We love us some Disney songs here at The Mary Sue, and yesterday a Twitter thread went into depth analyzing the types and functions of Disney songs that was truly impressive. The thread came from Twitter user Justin McElroy (no, not that one). While he shares a name with the famous podcaster, this Justin McElroy is a reporter for CBC Vancouver, and a serious Disney scholar.
nobody:
me: in the history of disney animated movies there have been exactly 18 types of songs, and i’m going to tell you about each of them
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
The first types of Disney songs, according to McElroy, are pretty familiar to us Disney fans. “This is the Movie” songs, which are self-explanatory, and the typical “I Want” songs.
I Want (26 entries):
– It is sung by the main character (exception: the Frozens, Ralph Breaks the Internet)
– It is a monologue, sung alone — or to animals! — expressing their greatest desires pic.twitter.com/H8aHIBZUz1— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Now, there are some quibbles here, mainly with the songs from Frozen 2, their placements in the narrative and insights are not quite the typical “I want” songs, but Frozen 2 isn’t a typical Disney film.
The next types are also pretty standard: “I’m the villain” and “We should bone.” The villain songs are, it should be noted, often some of the best in the movie. However, some songs like “Lost in the Woods,” didn’t quite fit the “I want” category. I’m not sure if “I won’t say I’m in love” fits here.
We Should Bone (17 entries):
– Never happens in the first-third of the movie (exception: One Song, Love is an Open Door)
– Can be a duet, monologue, montage, OR a separate character egging things on
– If a man is singing, he’s either egging things on, or in a duet pic.twitter.com/TgJFyAkzlX— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
And then there’s the “cheer up, kid” song, a category that makes sense, and is, again, a showcase for some great songs. Now here’s where we get into the really interesting stuff.
The core songs of great Disney movies are in the This Is The Movie/I Want/I’m The Villain/We Should Bone/Cheer Up Kid! categories, particularly once the Disney Renaissance starts.
But there are five other song types that are very important to the Disney canon.
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Can we also talk about how great it is that Pooh has so many songs here just about how much he likes eating? That’s why Pooh is the best.
Here’s My Deal (21 entries):
– It expresses a character’s their joie de vivre, often in a bragging way
– While the I Want song is about inner desires, this expresses outward joy
– It is sung by the main character or clear second, soon after we meet them pic.twitter.com/PO8GRbN7Ri— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
I like this a lot, and it fits all of these songs really well, as do the next categories …
Here’s Their Deal (13 entries):
– A character or two best friends is being described by another person or group
– Usually sung shortly after we meet the character (or Aladdin’s case, reinvention of the character)
– Often has elements of a montage & and an unseen singer pic.twitter.com/ZGufU78L2z— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Does the Reindeer song really fit here? Well, it’s fine. And after that, it’s time to cry. And dance!
Now, I’m not sure if the finale of Moana really fits here, but as we’ve talked about here, Moana is a really unique film in the Disney canon for the way it uses music as a finale. And could “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” work as a dance song too?
It’s Dancing Time! (11 entries):
– Sort of self-explanatory
– The protagonist never instigates the dancing, and if they’re in the scene, the dancing sort of happens around them
– generally serves as an intermission for the movie pic.twitter.com/njjEWruyaa— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Why must we remember the Tarzan song gorilla song? Why?
But now we get into some real rarities.
Montage (13 entries):
– It’s a montage. You know what a montage is.
– There are no great montage songs, only acceptable ones
– There were no montages before Hercules
– Half the songs Phil Collins wrote for Tarzan and Brother Bear were montages, and that was a poor choice pic.twitter.com/DNyyIZ7akx— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Again. Tarzan. Just why?
Some of these types are very specific to particular films or film types. But they still work for the larger structure, mostly.
Package Movie Shorts (13 entries):
– Hey, remember Melody Time and Make Mine Music?
– No? Well they were Disney movies that were just a bunch of shorts jammed together
– Lots of those shorts had songs
– Nobody cares about those songs
– But we’re including EVERY SONG, so pic.twitter.com/K1ehLsra6E— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
Here’s A One Note Character (7 entries)
– Is sung by or a minor character who usually only appears once (exception: the harp in Fun and Fancy Free)
– Is essentially a short “I Want” or “Here’s My Deal” song by someone you don’t care about
– Three Alice in Wonderland songs! pic.twitter.com/PkUFSHoxLT— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
And now a Disney specialty: The weird drug song! A classic! Justin didn’t include Fantasia in his study, but we could probably put all of it in the “drug song” category.
Life Lesson Time! (6 entries)
– Advice on how to live one’s best life is given
– It is always directed to the main character (exception: Scales and Arpeggios)
– I’ll Make A Man Out Of You is here
– Which is weird, because that’s a great song! And great songs don’t live here pic.twitter.com/jJOPQL2hpk— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
And now, finally, those songs that … it’s best not to talk about. There are some real stinkers in the problematic category, for sure. We could also put the entirety of Song of the South in here.
Problematic (6 entries)
– The only category filled with songs that used to be part of other categories
– Has not aged well!
– No, I will not be explaining this further, for what I hope are obvious reasons pic.twitter.com/wtWOSkjHiP— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
And there we have it. Amazing work, Justin!
This is the Disney Songbook Table of Elements.
It contains every single original Disney animated song, put in categories, organized by time era, and colour-coded for specific films. pic.twitter.com/Ay8s410ytZ
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
(image: Disney)
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