{"id":20097,"date":"2019-07-18T15:58:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T20:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/?p=20097"},"modified":"2019-07-19T09:07:22","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T14:07:22","slug":"30-disney-songs-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/2019\/07\/18\/30-disney-songs-ranked\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Disney songs ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>So, the <cite>Grauniad<\/cite> has an irregular feature where they rank the greatest somethings extremely incorrectly, so as to irritate people and start arguments. Today\u2019s was a ranking of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/music\/2019\/jul\/18\/the-30-greatest-disney-songs-ranked\">The 30 greatest Disney songs<\/a>, and they don\u2019t include \u201cCruela De Vil\u201d in those thirty, so that\u2019s all we need to say about <i>their<\/i> list. But it did spark a good deal of conversation, so here\u2019s an attempt on the part of Your Humble Blogger to rank 30 great Disney Movie songs.\r\n<p>To begin with, I\u2019m restricting the list to songs written for feature-length Walt Disney Pictures, and I\u2019m further restricting to a single song from each such film. This makes the list a good deal easier, and also in many ways less accurate, as it would be perfectly reasonable to have five of the Top Ten Songs be from <cite>Mary Poppins<\/cite>. Still, it seems worth doing this way.\r\n<p>The List:\r\n<p><strong>30-26: The Also Rans<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>30:<\/strong> \u201cTopsy Turvy\u201d (<cite>The Hunchback of Notre Dame<\/cite>)\u2014Not really a great song, although a great start to a second-rate movie.\r\n<p><strong>29:<\/strong> \u201cThe Age of Not Believing\u201d (<cite>Bedknobs and Broomsticks<\/cite>)\u2014An excellent song, but how much of it can you sing off the top of your head?\r\n<p><strong>28:<\/strong> \u201cEating the Peach\u201d (<cite>James and the Giant Peach<\/cite>)\u2014It\u2019s Roald Dahl\u2019s words set to music, and it\u2019s a great, great movie. But not really a great song.\r\n<p><strong>27:<\/strong> \u201cZero to Hero\u201d (<cite>Hercules<\/cite>)\u2014I\u2019m not even sure this is the right song from this movie, but I am not watching the movie again to find out.\r\n<p><strong>26:<\/strong> \u201cHe Mele No Lilo\u201d (<cite>Lilo &amp; Stitch<\/cite>)\u2014The thing about this movie is that the running joke is that it\u2019s all Elvis Presley songs, which don\u2019t count.\r\n<p><strong>25-21: Good Songs<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>25:<\/strong> \u201cFriends on the Other Side\u201d (<cite>The Princess and the Frog<\/cite>)\u2014The first appearance of Randy Newman on my list, I think.\r\n<p><strong>24:<\/strong> \u201cLet's Get Together\u201d (<cite>The Parent Trap<\/cite>)\u2014I\u2019m completely serious about this. Tempted to rate it even higher.\r\n<p><strong>23:<\/strong> \u201cMother Knows Best\u201d (<cite>Tangled<\/cite>)\u2014This is\u2026 um\u2026 the thing here is that I want it to be the witch\u2019s song from <i>Into the Woods<\/i>, and it isn\u2019t. But that\u2019s not really this song\u2019s fault, is it?\r\n<p><strong>22:<\/strong> \u201cFriend Like Me\u201d (<cite>Aladdin<\/cite>)\u2014This is not the correct song from this movie, but it\u2019s a much, much better song than \u201cA Whole New World\u201d, which I hate.\r\n<p><strong>21:<\/strong> \u201cOo-De-Lally\u201d (<cite>Robin Hood<\/cite>)\u2014This is downgraded a bit because it doesn\u2019t lift out of the movie well, but within the movie it really works.\r\n<p><strong>20-16: Ranked Too Low<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>20:<\/strong> \u201cTrip a Little Light Fantastic\u201d (<cite>Mary Poppins Returns<\/cite>)\u2014I have no idea whether this is ranked too low, or too high, or what, and won\u2019t know for another ten years. Right?\r\n<p><strong>19:<\/strong> \u201cHow Far I'll Go\u201d (<cite>Moana<\/cite>)\u2014This is ranked too low because I\u2019m too old; Young Persons can write their own damn\u2019 list.\r\n<p><strong>18:<\/strong> \u201cRemember Me\u201d (<cite>Coco<\/cite>)\u2014Also maybe ranked too low, but there\u2019s no way to tell yet.\r\n<p><strong>17:<\/strong> \u201cBibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo\u201d (<cite>Cinderella<\/cite>)\u2014This might actually be ranked too high, taking it as a song in itself, but it\u2019s one of the real Disney songs from one of the real Disney movies and might deserve to be in the Top Ten on that account alone.\r\n<p><strong>16:<\/strong> \u201cThe UnBirthday Song\u201d (<cite>Alice in Wonderland<\/cite>)\u2014We\u2019re getting in to songs that are steeped in my cultural consciousness, songs that I can not only sing off the top of my head but would find difficult <i>not<\/i> to sing on the appropriate occasions.\r\n<p><strong>15-11: Nearly Great<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>15:<\/strong> \u201cSeize the Day\u201d (<cite>Newsies<\/cite>)\u2014I didn\u2019t actually like the movie, and have no great feelings about the show, but c\u2019mon.\r\n<p><strong>14:<\/strong> \u201cUgly Bug Ball\u201d (<cite>Summer Magic<\/cite>)\u2014Burl Ives, y\u2019all! An unjustly forgotten great.