Warning: Minor SPOILERS for Disney’s live-action Snow White remake.Disney’s live-action Snow White found the perfect way to retool the 1937 original’s famous example of the Mandela effect to the film’s benefit. The new Snow White makes significant changes to the source material, both the animated classic and the original Grimm tale. It alters minor story elements such as what happened to Snow White’s parents as well as bigger plot details such as how the Evil Queen dies. But the biggest change is the inclusion of an almost entirely new soundtrack.
Like many Disney remakes, however, the most recognizable songs couldn’t reasonably be excluded without causing backlash. And given the already long list of Snow White controversies, the last thing the remake needed was to upset fans even more by ditching their favorite melodies. For nearly 90 years, one particular song — that is included in the remake — has reigned above all others as the original animated movie’s most enduring classic. Ironically, it’s also one of the most misremembered Disney songs of all time.
Many Misremember The “Heigh-Ho” Lyrics From Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
They Should Be Easy To Remember Given The Context Of The Song
It’s no big surprise that “Heigh-Ho” made it into the Snow White remake soundtrack. While the тιтular phrase has existed as an expression among the work-weary since the mid-16th century, most modern audiences exclusively ᴀssociate the phrase with Snow White’s seven friends returning home from the gem mines. Except that’s not technically how they remember the lyrics at all, since the Mandela effect has long caused many to sing the lyrics as “off to work we go.”
To be fair, those lyrics aren’t absent from the original film. However, they’re only uttered in the background toward the end, right before Snow White’s encounter with the Evil Queen and her poisoned apple. But the lyrics used in the song’s iconic first instance are actually “home from work we go“ as the dwarfs return from a long day in the mines. Luckily for those who primarily remember the Mandela version, the Snow White remake’s seven dwarfs cleverly find a way to incorporate the misremembered version to which many fans have grown accustomed.
Disney’s Snow White Remake Expands “Heigh-Ho” To Incorporate Both Versions Of The Lyrics
The New Version Serves As An Extended Introduction To The Dwarfs
One of the best changes in the Snow White remake is its extended version of “Heigh-Ho.” Paying tribute to the lyrics everyone fondly misremembers, the new version of “Heigh-Ho” begins with the dwarfs arriving for their shift at the mine. The song then proceeds to introduce their core personality traits, such as having Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman) repeat his classic diamond-eyed gag from the original film and Sleepy (Andy Grotelueschen) nearly falling from a cliff to his death on the jagged rocks below. They then return to their cottage with the original “home from work” along with visual callbacks to the 1937 movie.
Not all changes to the dwarfs have gone over as well. Many voiced explicit disapproval of their uncanny valley CGI, and there are undoubtedly some who dislike that Dopey talks in the remake. But Snow White gives audiences a little bit of time to get used to the new dwarf designs with this extended version of “Heigh-Ho,” and that was an extremely necessary change. The CGI is still discomforting, but at least the dwarfs’ longer introduction gives audiences a chance to adjust while enjoying a classic song.
