"When You Wish Upon a Star"
Development[edit]
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. Disney decided that the song should play over the opening credits, and used as a musical theme throughout the film.[2]
In October, Edwards recorded the song as a "test take", because Edwards was cast as Jiminy Cricket, and at the time the cricket's role in the story was limited. When the producers decided to promote Jiminy to the narrator role, using Edwards' recording made sense as the title theme. In the film, Edwards' performance plays over the titles, and bridges into Jiminy's opening scene.[2]
Family Guy parody and lawsuit[edit]
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". A federal judge ruled against Bourne Co, stating that a parody of the song did not infringe on the company's copyright.[20]