As far as single songs go, I love “Two Worlds” from Tarzan; and " Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.
The entire Lilo & Stitch soundtrack rocked, even though nothing of it was original and written specifically for the movie. ( have no idea if He Mele No Lilo was firstly a Hawaiian song, or adapted. It’s the only song there with Lilo, or anything relevant to the movie in the title …)
Least favorite is anything from Pocahontas. I really dislike that movie.
The two greatest Disney songs ever produced remain “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “Feed the Birds”.
Rounding out to an even dozen:
“All in a Golden Afternoon”
“Belle”
“Colors of the Wind”
“I Wanna Be Like You”
“Little April Showers”
“Love”
“The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down”
“Under the Sea”
“What’s This?”
“When She Loved Me”
Honorable mention to Jerry Goldsmith’s magnificent underscoring of Mulan
10 worst:
“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”
“Chim Chim Cheree”
“I’m Wishing”
“My Funny Friend and Me”
“My Name Is James”
“Out There”
“Second Star to the Right”
“Siamese Cat Song”
“So This Is Love”
“You’ll Be in My Heart”
What is really strange is that one of the best songs “Cruella De Vil” from 101 Dalmatians is in a movie with very few songs but has a song writer as a main character.
Oh and The Jungle Book has some great songs as long as you ignore “We’re your Friends”.
Bear Necessities and I Wanna Be Lke You are really fun.
“Beauty and the Beast,” no question. Not only does it have the spectacular Jerry Orbach and the sublime Angela Lansbury, but the lyrics are some of the cleverest I’ve ever heard outside of Sondheim or Porter and Gaston quotes MacBeth! That right there is the reason I always give for why it’s my favorite Disney movie and soundtrack.
I can’t stand the movie, but darn if “Colors of the Wind” doesn’t make my ears perk up when it comes on.
Though if push comes to shove, I’d have to call it a toss-up between “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” (from Lilo & Stitch) or Robert Goulet’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend In Me” (from Toy Story 2) as my top Disney soundtrack single.
I’m gonna be the first (apparantly) to say Aladdin. It’s also my favorite Disney movie in general. I mean, you’ve got:
“One Jump” - Both the first time, and the reprise, which is just a few lines, but really gets ya’.
“Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” and both very fun songs.
“A Whole New World” is there for all those wishy-washy romantics out there.
And, of course, “Arabian Nights,”…like Arabian Days. And the original is the best,
“Where the cut off your ear if they don’t like your face,
It’s barbaric but hey, it’s home.”
Least? Pocahontas. Nothing good about that movie.
The Sherman brothers are going to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame later this year. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but they deserve it.
(P.S. Besides Mary Poppins, the Winnie-the-Pooh shorts, and the “It’s A Small World” theme, some of the Shermans’ best work can be found in a non-Disney film: Snoopy Come Home.)