Retro Records: Let’s Hear It For Robin Hood (1974)

Friends, in my personal opinion there is much to love about Walt Disney’s animated adaptation of Robin Hood – which was originally released to theaters on November 8th of 1973. Besides marking the last film that the iconic Disney’s Nine Old Men would work together on – you had the voice talents of Peter Ustinov, Carole Shelley, Phil Harris, Andy Devine, Terry-Thomas, Patt Buttram, Brian Bedford, as well as Monica Evans. Many of those actors were truly legendary for being character actors and that is really just the tip of the iceberg – having said that there is another element that makes Robin Hood stand out and that is the music. Not just the score by George Bruns but the lively tunes written and performed by Roger Miller – the singer and songwriter responsible for the likes of “King of the Road” and who also voiced Alan-A-Dale in the film.

Now in the interest of being fair about Robin Hood – one can’t help but notice how many times the animation was duplicated from the likes of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Jungle Book and even The Aristocats. An understandable way to save the studio some money and it isn’t like it detracts from the fun of the film itself. While an LP for Robin Hood was released in ’73 – offering not just music from the films but narration and dialogue – it wasn’t until August 4th of 2017 that the full soundtrack was released to the public.

It turns out however that one year after Robin Hood had been released to theaters an entirely different type of record tie-in was produced – one entitled Let’s “Hear” It For Robin Hood that featured Louis Prima along with Sam Butera and The Witnesses. Not just a simple retelling of the story from the ’73 film either but one where Louis Prima portrays King Louie from The Jungle Book and regales the listener with how years ago he and Robin were good friends. Let’s “Hear” It For Robin Hood features 8 tracks with two popular songs from the animated film being included – “Phony King Of England” and “Love” – in addition to 6 new tunes written by Floyd Huddleston (The Aristocats).

Interestingly enough, the back of the LP for Let’s “Hear” It For Robin Hood makes a mention that Louis Prima was going to be playing the role of Louie the Bear in The Rescuers. I would assume the Robin Hood record was actually recorded at some point in ’73 because sadly the entertainer suffered a major heart attack that year – passing away in ’78 in fact – so in the end his character was cut out of the script for 1977’s The Rescuers.