
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" is a song written and composed by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston for the Walt Disney film "Cinderella" (1950). In the song, Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods) encourages her animal friends to never stop dreaming, and that theme continues throughout the entire story.
The theme of the song was taken from Franz Liszt's Etude No. 9 "Ricordanza" of the Transcendental Etudes. This song was also performed by Lily James for the soundtrack of the live-action version of "Cinderella" in 2015. In April 2020, Demi Lovato and Michael Bublé performed the song for The Disney Family Singalong on ABC.
"Dreams" as a recurring Disney theme.
Thematically, the lyrics recall the sentiments expressed in "When You Wish upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" (1940). In equating a dream with a wish, the song establishes that Cinderella is using the word "dream" in the metaphorical sense of desires that can, as the lyric promises, "come true." "When You Wish Upon A Star" makes this same promise, as does other Disney material, such as the fireworks show Remember... Dreams Come True and related promotions. The literal meaning of the word, as something that happens "when you're fast asleep", reappears in another Disney song, "Once Upon a Dream" from "Sleeping Beauty" (1959).
Release.
The original version appears on a CD of the original soundtrack, as well as several compilations. Ilene Woods with Harold Mooney and his Orchestra recorded the song in Hollywood on October 26, 1949. It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 31-0014B (in USA) and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog numbers B 9971, SG 272, HM 2753, JK 2679, SAB 7 and EA 3914.
The song has also been used as part of the opening titles of several iterations of the Walt Disney anthology television series, notably in the medley for "The Wonderful World Of Disney" (1969–1979) and in "The Magical World Of Disney" (1988).
Circle of Stars version.
The song was re-recorded by the Disney Channel Circle of Stars, a group of actors and actresses who have appeared in Disney Channel television series and original movies. The line-up was significantly different from that of their re-recording of "Circle Of Life" in 2003. This version was used in commercials for Disney on Ice from 2006 to 2010, and to launch the inflight music aboard international flights via Cebu Pacific airlines in December 2010.