly 50 million times. There’s even a dispute over the exact title. It was never a hit single and got almost no play on Top 40 radio.