Lyrical Thursdays: Pure Imagination

This week's Lyrical Thursdays was inspired by an awesome experience I had last Saturday.  A friend of mine was in town visiting, and we went with my older sister into Detroit to meet up with her friends at the Redford Theater.  It's an old theater, the last of the old cinemas of its kind in Detroit, and is really beautiful!

The movie we saw was "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and BONUS, the actors who played Charlie Bucket and Mike Teevee were there!!!!  All grown up!!!  (Charlie pointed out that the stretching machine clearly worked, because Mike Teevee is normal sized again...)  ;)

The theater was all decorated with Willy Wonka-esque decorations - funky balloons, big candy (not real), candy for sale (real, and necessary - it's impossible to watch that movie and not eat candy, especially chocolate), etc.  (Also, the candy, popcorn, and drinks there are all reasonably priced!!!  It was amazing to be able to buy candy for $1, pop for $1.50, and popcorn for about the same.  Take THAT big, overpriced theaters...)

Before the movie started, there was a guy playing all of the songs from the movie on the organ there in the theater.  He was so good!!

Plus, Charlie and Mike (alias Peter Ostrum and Paris Themmen), along with a guy dressed up like Willy Wonka (sadly not Gene Wilder), came on stage before the movie and during the intermission and talked about their experiences making the movie and memories from on set.  (My sister wrote more about that on her blog, which you can read here.)

The movie watching experience there was great!  Everyone in the audience was so engaged, gasping and clapping when (spoiler alert) Charlie found the golden ticket, and laughing at all of Gene Wilder's crazy antics.  (Seriously, that movie is realllly weird! But awesome!!!)  I loved every minute of it.*  

So, in honor of this experience, I thought I'd share the lyrics (and a video) of my favorite song from the movie - "Pure Imagination."  I love the words in the chorus: "If you want to view paradise/Simply look around and view it/Anything you want to, do it/Wanta change the world?/There's nothing/To it."  What a great message for kids (of all ages...) to hear!

Enjoy, and Happy Thursday!


Pure Imagination

Willy Wonka:
[Spoken]
Hold your breath
Make a wish
Count to three

[Sung]
Come with me
And you'll be
In a world of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin
With a spin
Traveling in
The world of my creation
What we'll see
Will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it

There is no
Life I know
To compare with
Pure imagination
Living there
You'll be free
If you truly
Wish to be

Composed by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley

*Disclaimer!!!  I know that you're probably way jealous after reading all about this, and are really cheesed off that I didn't invite you.  In my defense, I had no idea going into it that it would be this amazing! Next time, I promise I'll let you know.  And you.