With The Princess and The Frog having made a good first step on the road back to the magical world of Disney musicals, it’s time to look back some of the best songs from Disney’s animated classics.
5. “The Circle of Life” from Disney’s The Lion King – This song never fails to stir up the emotions in me. In part from my memory of seeing the opening few minutes of the movie at a special screening (with Disney’s Jungle Book I believe). But also because it anchored the wonderful Lion King Celebration parade at Disneyland.
4. “Once Upon A Dream” from Sleeping Beauty – A classic song, taken from Tchaikovsky’s ballet suite, matched with some of the best animation Disney’s ever produced. As usual from the talented hand of Marc Davis.
3. “Some Day My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – There are only seven songs in Walt Disney’s first (and still the best) animated classic. Six of them rank among the top 25 or so Disney songs ever, so it’s tough to choose one for this list. I picked “Some Day My Prince Will Come” because it’s iconic for the whole company.
2. “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio – This song earned Disney their first Best Song Oscar. It still plays in the entrance to Sleeping Beauty Castle and it sums up the feeling all Disney fans are searching for in their love of the Disney brother’s creation.
1. “Home” from Beauty and the Beast, the musical. Yeah. This is a bit of a cheat. If I have to pick one from the movie it would be “Be Our Guest” (closely beating out the opening number “Belle”). Be Our Guest signifies everything the Walt Disney Company stands for when it invites the audience in to be a part of its stories. Home is the perfect song at that moment in the story; sung by Belle who is totally ready to sacrifice herself for her father even if it means she’ll never see home again. Definitely Disney’s most powerful song.
Of course, these are just my opinions. List your five favorite songs in the comments below.
Pretty good list there John. My personal top 5 are:
“Son of Man” from Tarzan.
“Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid.
“Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
“Belle” from Beauty & the Beast
“One Jump Ahead” from Aladdin.
Wow, is the fact that I grew up in the 90s ever apparent.
Oh to list only 5 would kill me! We listen to so much Disney music that I could no sooner choose Baby Mine over Feed the Birds or Step in Time over Second Star to the Right. Let’s go Fly a Kite and Be Prepared are often echoed around here as well(we are singing Mary Poppins as I type). I LOVE all your choices however I am going to have to look up “Home” as that is one I seem to be missing from the collection. But I will give you a list of Zoe’s favorite animated film scores …
5.Hunchback of Notre Dame- She likes the manic turns and gypsy feel of the score.
4.Tarzan- She likes the uncharted Island feel of Tarzan and feels the score matches that setting well.
3.The Lion King- She likes the powerful african feel and especially the power in the villainous parts.
2.Lilo and Stitch- laid back feel. Loves the Hawaiin influence. (she also has a soft spot for Chris Sanders)
1.Tinkerbell 1 & 2- If you have not watched these movies, go out and get them just for the music!! The scores are not available for purchase but are amazingly beautiful. We often put the movies on just to hear the score.
P.S. Not Animated but she has an honorable mention going out to Julie Andrews for her comeback performance of “Crowning Glory” from Princess Diaries 2
“Home” may be a cheat, but I absolutely love it, too.
My list would have to include “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from Hercules and “Whole New World” from Aladdin. Not sure what else would be on it at the moment.
Age of Not Believing.
Feed the Birds.
Best of Friends.
Baby Mine.
The Lord is Good to Me (or whatever it is titled).
“The Lord is Good to Me” is a great song- love Johnny Appleseed
My top five songs from Disney Animated Musicals – http://bit.ly/cRoGRY
What are yours?
Top Five Songs from Disney Animation http://ff.im/-jyFFC
Slight Menken / Ashman obsession here, so I’d go for A Friend Like Me. Whilst Disney continues to turn out some great songs, the musical world is just not the same without the late Howard Ashman.
Siamese Cat Song – Lady and the Tramp
Wonderful Thing About Tiggers – Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
I Just Can’t Wait to be King – Lion King
Poor Unfortunate Souls – Little Mermaid
Friend Like Me – Aladdin
Nice list, I agree ‘Home’ is quite the song.
