"What would I give if I could live / Out of these waters? / What would I pay just for one day / Warm on the sand? / Betcha on land, they understand / Bet they don't reprimand their daughters / Bright young women, sick o' swimmin' / Ready to stand!"
"Part of Their World" by Howard Ashman and Alan Mencken, from "The Little Mermaid" (John Musker and Ron Clements, 1989).
(reminder: @ryknight)
NEXT...
"Sometimes, I think / When I look up real high / That there's such a big world up there / I'd like to give it a try! / But then, I sink / 'Cause it's here I'm s'posed to stay / But I get so lonely down here / Tell me why's it have to be that way? / Up there, there's so much room / Where babies burp and flowers bloom..."
"Up There" by Marc Shaiman & Trey Parker, from "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" (Trey Parker, 1999).
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Three (with some NSFW language): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aOyQz1J6qg
"Do not explain the plot! / If you don't understand, then you should not be here! / Your money, is now our money! / And we will spend it on drugs!"
"Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife" by Mastodon, from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" (Maiellaro, Willis, 2007).
Just couldn't resist...
Don't bring your baby!/Babies don't watch this!
Love that video.
Nice to see some love thrown toward "Part of Their World." My daughters have The Little Mermaid in their A-rotation. If I'm in the room when this segment comes on I always have to stop and take it in. Ashman is sorely missed.
Another personal fave of mine is the slapstick comedy of "One Jump Ahead" in Aladdin. Not the same depth (pun intended) of "Part of Their World," but I value it for its old-school, Looney Tunes style physical comedy.
Rene Auberjonois as the chef in "Les Poissons" can still make me laugh so hard I cry. And "Kiss the Girl" is sublime -- the most romantic moment in all of Disney animation. (The showstopper "Under the Sea" is no slouch, either.) And in "Aladdin," it's too bad they cut some of the best lyrics from "Arabian Nights" after the initial theatrical release: "Where they cut off your hand if they don't like your face / It's barbaric, but hey, it's home!" C'mon, it's based on the tales of Scheherazade!
Don't ask how I know this, but I hear some fan spliced the original lyrics back in (since the soundtrack CD was originally released uncensored), and has released an XVID version on filesharing sites. I believe anyone who owns a legit copy of Aladdin already is morally entitled to watch this re-edited version, in every sense of fair use.
It's called the "I Want..." song in the trade, and yes, they knew what they were doing.
Look at the rhyme scheme for "Part of Their World." Cole Porter and Elvis Costello are the only lyricists I can think of (besides the late Howard Ashman) who even attempted something that intricate -- much less pulled it off.
Lorenz Hart.
"Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" expertly rhymes 'dyspeptic' with 'antiseptic'.
Stephen Sondheim's body of work has shows a consistency of excellence, especially when taking a look at his lyrics.
Sondheim is the only lyricist whose rhyme schemes are comparable in complexity (if not, superior) to those of Porter, Costello, and Ashman.
Many degrees more sublime than princess and the frog or any disney animation of the last ten years, I wonder what happened.
I wonder what happened.
well, Ashman passed away in 1991, for one thing, and as Jim implies, writing great songs isn't exactly easy.
True, I guess one person really can make a world of difference.
I think little credit is given to Alan Menken post Ashman days, which is unfortunate. There are some real gems in both the rhyme scheme and the arrangement in some of his movies. Take a look at "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," for one--notably the two songs "Heaven's Light" and "Hellfire". I think those two songs and the way they are sequenced and animated are sublime examples that Disney does have the potential to play mature themes into its films.
Menken's work in "Hunchback" is fantastic, but Stephen Schwartz wrote the lyrics for that film.
There's more depth to Princess and the Frog than meets the eye. It certainly stands on the shoulders of the early work.
More credit needs to be given to South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut. I think it stands above any of the live action musicals to come out in the last 10 years, as well as most mainstream musical theatre. Marc Shaiman is brilliant.
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