I begged my parents for the soundtrack and found new purpose in my drumming – trying to keep up with the song on the stereo.
#Fun disney songs to sing along to movie
I’m not sure I understood what was happening in the movie and I definitely wasn’t listening to Collins’ lyrics, but what imprinted itself on to my brain was his thumping groove, that soaring key change into the chorus, and a huge In the Air Tonight-worthy fill. I wanted to give up, until I saw Tarzan and heard Phil Collins belt out You’ll Be in My Heart over the credits. Somehow, my parents encouraged me to keep going, but nothing would click – my tiny limbs were like foreign, flailing entities. I was bashing away at a plastic kit, struggling to get control of my coordination while sounding like a brick being spun in a washing machine. Photograph: Disney/Allstarīack in 1999, five-year-old Ammar was busy beginning to learn the drums. Rachel Aroesti I’ll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan, 1998) In fact, I’ve found myself obsessively practising it all over again – and this time, I’m going to be word-perfect. Listening back 25 years on, I’m possibly even more taken with this beautifully made song which, like much great children’s entertainment, is far cleverer and funnier than it needs to be. The closer was a particular highlight: Zero to Hero from Hercules, a tongue-twisting, wittily anachronistic celebration of our protagonist (“person of the week in every Greek opinion poll!”) delivered via an ecstatically catchy gospel number performed with increasingly manic gusto by the Muses (played by five incredible female singers). I was, however, willing to watch Disney Sing-Along Songs on an almost daily basis: being both a lyrics person and my own insufferable taskmaster meant that trying to memorise the surprisingly wordy musical numbers of the Disney renaissance was very much my idea of fun. Whereas my sister was the kind of child who would happily plonk herself down in front of The Hunchback of Notre Dame for the 26th day in a row, my attention span has never withstood multiple viewings of the same film.
Performed during main character Max’s wild attempt at getting a girl’s attention, I still find its smirking spoken word and bold riffs tantalising and freeing, and hold it solely responsible for spending my 20s enamoured with the kind of men who wear sunglasses indoors. Powerline oozes electricity and finesse, and while I2I is the heart of the film, there’s something about the sleek posturing of Stand Out that made me giddy as a kid. Voiced by real-life New Jack Swing heartthrob Tevin Campbell, his hefty songs I2I and Stand Out were so impactful and euphoric that my childhood best mate and I still know all the words. Central to this is the character Powerline, a dog pop star modelled after a delicious blend of Bobby Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince (no, really). Notably, the film’s soundtrack bangs, laying the foundations for my lifelong R&B fandom. Growing up, I was obsessed with the video and its story of deep-seated insecurity and yearning to be seen (something to unpack in therapy, perhaps). My love for A Goofy Movie – a relatively obscure entry in Disney’s catalogue – is at this point inextricable from my personality. Laura Snapes Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid)
(Let’s ignore the fact that Ariel gives up her voice for a boy!) Growing up means growing out of The Little Mermaid, but I’ll still be at the multiplex in May, curious about what I hear in the new live-action version, 30 years on. “Ask ’em my questions and get some answers / What’s a fire, and why does it – what’s the word – burn?” Jodi Benson sings, on fire with yearning.
But Ariel wants even more than that – freedom, respect, knowledge. The scene where you see Ariel’s cavern of “ whozits and whatzits galore” is one of the most beautiful Disney animations, and her pride in them chimed with a fledgling age where you’re starting to build a sense of self through your own trinkets and toys. I wanted to be big, and Part of Your World, like many of the biggest Disney songs, is about hungering to have your potential fulfilled.
Although I was the big sister, I was the baby at junior school, where I’d skipped a year, and would become tearful and angry at being referred to that way. I was two-and-a-half when it hit VHS and it probably wasn’t ejected from the VCR for another two years, at least until my little brother was old enough to start making his own cinematic demands. I didn’t care for Barbie or princesses, just Ariel, a wily little outcast with miraculous hair.
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