My personal list:
“Kiss the Girl” – The Little Mermaid
“I Wanna Be Like You” – The Jungle Book
“You Can Fly” – Peter Pan
“Once Upon a Dream” – Sleeping Beauty
A tie between “Feed the Birds” and “Step in Time” – Mary Poppins
#1- Out There – Hunchback of Notre Dame
#2-Under the Sea – Little Mermaid
#3- A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes – Cinderella
#4- When You Wish Upon a Star – Pinocchio
#5- Little April Showers – Bambi
I would have listed “Eating the Peach” from James and the Giant Peach but I wasn’t sure if that was considered Disney Animation…
Listed: top five songs from Disney Animated Musicals – http://bit.ly/cRoGRY What are yours?
Whoa! Was not expecting that number one. When you Wish is definitely one of the best songs ever written- Disney aside. As for Home… Can’t say I’d put it in the top 30, but hey, it’s a unique and interesting choice. Good list.
1. When You Wish Upon A Star
2. Beauty and the Beast (theme)
3. Someday My Prince Will Come
4. Baby Mine
5. When She Loved Me
I love that you included “Home” as #1. What a great song.
1. “Go the Distance” from Hercules
2. “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas
3. “If I Never Knew You” from Pocahontas
4. “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo
5. “I’m Not Here” from Treasure Planet
6. “The Bells of Notre Dame” from Hunchback
7. “I Won’t Say” from Hercules
8. “Son of Man” from Tarzan
9. “He Lives in You” from Lion King Broadway
10. “A Star is Born” from Hercules
11. “Song of the Roustabouts” from Dumbo
12. “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again” from Home on the Range
13. “Santa Fe” from Newsies
14. “Candle on the Water” from Pete’s Dragon
15. “Just Around the River Bend” from Pocahontas
16. “Home” from Beauty and the Beast Broadway
17. “Everybody’s Got a Laughin’ Place” from Song of the South
18. “Little April Showers” from Bambi
19. “Part of Your World” from Little Mermaid
20. “Kiss the Girl” from Little Mermaid
21. “I Wonder” from Sleeping Beauty
22. “Oh de Lally” from Robin Hood
ok- I’m stopping- There’s so many good songs- it’s so hard. Obviously I love Hercules and Pocahontas soundtracks as a whole.
When You Wish Upon a Star
Baby Mine
God Bless the Outcasts
Colors of the Wind
Kiss the Girl
Candle on the Water
When She Loved Me
Age of Not Believing
Feed the Birds
Circle of Life
but there’s at least a dozen more I could add and they’re all interchangable with the possibility that anyone of them could be No. 1 depending on the day and my mood.
Great lists here. If I was to try and pick the top 5 Disney songs, not just my favorite, that list would look like this:
5. You’re Got A Friend In Me (Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3)
4. I Wanna Be Like You (The Jungle Book)
3. The Circle of Life (The Lion King)
2. When You Wish Upon A Star (Pinocchio)
1. A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella)
Here’s my list of 5 best songs from Disney Animated Movies in no particular order:
*Baby Mine
*When She Loved Me (can you tell I like the gut-wrenching emotional songs?)
*A Whole New World
*Circle of Life
*The Bare Necessities (I can’t believe no one else has this song on their list)
If we expand the list and make it about my all-time favorite Disney songs (from an animated movie or not), the top three songs are:
*Feed the Birds (yes, there was some animation in Mary Poppins, but the scene which included this song was not animated. So, I can’t include it in the first list)
*Golden Dream (from Epcot’s American Adventure. I always get choked up hearing this song. I’m a little choked up right now just writing about it)
*Nightmare on Bald Mountain (yes, it’s from a Disney animated movie, but it wasn’t writtn specifically for the movie so I didn’t feel justified about putting it on the first list. Besides, I would have to have taken one of those song off the list and I didn’t want to do it. So there, Nyaaa!)
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