"The Life I Lead" is a song from the 1964

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

film '' Mary Poppins'', composed by

Richard M. Sherman Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brot ...

and

Robert B. Sherman Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...

. Music arranger

Irwin Kostal Irwin Kostal (October 1, 1911 – November 23, 1994) was an American musical arranger of films and an orchestrator of Broadway musicals. Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kostal attended Harrison Technical High School, but opted not to at ...

used the theme from this song as the leitmotif of George Banks, as it most expresses the way he "marches" through life. The song is first sung as George Banks (played by

David Tomlinson David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film, and television actor and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authorit ...

) marches through the front door of his home, on " isreturn from daily strife to hearth and wife". The song is reprised several times throughout the film, with Julie Andrews also singing a verse. The final reprise is sung when Banks thinks he has lost everything. The music is now more somber and is retitled, "

A Man Has Dreams "A Man Has Dreams" is a song from the 1964 Walt Disney film '' Mary Poppins'', written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. In both the motion picture and the 2004 stage musical, the song is performed as a conversational duet between Bert ...

". *Some lyrics of the song say: :Lyricist

was making an inside comment about his own life. Having just secured a position with the

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, he also purchased a home in Beverly Hills, California. The house is located at 601 North Oakhurst Drive. In the lyric, 6:01 is a reference to time. In the songwriter's personal life, it was the address of his home. Although Sherman moved away from the house in 1969, years later a more recent owner put up a plaque which reads "Casa Poppins" because it was in that house that Sherman lived during the writing of '' Mary Poppins''. The plaque is still at that location. *An adaptation of this song called "Precision and Order" is evident in the stage musical version. *It is through this song that the audience learns what year the story takes place. It is the only time it's mentioned in the film: "It's grand to be an Englishman in 1910 / King Edward's on the throne; it's the age of men!" The original books were set in 1934 but due to the film's great popularity, 1910 became the base point at which the stories took place. This new, preset date was later used to inform the 1930s setting of the 2018 sequel film, ''

Mary Poppins Returns ''Mary Poppins Returns'' is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series ''Mary Poppins'' by P. L. Tr ...

''.

Stage play

*'' The Life I Lead'' is a 2019 one-man comedy play written by James Kettle about

's life in which the title of the play refers to the song. The song is also sung in the play by

Miles Jupp Miles Hugh Barrett Jupp (born 8 September 1979) is an English actor, singer, and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian before playing the role of the inventor Archie in the children's television series ''Balamory''. He also played ...

who plays Tomlinson.

Literary sources

* Sherman, Robert B., '' Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond''. Santa Clarita, CA: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998. * Sherman, Robert B., '' Moose: Chapters From My Life''. Baltimore, MD: Orchard Hill Press, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Life I Lead, The 1964 songs David Tomlinson songs Songs from Mary Poppins Songs written by the Sherman Brothers