[1] The original version was sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket,[1] and is heard over the opening credits and in the final scene of the film.
It was first released on a 4-record 78-RPM album set, and years later as one side of an LP, backed by selections from The Wizard of Oz.
Harline and Washington delivered "When You Wish Upon a Star" to the Pinocchio story crew in early autumn 1938, and they recognized it right away as a spotlight song that should be given prominence in the film.
When the producers decided to promote Jiminy to the narrator role, using Edwards' recording made sense as the title theme.
The song reached the top five in Billboard's Record Buying Guide, a predecessor of the retail sales chart.
Brian Wilson has said that the melody of the Beach Boys hit song, "Surfer Girl", which has the same AABA form,[6] is loosely based on the Dion and the Belmonts version of "When You Wish Upon a Star".
The song was covered by John Williams for Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
[citation needed] The song was covered by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons on his self-titled 1978 solo album.
"[11] In 1987, actor and singer Michael Crawford with the London Symphony Orchestra recorded a version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" for his debut album Songs from the Stage and Screen.
In December 2008, a number of prominent performers gathered for a concert called BBC Radio 2 Celebrates the Music of Disney.
"[14] To commemorate the centennial anniversary of The Walt Disney Company, Sara Bareilles recorded a cover of the song as part of the company's "100 Years of Wonder" campaign and was released as a single on May 14, 2023 after being performed live as part of Disney Night on season 21 of American Idol.
[18] The owner of the rights to the song, Bourne Co. Music Publishers, sued Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Company, Fuzzy Door Productions, Cartoon Network, Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane to try to stop distribution of a 2003 Family Guy episode entitled "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" that parodies the song in a version called "I Need a Jew".