The Age of Not Believing (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) Lyrics — Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Role in the story: Miss Eglantine Price names a problem the film has been circling - a child growing out of faith, right when magic needs it most.
2. Sound world: A measured ballad that leans on clear phrasing, gentle harmonic turns, and a lyric built like a pep talk that refuses to shout.
3. Where it appears: Introduced in the 1971 film, then carried forward into later soundtrack editions and the 2021 stage musical (with a reprise in the show).
4. What makes it land: The hook is not a big belt moment - it is a steady hand on the shoulder, timed to a character beat.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) - film song - diegetic. Sung by Miss Price in her cottage as she tries to reach the eldest child, who is old enough to sneer at spells but still young enough to need them. The moment sits early in the plot, right around the first serious attempts to make the bed travel, so the lyric doubles as instruction: belief is not a decoration, it is fuel.

I have always liked how this number refuses the usual Disney trick of distracting you with speed. Instead, it slows the room down. The melody arrives in tidy clauses, as if the writers are saying: if you want a child to hear you, do not perform at them - talk to them. That restraint is the real showmanship.

Creation History

Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman wrote the words and music for the film, with Irwin Kostal handling the broader scoring duties around their songs. A Buena Vista Records soundtrack followed in 1971, and later releases expanded and repackaged the material for CD and streaming listeners. The song also outlived the screen: when Bedknobs and Broomsticks was rebuilt as a stage musical for a 2021 UK and Ireland production, the creative team kept this ballad as a centerpiece and even gave it a reprise, a neat admission that the idea can be voiced by an adult and echoed by a kid.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

The plot is simple but strategically placed. Miss Price has three evacuee children in her care during wartime, and the eldest resists anything that sounds like fantasy. She names his attitude, sketches the loneliness it creates, and then pivots to a remedy: the child must learn to trust that something "wonderful" still exists inside him. In the film, this is not just comfort - it is a practical step toward getting the magic to work and moving the story forward.

Song Meaning

The lyric treats skepticism as a phase with a cost. It is not railing against growing up; it is describing what happens when a child trades wonder for self-doubt. That is the key twist: disbelief is framed less as intellectual maturity and more as a kind of shipwreck, a stranded state where you cannot even hear yourself think kindly. According to the Academy Awards listing for the 44th ceremony, the tune was taken seriously enough to earn an Original Song nomination, which makes sense because it is doing real narrative labor, not just filling airtime.

Annotations

"When you rush around in hopeless circles"

This is a sly opening image: motion without progress. The melody mirrors it by moving steadily but without flashy leaps, like a person pacing a room, trying to talk themselves into calm.

"You're a castaway where no one hears you"

The song briefly turns the child into a solitary figure. That metaphor is doing double duty: it captures adolescent isolation, and it also hints at why magic fails in the story - if you cannot be reached, you cannot be helped.

"Until at last you start believing"

The lyric does not demand instant faith. It promises a process, and the harmony agrees by saving the warmest resolution for the final stretch. That pacing is one reason the number feels persuasive rather than preachy.

Rhythm, style, and the vocal arc

Stylistically, it is a ballad that keeps its pulse polite. The rhythm does not tug or swing much; it just moves, letting the consonants carry meaning. The vocal line climbs in careful increments, so the emotional climb feels earned: skepticism, then weariness, then a cautious re-entry into trust.

Context and touchpoints

Set against a wartime backdrop, the message takes on a second layer: a country under strain wants certainty, but it also needs imagination to endure. The film never turns the idea into a lecture. It simply gives you a character who has to sing the lesson aloud before she can live it.

Technical Information

• Artist: Angela Lansbury
• Featured: Film character Miss Eglantine Price
• Composer: Richard M. Sherman; Robert B. Sherman
• Producer: Soundtrack credits vary by release edition; original soundtrack issued via Buena Vista Records
• Release Date: December 13, 1971 (soundtrack release date widely listed for the original cast album)
• Genre: Film song; ballad
• Instruments: Orchestra (film scoring palette) with voice-forward arrangement
• Label: Buena Vista Records (original album era); Walt Disney Records (later editions)
• Mood: Reflective; steady; reassuring
• Length: About 3:18 (streaming soundtrack timing commonly shown)
• Track #: Track 2 on the commonly listed soundtrack running order
• Language: English
• Album (if any): Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Music style: Narrative ballad with classic Disney melodic craft
• Poetic meter: Predominantly iambic-leaning conversational lines with occasional trochaic pushes for emphasis

Questions and Answers

Who sings it in the film?

