Hello and welcome to back to Music Fridays. Today on Music Fridays, I'll be taking a look at 5 songs from the Toy Story trilogy, none of which will be You've Got a Friend In Me because well, A. there are so many versions of that song that it could be its own Music Fridays & B. I wish to focus on some of the other Toy Story songs. As for why 5, the songs in 3 aren't very memorable but I'll still take a look at We Belong Together which won for Best Original Song, even though I was rooting for I see The Light to win. Ah well that is neither here nor there
Strange Things
Now talk about an underrated song. Until I looked up songs for this Music Fridays I had forgotten about it. It's a fun song and it examines the point in the movie where Woody has essentially been pushed to the wayside of Buzz is now Andy's favorite. With this song we can see and get a better understanding of what Woody is feeling. It has a nice rhythm but the lyrics are a tad forgettable at best. It's not bad and I would give it at least one listen.
I Will Go Sailing No More
The first two Toy Story films have a song that serves as a defining moment for a character. In the first Toy Story film, it is the beautifully understated I Will Go Sailing No More. This may be one of the shorter songs in the film but it is very tragic. Buzz has finally come to the realization that he he is in fact just a toy but he doesn't want to believe it as we see and it feels as though his life, dreams & hopes have been dashed. It is a rather sad song that is overshadowed by You've Got a Friend In Me which is an all right song in it's own right but I would venture out and say that this is a better song.
Woody's Roundup
This song right along with You've Got a Friend In Me (Woody's Version) are in the top 3 for my favorite Toy Story songs. This one is just so much fun and I used to own the Woody's Roundup CD. Yes, you see when Toy Story 2 was released there was a Woody's Roundup CD to coincide with it's release. This is such a fun song and it takes me back to my youth. Now even though I never watched any Westerns and the Woody's Roundup show wasn't real, I can picture a little Moviefan sitting in front of the TV (with a cowboy Mickey of course) watching Woody's Roundup. That's some powerful stuff right there when a song can make a person envision watching something that doesn't actually exist. Also this song introduced me to Riders In The Sky. They're a pretty cool band too.
When She Loved Me
This song right here takes the top spot as my favorite Toy Story song. As I said when talking above about I Will Go Sailing No More, that song was an important moment for Buzz and here we are given an important moment for Jesse. This song is just so sad but I love it so much. The entire arc of Jesse spending time with her old owner, Emily and how Emily basically fell out of love with Jesse and just left her by the wayside. It is such a sad song but in my opinion the most powerful Toy Story song but not most powerful Pixar song or even my favorite Pixar song. No that title will always go to Our Town from my second favorite Pixar film, Cars.
We Belong Together
Okay, in the past I think that I was too harsh on this song. On it's own, it' okay but compared to the classics from 1 & 2, it just seems to be missing something. I think part of my problem with this song winning was that it's an end credit song, which looking back now is ashame because even though I'm not sure where they could place it , it would have worked within the context of the film as well. While not my least favorite Toy Story song, no that is the Toy Story 3 version of You've Got a Friend In Me, this one just doesn't hold a candle to the other songs such as I Will Go Sailing No More and it is far from being as good as When She Loved Me. Again, it's not bad but something is missing. Now as for the song, itself I like the message of that friend will always have support for each other and I think that you could look at as either talking about Buzz and Woody or Andy and Woody. Though for my money, I think it works better when talking about Buzz and Woody. Don't get me wrong, Andy is an integral part of this trilogy but I believe that this song represents no matter what Buzz and Woody will be there for each other. To be fair to this song, one shouldn't compare it to the Toy Story songs I mentioned, it works better as a follow up song to You've Got a Friend In Me but even still, I'm just with a "It's not bad but not worth listening to again" feeling.
Now we aren't done just yet. I know what I said but there is one more Toy Story song I wish to look at that doesn't come from the film trilogy.
One Toy
This song comes from Toy Story: The Musical. Yes, this actually exists and both Disney & Pixar did have a hand in it. Toy Story: The Musical is one of the shows that they offer on the Disney Cruise Line. Admittedly, the idea is pretty strange but after having watched the entirety of the play on YouTube, it's not so bad. This is probably the best original song from the musical and it is rather reminiscent of Strange Things which I used to open this Music Fridays. Now to get into this song, I'm going to ask you to do something that may be tricky take Tom Hank's voice out of your head when thinking of Woody. Now I know the actor here portraying Woody may sound a tad weak but he does an okay job carrying the message as this song across and I think you can pinpoint that this song has come at the point in the film or in this case play where Woody has just become fed up with Buzz and knocks behind the lampshade. Now I don't know about you but at times, I find this song to be a tad sinister. In the ways of Woody's thinking, it's start out depressing and then takes a surprisingly dark turn. This is an interesting little find and I'm intrigued to see a live show of this. Because while I don't think it would be as good as the stage adaptions of The Lion King or Mary Poppins, it looks like a lot of fun.
I hope that you have enjoyed this look at these songs from the Toy Story films but we aren't done with Toy Story just yet. Join me next time when for the first time on Music Fridays I take a look at multiple versions of the same song as I look at the different versions of You've Got a Friend In Me.
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