By Lynn Lee
With the live-action remake of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast just around the corner, what better time to revisit the original animated masterpiece and its endlessly hummable songs? If you saw the movie when it came out in 1991 and happened to be a bookish, musical theater-loving little girl (or boy) at the time, odds are you got the soundtrack and learned it by heart. (I plead guilty on all counts.)
While I have no idea what happened to my copy, every beat and lyric – by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, respectively – are still firmly etched into my memory. I never saw the Broadway musical, which restored a song that had been scrapped from the movie (“Human Again”) and added several new songs by Menken and lyricist Tim Rice, but reportedly the new movie isn’t including any of the latter. Instead it’s adding four newly new songs by Mencken and Rice. However, fear not, fellow original Disney B&B enthusiasts: it appears that all of the Mencken-Ashman songs from the 1991 movie will be in the mix. As Cogsworth would say, “If it’s not ba-roque, why fix it?”
We’ll have to wait to debate the merits of the new songs but we can discuss how the original ones stack up against each other. With the caveat that this feels a bit like picking one’s favorite kid, here’s my ranking from lowest to highest...
Honorable mention: “Prologue”
Technically not a song, but it might as well be one. Shimmering strings drive a haunting, slightly mysterious opening melodic line that sets the stage for what’s to come, perfectly paired with a series of memorable stained-glass vignettes and punctuated by the indelible image of a rose under the glass globe.
6. “Gaston”
As a song: Hilariously tongue-in-cheek send-up of 18th-century machismo on steroids, set to a surprisingly catchy tune. Why isn’t it ranked higher? Too much Le Fou (a character who seems to exist only to be abused, at least in the 1991 version) and a little too much of a reminder of how awful Gaston is.
Narrative function? Mainly confirms what we’ve already picked up on – Gaston may be adored by the town, but he’s a vainglorious, narcissistic prick. Also, he eats too many eggs.
Best line/moment: “I’m e-spe-cial-ly good at ex-PEC-to-ra-ting!”
5. “Be Our Guest”
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afzmwAKUppU
As a song: A classic Disney showstopper, where the song is more of a backdrop to the dazzling visual pyrotechnics, which keep on escalating until, like Belle, you’re happily sated.
Narrative function? More of an interlude, but with what panache! After all, miss, this is France, and Lumière’s not going to miss a chance to put on a show.
Best line/moment: The salt shakers “snowing” on an unimpressed Cogsworth and a theatrically despondent Lumière reflecting on their long guest-less days.
4. “Mob Song”
As a song: Easily the darkest in the movie. But that’s what makes it so effective – rabble rousing at its best, or worst. (Also, is it just me or does it sound a little like a minor-key version of “Be Our Guest”?)
Narrative function? Sets up the final confrontation between the Beast and Gaston. You just know Gaston wouldn’t have had the guts to go by himself without a crowd at his back.
Best line/moment: “We don’t like / What we don’t / Understand, in fact it scares us / And this monster is mysterious at least…” Could be an anthem for our present times, alas.
3. “Something There”
As a song: A bright, sprightly little number, it sneaks up on you with its unexpected quiet sweetness – like the Beast. Says something that this, and not “Be Our Guest” or “Beauty and the Beast,” is the one I sang the most often as a kid.
Narrative function? Shows the evolution in Belle’s feelings for the Beast, and vice versa, and does so much more cutely and deftly than the typical movie falling-in-love montage. It’s almost enough to make you forget Belle’s, still, y’know, a prisoner. (Speaking of which, glad to see Emma Watson has at least thought about that aspect of the story)
Best line/moment: “Well, who’d have guessed they’d come together on their own?” The servants nod and smile hopefully at each other, as in the background Belle bests the Beast in a snowball fight.
2. “Belle” ("Little Town”)
As a song: Inspired by French operettas, it has a brisk recitative quality that catches and keeps your attention – the perfect accompaniment to the fast-moving spectacle of the morning hustle & bustle of the town.
Narrative function? Possibly the most efficient five musical minutes in the entire movie, it introduces us to Belle, the townsfolk, and Gaston, sketches their most salient character traits, and outlines the central narrative tension – between Belle’s lofty dreams and the more prosaic, circumscribed outlook of virtually everyone else around her.
Best line/moment: Lots of great gags in this one, but my personal favorite is Belle raving about her book to the sheep, because no one else will listen. (“But she won’t discover that it’s him / Till chapter three!”)
1. “Beauty and the Beast"
As a song: The Oscar winner, y’all, and one for the ages. The one you probably still remember and can hum even if you weren’t as obsessed with the movie as some of us were.
P.S. Nothing against Ariana Grande or John Legend, both of whom I like, but their version – cut for the new movie – can’t touch Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Potts for soulfulness. A fairer comparison is probably to the Céline Dion/Peabo Bryson version that was released with the 1991 movie - but I confess I prefer even that one, for all its gloriously overcooked early ’90s-ness, to the slightly dialed-back new take.
Narrative function? The emotional capstone of the movie – encapsulates the entire arc of B&B’s relationship in less than three minutes.
Best line/moment: “Bittersweet and strange / Finding you can change / Learning you were wrong.” A lesson for all relationships.
How would you rank the songs? Are you excited for the new version?