Raymond “Ray” Gilbert (September 5, 1912 – March 3, 1976) was an American lyricist. He is best known for writing the lyrics to the song “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah”, which won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Although the song originally appeared in the 1946 Disney film Song of the South, it has been used in a variety of other Disney productions since, such as the television program Wonderful World of Disney. Gilbert also wrote English lyrics for another Disney film, The Three Cabelleros (1944), which featured a number of songs translated from their original Spanish and Portuguese.
In addition to writing lyrics for a number of songs that were part of Disney films, Gilbert is known for translating many songs by Latin American composers into English, particularly those of Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. Gilbert also collaborated with American composers to produce several original hits, such as “In A World Of No Goodbyes” and “Drip Drop” with Hoagy Carmichael. He is also responsible for the lyrics for the 1965 Andy Williams hit “… And Roses and Roses.”