I admit I’m a sap and I adore beautiful melodies. Something about the Disney oevre seems to favor simple but touching, almost bittersweet songs, and that’s my weak spot. So at the top of my list are the classics in this genre:
The dream/wish trilogy:
When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella)
Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty)
(But not “I’m Wishing” from Snow White. That’s too saccharine even for me.)
Almost everything from Beauty and the Beast, which is my favorite Disney film by far, but to narrow it down:
Beauty and the Beast
Something There
Gaston
The rest of my favorites:
Bare Necessities (Jungle Book)
My Own Home (Jungle Book)
I Wanna Be Like You (Jungle Book) - boy, this show really rocks! Or jazzes, as the case may be.
Phony King of England (Robin Hood)
Not in Nottingham (Robin Hood)
Hellfire (Hunchback of Notre Dame) Made of Stone* (Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Baby Mine (Dumbo) - but more for the context than as a song by itself
This is from the stage version of the musical, sadly not performed in the U.S. The link goes to the incredible performance by Drew Sarich in the original Berlin cast. The song occurs after Esmerelda is arrested and Quasimodo is too scared / tortured to go out and help her. The gargoyles – who in this version aren’t comic relief but manifestations of Quasimodo’s imagination – try to convince him to change his mind, but he’s not having it. Check out that last note! Great, dark music you’d never expect from Disney, just like “Hellfire.”
Do cover versions count? Because Siouxie’s version of “Trust In Me” from the Jungle Book is ZOMG fans self
Anyway, yeah…almost everything from Little Mermaid, especially “Under the Sea” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls”.
From Aladdin, I like “A Whole New World” - but the version sung by the characters in the film, not the shmaltzy radio play version. (Actually, I like it best when I reinvision it with Aladdin’s part sung by an alto instead of a tenor - making it a love song between women really adds another layer of awesomeness.)
Man out of You, and the unused Alladdin tune ‘Why Me’ are big favorites of mine. I’ve recently developed a liking for ‘Friends on the Other Side’ from the new frog / princess thingamabob. I also have a great liking for pretty much everything off the Tarzan soundtrack.
Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. In addition to “Kiss the Girl”, I love “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid. (“Each little slug here/Cutting a rug here/Under the sea.”)
My other top numbers:
“When She Loved Me” Toy Story 2
“I’ll Make a Man Out of You” Mulan
“Colors of the Wind” Pocahontas
“Go the Distance” and “Zero to Hero” Hercules
“Our Town” Cars (by James Taylor)
Oh crapples! I knew I was gonna forget something. Yes, “Belle” should definitely be on my list too. A phenomenal way to set the stage for the film and introduce the heroine and villain.
I don’t have a favorite, there are just so many good ones.
Poor Unfortunate Souls
Kiss the girls
Gaston
I Won’t Say I’m in Love (this one would be my closest to favorite)
Reflections (This is the only one where I like the radio version better than the movie version)
Le Poisson (I sing this whenever I cook fish)
Up There (I love the beginning of that song. I love how sad Quasimodo sounds when he’s singing about how ugly he is).
To the OP: Funny that you were listening to Hellfire when you were, as I was too at the very same time!
“Hellfire,” from Hunchback, “Friends on the Other Side” from The Princess & the Frog, “The Mob Song” from Beauty and the Beast, and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins.
The latter, however, is because, in my mind, the end of Mary Poppins isn’t Mr. Banks suddenly learning to be close to his family; it’s Mr. Banks going absolutely batshit insane.
