I heard that they are closing down Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland. I can’t say I’m suprised. When the Pirates of Caribbean franchise took off, Disney added Jack Sparrow to the island. Since Tom and Huck were pretending to be pirates when they ran away from home, this seemed reasonable. The Island was still there when I last visited. The kinship I felt with everyone else willing to make the journey to the Island inspired me to write the song you see linked above.

Here’s a clip of Louis Armstrong playing on The Mark Twain steamboat from Disney After Dark in 1962. Johnny St. Cyr, Armstrong’s original banjo player from the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens served as the bandleader at Disneyland for many years.