"The Beautiful Briny" is a song written by Robert and Richard Sherman, originally for the Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 film Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins (film)

Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by...

, but eventually used instead in the 1971 musical film

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 production Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a 1971 musical film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company which combines live action and animation and was released in North America on December 13, 1971...

. David Tomlinson

David Tomlinson

David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English film actor. He is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug.-Early life:Born...

 and Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury

Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...

 perform the song as a duet under the water, in the lagoon of the Island of Naboombu.

Thematic Placement

With a moment to garner perspective "far from the frenzy of the frantic world above", Browne and Price dance to the music of a 1940s night club orchestra. The orchestra is made up of sea creatures. At one point in the song, possible romance is alluded to.

Other Film Connections

"Under the Sea

Under the Sea

-Parodies:In 1991, this song was parodied by musician Tom Smith with his song, "On The PC". This song was re-written in 1999 as "PC99".The song was parodied on the TV show Kappa Mikey where Mikey tries to convince a squid to live on land with him....

" from the 1989

1989 in film

-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

 musical film The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (1989 film)

The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

(and which won the Oscar for "Best Song" that year) was thematically inspired by "Beautiful Briny" as both songs are, more or less, about the same thing.

Literary Sources

• Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond
  Walt's Time: from before to beyond
  Walt's Time: from before to beyond is a 252-page autobiographic, full color book by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. It was edited by Imagineers Bruce Gordon, David Mumford and Jeff Kurtti and was published in 1998 by Camphor Tree Publishers who are out of Santa Clarita, California...
  
  . Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.