The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2024
Disney's The Last Verse premieres an unheard final verse for Small World's 60th
For the 60th anniversary of 'It's A Small World', Disney debuted the song's never-heard final verse, written by its late songwriter.
Disney
What it had to solve
Disney needed to mark 60 years of 'It's A Small World' in a way that honored the Sherman Brothers' song and its worldwide legacy. The material for something genuinely new existed: a final verse the songwriter wrote before his death the previous year, which no one had heard.
How it works
'It's A Small World' has been sung around the world since the Sherman Brothers wrote it, and Disney wanted its 60th anniversary to honor that reach. The problem was how to mark a song so familiar that a tribute risks repeating what everyone already knows.
The campaign found something genuinely new: a final verse the songwriter wrote before his death the previous year, never before heard. 'The Last Verse' was released as a 60th-anniversary celebration, blending rare archival footage, home videos and newly filmed material.
Soundtree Music's head of music arranged the piece, weaving a diverse mix of vocals with original orchestral elements. The result paid tribute to the Sherman Brothers' legacy by adding one last voice to their most famous song; D&AD keeps the film in its awards archive under Sound Design & Use of Music.
Why it lands
- Premiering an unheard verse gives an anniversary the pull of a news event instead of the soft focus of a retrospective.
- The verse came from the songwriter himself, so the tribute extends the work rather than commenting on it from outside.
- Blending archival footage, home videos and new film lets the piece move between history and the present, mirroring the song's span of generations.
- Arranging the verse with diverse vocals and orchestral elements underlines that the song now belongs to the whole world, not one era.
What it did
The tribute introduced a never-before-heard verse into one of the most widely known songs in the world, giving the anniversary a first-time event rather than a retrospective. D&AD keeps the work in its awards archive under Sound Design & Use of Music; the page records no view counts.
What you can take
An anniversary does not have to revisit the past: when the creator leaves one last unreleased piece, premiering it turns commemoration into a discovery the audience hears for the first time.
Since then
The Last Verse was released for the song's 60th anniversary and is preserved in the D&AD awards archive, which credits Soundtree Music as entrant and Disney as brand. The archive page records no view counts or audience figures, so the case rests on the creative move itself: a first hearing of the songwriter's final verse.
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