\r\n<p><strong>13:<\/strong> \u201cLet it Go\u201d (<cite>Frozen<\/cite>)\u2014There is only so far down the list I can justify pushing this song.\r\n<p><strong>12:<\/strong> \u201cI'll Make a Man Out of You\u201d (<cite>Mulan<\/cite>)\u2014It has been proposed to me that this song is the reason that Gen Zed has busted off the gender manacles. While that\u2019s not so much true, it is a generationally iconic song, and that counts.\r\n<p><strong>11:<\/strong> \u201cBella Notte\u201d (<cite>Lady and the Tramp<\/cite>)\u2014If I didn\u2019t hate dogs, this might be in the Top Ten. I mean, this is both a great song in itself and a great moment in a great movie. And it\u2019s not on the Top Ten.\r\n<p><strong>10-6: Outstanding Classics<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>10:<\/strong> \u201cHakuna Matata\u201d (<cite>The Lion King<\/cite>)\u2014Someday, Nathan Lane will die, and for all his amazing career, the obituary will start with his role as the rat-thing from this movie.\r\n<p><strong>9:<\/strong> \u201cUnder the Sea\u201d (<cite>The Little Mermaid<\/cite>)\u2014I could have picked three or four other songs from this movie, but this is the one that really is stuck in everyone\u2019s heads.\r\n<p><strong>8:<\/strong> \u201cJust Like You\u201d (<cite>The Jungle Book<\/cite>)\u2014This gets extra points for Louis Prima and for having so many great cover versions, but loses some for the undeniable racism. Ah, well.\r\n<p><strong>7:<\/strong> \u201cHeigh-Ho\u201d (<cite>Snow White<\/cite>)\u2014Yes, \u201cSomeday My Prince Will Come\u201d is in some ways a higher achievement in songwriting, but someone in your office has sung \u201cHeigh-Ho\u201d to themselves on their way to work this week.\r\n<p><strong>6:<\/strong> \u201cEv'rybody Wants to Be a Cat\u201d (<cite>The Aristocats<\/cite>)\u2014I could have dropped this one further for being from a second-rate movie, but the song really is utterly wonderful.\r\n<p><strong>5-1: Indelible Greatness<\/strong>\r\n<p><strong>5:<\/strong> \u201cBe Our Guest\u201d (<cite>Beauty and the Beast<\/cite>)\u2014and now it\u2019s stuck in your head. Sorry.\r\n<p><strong>4:<\/strong> \u201cSupercalifragilisticexpialidocious\u201d (<cite>Mary Poppins<\/cite>)\u2014This is greatness. This is just greatness.\r\n<p><strong>3:<\/strong> \u201cZip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah\u201d (<cite>Song of the South<\/cite>)\u2014Yes, the movie is racist, and everyone knew it at the time. It\u2019s a disgrace, and it contains one of the best songs ever written.\r\n<p><strong>2:<\/strong> \u201cCruella De Vil\u201d (<cite>One Hundred and One Dalmations<\/cite>)\u2014The single greatest villain song from any of these movies.\r\n<p><strong>1:<\/strong> \u201cWhen You Wish Upon a Star\u201d (<cite>Pinocchio<\/cite>)\u2014There is a reason why the moment it came out, all the great singers took a whack at it. And they should.\r\n<p>And that\u2019s the list.\r\n<p>My somewhat arbitrary restrictions meant that \u201cThe Tiki Room\u201d and \u201cA Pirate\u2019s Life for Me\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s a Small World (After All)\u201d and the other great songs written for Disneyland parks did not get considered, which frankly made it easier on me. I would probably have preferred to include \u201cWho's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf\u201d and \u201cThe Wonderful Thing about Tiggers\u201d, both of which were written for short films, but rules is rules. Those rules also took out songs written for Disney television shows and later put into movie versions of those shows, such as Hannah Montana\u2019s \u201cThe Best of Both Worlds\u201d and \u201cThe Ballad of Davy Crockett\u201d. I also ruled out songs that were only played over titles rather than in the movie proper, or were not sung by characters, such as \u201cYou've Got a Friend in Me\u201d or \u201cThe Apple Dumpling Gang\u201d or \u201cImmortals\u201d (from <cite>Big Hero 6<\/cite>). And I did not include a song from <cite>The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/cite>, which was released as a Touchstone film and only re-released as a Walt Disney Picture when it was clearly successful, so that\u2019s why \u201cWhat\u2019s This\u201d isn\u2019t on the list. Similarly, <cite>The Muppet Movie<\/cite> was not originally released by Disney, so I didn\u2019t have to rank \u201cThe Rainbow Connection\u201d; there weren\u2019t any songs written for the Disney Muppets that made it into my 30.\r\n<p>That\u2019s a pretty impressive list, by the way. And what\u2019s even more impressive is that you could probably make up a playlist of thirty songs from Walt Disney Pictures that didn\u2019t make my list that I could also happily listen to.\r\n<p><I>Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,<\/I><br>-Vardibidian.\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Which Your Humble Blogger succumbs to temptation.","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-music-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20097"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20100,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20097\/revisions\/20100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/vardibidian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}