I guess I don't need to write a lot about Richard Sherman and about how though we've lost the man, the music he and his brother Robert wrote will last forever. Everyone will be saying that and everyone will be right. And there are already plenty of obits up like this one which tell of his amazing career, filled with dozens of achievements, any one of which would qualify him as an important part of American music.
So I'll just say it was just a delight and privilege to know this man, to talk with this man, to be in a room where he was performing a song you knew so well and that was so much an underscore (at least) to your life. He was so nice to everyone who wanted to meet him and so encouraging to anyone who tried to venture anywhere near the field in which he made his mark.
And he was so approachable and friendly. I remember being at a party one time and a lady — I have no idea who she was — had brought along her ukulele because she heard he'd be there and she wanted to accompany herself and perform the song "Pineapple Princess," which the Sherman Brothers had written for Annette Funicello. I can neither play nor sing but even if I was a master at both, I don't think I'd have had the nerve to perform a song for its composer.
But she did and I remember the absolute delight on Richard's face. He felt so happy and so honored. The lady was pretty good but you could tell that even if she'd been…well, as lousy as me, he would still have loved every moment of it. Because the lady had cared about it enough to learn it.
You all know his more famous songs, especially the ones in Mary Poppins and the ones scattered around Disneyland. But here's a performance of "Pineapple Princess" that I'm sure Richard would have loved. And if it were my song and ASCAP money was not a factor, I think I'd rather see it done like this than sung by Streisand…
And here's one of my favorite Sherman concoctions played and sung by Richard, joined by his brother Robert and some other guy. I'll let my friend Leonard introduce it…