Rejected lines for Charlotte's Web (1973)
03-17-2025, 04:58 AM
In the 1973 film Charlotte's Web there is a song sung by Wilber and Charlotte shortly after the birth of Jeffery the gosling, where they sing about how all the farm animals aren't so different from one another.
You can (but don't need to) watch the original song "We've Got Lots in Common" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4ooGPAfps
This particular film beat was not penned by original author, E.B. White, so there had to have been a writer's room meeting to decide what lines they should use to talk about the things that the Charlotte (an orb weaver spider) has in common with Jeffery (a tiny baby gosling).
But the the very first line settled on was: "You've got feathers, I've got skin, but both our outsides hold us in."
Which I feel maybe defeats the purpose of a "We're not so different" song, if the best line you can come up with is like "yeah we've got innards that need to stay in there!" (also pretty sure goslings DO have skin?)
Charlotte chimes in later with another aphorism, "We share the sun, the earth, the sky, and that's the reason why/ We've all got lots in common where it really counts..." I suppose "we live on the same planet" is something they have in common.
What I'm really curious about is...what was it like in that writers room? What were all the rejected lines for this song that just aren't actually true for these friggin barn animals? And are there better lines we could swap out here?
Okay here's the line: "I've got bones and you do too, so I can stand right next to you."
Spiders have a chitinous exoskeleton and no need for internal bones.
F 
ck!
"I'll catch flies and you play in streams but both of us have the same dreams!"
As shown in the book, Charlotte's personal dream is to have hundreds of baby spiders.
...
Some spiders do experience REM-like sleep, but it is not believed that their "dreams" involve the same sensory processing mechanisms found in vertebrates.
....
You can (but don't need to) watch the original song "We've Got Lots in Common" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ4ooGPAfps
This particular film beat was not penned by original author, E.B. White, so there had to have been a writer's room meeting to decide what lines they should use to talk about the things that the Charlotte (an orb weaver spider) has in common with Jeffery (a tiny baby gosling).
But the the very first line settled on was: "You've got feathers, I've got skin, but both our outsides hold us in."
Which I feel maybe defeats the purpose of a "We're not so different" song, if the best line you can come up with is like "yeah we've got innards that need to stay in there!" (also pretty sure goslings DO have skin?)
Charlotte chimes in later with another aphorism, "We share the sun, the earth, the sky, and that's the reason why/ We've all got lots in common where it really counts..." I suppose "we live on the same planet" is something they have in common.
What I'm really curious about is...what was it like in that writers room? What were all the rejected lines for this song that just aren't actually true for these friggin barn animals? And are there better lines we could swap out here?
Okay here's the line: "I've got bones and you do too, so I can stand right next to you." Spiders have a chitinous exoskeleton and no need for internal bones. F ck! "I'll catch flies and you play in streams but both of us have the same dreams!" As shown in the book, Charlotte's personal dream is to have hundreds of baby spiders. ... Some spiders do experience REM-like sleep, but it is not believed that their "dreams" involve the same sensory processing mechanisms found in vertebrates. ....