Richard Sherman; Robert Sherman

The Sherman Bros were the Drake of their day—if Drake specialized in composing scores for Disney movies and didn't ever rap. Our point is: they were important, and really good at their jobs.

Richard and Robert Sherman wrote the songs for Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But don't try to peg them as strictly live-action guys. They also did the soundtracks for cartoons like The Jungle Book, Charlotte's Web, and The Aristocats. They popped out children's songs the way frogs birth tadpoles, or the way the Pillsbury Dough Boy gets his biscuit on: prolifically.

They also wrote a song that's gotten stuck in the heads of millions of people—got stuck, and never came out. Instead, the song burrowed into their brains like an alien centipede and took it over and drove them totally insane. We're talking, of course, about the black magic incantation, "It's a Small World (After All)"—featured on the famous ride at Disneyland and Disney World.

But the Shermans normally used their powers for good. And in Mary Poppins they wrote classic song after classic song. It actually took them two years to do it, in which time they wrote over 34 songs for the movie. Sometimes, the songs are pure fun—like "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Step In Time" and "It's a Jolly Holiday."

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" also tilts hard on the fun side of the scale—it actually came from a summer camp competition the Shermans entered in as kids, to find a word longer than "antidisestablishmentarianism," the longest word in the dictionary.

But other tunes go a little deeper...

For instance, "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Feed the Birds" express the movie's message. "A Spoonful of Sugar" is about how a little loving kindness helps make the harshness of life more tolerable, while "Feed the Birds" is a tender song about how easy it is to be kind—it just costs a tuppence to feed the birds.

Richard Sherman (not to be confused with the Seattle Seahawks cornerback) said, in an interview:

The song "Feed the Birds" has nothing to do with ornithology: it's about how it doesn't take much to give love.

He also said of finally seeing the movie:

But the best moment came when I heard Julie Andrews singing "A Spoonful of Sugar." I was crying because she was articulating the whole essence of the movie—which was about the power of love. (Source)

The songs carry the movie's light tone along. There's no gloomy or ponderous or sour note. The songs mainly convey joy—or, in the case of "Feed the Birds," tenderness. The Shermans weren't writing a Metallica album.

Their cheery labors paid off. In the end, The Shermans won the Oscar for Best Score, and "Chim Chim Cher-ee" won the Oscar for Best Song. They slipped the world "a spoonful of sugar" and kept it coming back for more. (Source)