Don Robertson (songwriter)


Donald Irwin Robertson was an American songwriter and pianist, mostly in the country and popular music genres. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. As a performer, he hit the US Top 10 with "The Happy Whistler" in 1956. The track reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart the same year. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
Although contracted to Capitol at the time of his biggest selling hit single, Robertson subsequently signed a recording contract with RCA Victor. He composed or co-composed with Hal Blair '', many hits for other musicians, including Elvis Presley who recorded over a dozen of Robertson's songs, five of which appeared in Presley's numerous films. He died in 2015.

Best known published songs

Notably, Robertson lent his piano-playing skills to the Disney theme park attraction Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. His instrumental song "Pianjo" is played by the audio-animatronic bear, Gomer as the attraction’s opening number.