Miss Eglantine Price performs it, and the vocal is credited to Angela Lansbury on the soundtrack releases.

What is the dramatic purpose of the number?

It reframes a child's cynicism as self-doubt, then turns belief into something practical the story needs for magic to function.

Why does the lyric focus on "doubting yourself" instead of just "doubting magic"?

Because the film is really arguing that disbelief is not only intellectual skepticism. It is also a habit of undercutting your own agency.

Is it more lullaby or lecture?

Neither, and that is the trick. The performance feels like counsel: calm tempo, clear phrasing, and a lyric that gives the listener room to change.

How does the melody help sell the message?

It climbs gradually, saving the sweetest resolution for the end, so the final affirmation feels earned rather than pasted on.

Did the song appear outside the film?

Yes. It has circulated on soundtrack reissues and has been recorded by other artists and vocal groups, including a recent Disney-themed release by The King's Singers.

Where does it sit in the stage musical version?

In the 2021 stage adaptation, it remains a major Act I statement and later returns as a reprise, letting the theme echo back from a different character angle.

Is there a "right" voice type for it?

It is often treated as a mezzo or alto-leaning ballad, though keys vary widely in published and backing-track editions.

Why do arrangers keep coming back to it?

The melody is sturdy and the lyric is direct, which makes it adaptable for choir settings, auditions, and close-harmony arrangements.

What is the one line that unlocks the song?

The ending turn toward believing in something "wonderful" inside you. It shifts the number from diagnosis to remedy.

Awards and Chart Positions

As stated on the Academy Awards site, the song received a nomination for Music (Song - Original for the Picture) at the 44th ceremony, tied directly to Bedknobs and Broomsticks. That recognition is a useful clue to how the industry heard the number: not as a throwaway interlude, but as a self-contained piece of songwriting with a clear dramatic job.

Mainstream singles-chart runs are not a major part of this song's public record. Its footprint has been sustained more reliably through soundtrack circulation, reissues, and the way vocal ensembles keep adopting it for new contexts.

How to Sing The Age of Not Believing

For a ballad like this, technique is mostly about control: long phrases, tidy consonants, and a steady tempo that does not sag. Common metadata listings place the soundtrack version around 108 BPM in G major, and published melody ranges are often shown roughly around B3 to C5 for a comfortable mezzo or alto setting.

1. Tempo: Set a metronome near the commonly listed pace and practice speaking the lyric in time. If the words do not sit cleanly, the singing will not either.
2. Diction: Prioritize the hard consonants in phrases like "hopeless circles" and "castaway." They are the rhythmic engine in a gentle orchestration.
3. Breathing: Plan breaths after complete images, not mid-thought. Think in sentences, not bars.
4. Flow: Keep the line moving through the quieter middle. The number is persuasive because it stays steady even while describing doubt.
5. Dynamics: Save the largest sound for the final lift into the affirmation. Earlier intensity should be conversational, almost confidential.
6. Vowels and placement: Use a forward, speech-like placement on "believing" so it does not turn heavy. That word has to sound possible.
7. Style: Avoid theatrical rubato for its own sake. A small push into climactic words is enough, the lyric is already doing the work.
8. Pitfalls: Rushing the setup, over-darkening the tone, or trying to turn the ending into a power finish. It is stronger when it remains human-scale.

Additional Info

One of the stranger compliments you can pay a Disney ballad is that it keeps migrating. This one has done exactly that. The song has been documented in multiple soundtrack editions, and the 2021 stage musical explicitly built a reprise around the central idea, as if the production team wanted the phrase to function like a thesis statement you hear twice, from two angles. According to LondonTheatre.co.uk coverage of the stage version, the show leaned on the Shermans' familiar catalogue while adding new material, but it kept this title as a recognizable anchor.

Covers tell a second story. A British band, Dodgy, performed it during a BBC Radio 1 session in the early 1990s, a case of indie musicians borrowing a Disney ballad because the writing is sturdy enough to survive a change of clothes. More recently, The King's Singers released a close-harmony arrangement as a streaming single tied to a Disney EP, which is a reminder that the melody can be both lullaby-soft and formally intricate, depending on who is holding the chords.

Key Contributors

Sources: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars ceremonies page), Apple Music album listing, D23 A to Z, The Guardian, LondonTheatre.co.uk, Wikipedia (film and stage musical entries), The King's Singers official site, SecondHandSongs