Saturday, December 12, 2015

Disney Songs #25: Part of Your World to #23: You Can Fly



#25: Part of Your World

To Listen: Click Here

The Facts:
  • Composers: Alan Menken (music), Howard Ashman (lyrics)
  • Performer: Jodi Benson
  • Year: 1989
  • Key: F Major

Heard In: 
The Little Mermaid

Background:
A fantastic song that officially ushered in the "Disney Renaissance" and the rebirth of Disney animation.  To be sure, the animation and story in Mermaid was excellent, but it's the music that really sets it apart from previous offerings and gives the movie its soul.  In fact, the music from all these early Renaissance movies (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King) is Broadway quality, which is evident considering that all these movies have made it to Broadway.

#24: A Whole New World

To Listen: Movie / Cover

The Facts:
  • Composers: Alan Menken (music), Tim Rice (lyrics)
  • Performers: Brad Kane, Lea Salonga (movie) / Peabo Bryson, Regina Belle (cover)
  • Year: 1992
  • Key: several

Heard In: 
Aladdin

Background:
We continue with the "World" theme, and this one is another classic despite being less than 25 years old.  The scene where Prince Ali (aka Aladdin) and Princess Jasmine are singing this song and flying over Agrabah is the high point of the movie (at least not including every scene that Robin Williams is in).  The movie version is excellent, but I think the cover is even better. And how cool of a name is Peabo Bryson?  The answer: very cool.

#23: You Can Fly


The Facts:
  • Composers: Sammy Fain (music), Sammy Cahn (lyrics)
  • Year: 1953
  • Key: several

Heard In: 
Peter Pan

Background / Personal Connection:
We continue with the "flying over the city" theme, and this one's got all the Disney magic.  It's great music, and there's just something about the imagery and visuals of flying over nighttime London on to Never Land with Peter Pan that really captures the imagination.  In general, the Peter Pan movie is a lot of fun, though it doesn't hold up in the politically correct department in its portrayal of Native Americans.  And speaking of Robin Williams, it's hard for me to think of Peter Pan without remembering his amazing turn as a Lost Boy in the old Disney Animation show in MGM Studios.  I saw this numerous times as a kid and still found it funny even after knowing all the jokes in advance -- Robin was the best.

As for the Disney World ride, Peter Pan's Flight, it's a good one, but I'm always amazed at how long the line is -- it easily can get to a 75 minute wait for a ride that's over in about 2 and a half minutes. I remember as a kid when Disney would stamp your hand on the way out of the park how it was always fun the next day to see the stamps glow in the dark on rides like Peter Pan.

And this is my last "combined" post -- each of the top 22 deserve and will get their own write-up!

6 comments:

  1. Peabo Bryson had a few hits in the 80s but I remember him most from the 1985-1992 theme song of "One Life to Live", the daytime soap on ABC that I watched quite a bit of it during summers at my babysitter in elementary school. Here's the full song played at the end of several "One Life to Live" episodes--the "long song" that I always hoped they play during the credits. Always loved it....

    http://www.televisiontunes.com/One_Life_to_Live_-_1988_-_Ending.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good tune, thanks for sharing. The only soaps I ever saw came when I was 5 years old and my grandmother was babysitting me and she would put them on. And of course I'm a fan of the "long song" concept -- reminds me of another show I know and love. :)

      Delete
    2. I figured you'd make that connection to the "long song" reference. Sitting around at my babysitters as an elementary boy and hanging out with my mom on her early days off, I got into a few soap operas over the years. "One Life to Live" was the biggest. Even as a young adult, when I worked at a newspaper and lived a few blocks from the office, I went home for lunch and would often watch "All My Children" as I dined. They're pretty easy to get hooked on, but developments are so slow that it's equally easy to walk away out of frustration that storylines drag on for weeks and weeks with no resolution.

      Delete
  2. Also, I did like "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid". I was never able to get into animated movies the way I did live action films but I did enjoy that one and agree the music was excellent. I should point my uncle in the direction of this blog as when I was a boy he was a big fan of Disney animated movies and especially the films. I watched "Little Mermaid" at his place and he specifically pointed out this song as his favorite. And yes, this is the same uncle who taped "MacGyver" for me when I had Monday night religious education classes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's too bad that Ashman died right after Beauty and the Beast because he and Menken were quite a team and the likely successors of the Rodgers and Hammerstein/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical tradition (and amazing that they were able to do it in animated movies). Hope your uncle will enjoy the blog!

      By the way, I think I know now what my next blog angle will be after Disney (not Quantum Leap, but I will do that at some point) and I think it will be a fun one for the fans of this blog!

      Delete
    2. Looking forward to your new blog angle.

      Delete