Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and we continue our Halloween celebration by celebrating with music. Witches in Disney films are a rather common occurrence and today on this edition of Music Fridays, we will be looking at some rather bewitched songs. With that outta the way, let's begin by heading back to ye olden times of Merlin and Arthur.
Mad Madam Mim
This song isn't anything too special as it's just Madam Mim showing off her powers. And in that regard, it's pretty fun. It's nothing too special but I do like it for what it is. It's a fun and silly song to an over-the-top witch quite perfectly.
Poor Unfortunate Souls
Now last Halloween, this sea witch got her own Music Fridays. Ursula is one of my favorite villains and this song right here goes a long way in setting up Ursula as one of my favorite villains. (I really should do a Villains Profile on her). Now as mentioned last year, this song is the reason why Pat Carroll to play the Sea Witch. And she really puts her all into this number as she allows the audience to buy into the idea that Ursula has been making deals like the one, she makes with Ariel for years.
I'll Put A Spell On You
Now, we come to a song from a cult Disney movie from the '90s that has been getting some love in recent years such as a stage show that is a part of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. With this movie, I've heard mixed reactions to it but I do know that a lot of people love it and for people that saw this film in the '90s, this is sometimes a song that they listen to during this time of year. However, I was surprised to be informed that this song is actually a cover version by our very own music man Les in the comments section of a previous Music Fridays.
.I didn’t recognize what show/film “I put a spell on you” came from, since that tune isn’t originally a Disney song(CCR did it first)
Which it actually turns out, there is a version of this song that is older than that. Just go here. But for many a '90s kid, we associate this song with Winifred Sanderson as played by the talented Bette Midler. My thoughts on this number, Midler does a lot to sell this cover and make to this version a lot of fun. She really makes it a lot of fun and with her performance, there is a lot to enjoy here. Sure, it's a bit cheesy but so is this movie. And it fits right with the tone that this movie was going for.
Come Little Children
Now, we have the other memorable song from this film. Which is actually older than the previous song and there is some debate as to wrote it.
The origin of the song's lyrics are debated. The Hal Leonard Corporation and apocryphal sources claim that the lyrics originate from a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe titled "Come Little Children."Poe scholars dispute this claim because no such poem appears in Poe's official omnibus, and the lyrics do not match his style.Brock Walsh confirms the lyrics are original and attributes the confusion to his personal "obsession with him [Poe] as a child."
And this song was composed by the late James Horner. And here in the movie, it was used to hypnotize the children of the town. Which is really eerie. Oh, and if you've seen the fan animation featuring Princess Luna titled Children of The Night, you've heard her sing this song. Next up, we are going to look at the songs of one of my favorite Disney villains from recent memory.
Mother Knows Best
Any chance that I get to talk about Tangled, I'm happy but I was unsure as to whether or not, Gothel counted as a witch. So, I researched both the Disney Wiki and the Villains Wiki and they both describe her as a witch. So, I'm more than okay with including this song. I've talked about this song many times in the past and I've mentioned before how that when I first heard Donna Murphy singing, I thought that Bette Midler was voicing Mother Gothel. Which is kinda funny, considering this Music Fridays and all. With this song, you can really hear the facade that Gothel is putting on pretending to love Rapunzel. And it's a facade that she had to keep going for 18 years and we can see it starting to crack later on. It's funny, when I first heard this song, I hated it because of how showy and over-the-top, the performance was but over time, it's grown on me and I've come to like it for that reason as it fits in with what Gothel is trying to do here.
Mother Knows Best (Reprise)
I love this number. It's easily one of my favorite villain songs. And one of the few times, where I think the reprise outshines the original version. This reprise is just so sinister as we hear Gothel mocking Rapunzel and putting her down in such an evil fashion. It's just so cruel and vindictive. It sends chills up my spine every time, I hear it.
Good Little Witch
After that last song, how about something on the cute side? I'm pretty sure that I've talked about this song in the past. And it's nice to have a break from evil witches as we see Lucinda wants to be good and she is taking the first step towards being a good little witch with this song. And I like the message that this song is sending by saying that people can change, if we are just willing to give them a chance.
Bad Witch
I'll freely admit that I'm looking at this because I wanted to look at a piece of the score from this film due to the subject being about witches. I've not watched this film since I did my review of it. So, I cannot tell you, where in the film, this score can be found. But on it's own, I think that it works rather well as Danny Elfman is able to make it mysterious, eerie and give the climax, a great build up as it comes to it's close. We aren't done with our trip to Oz just yet as we head to the world of Once to look at some of Mark Isham's contributions to the score for the Oz arc.
Wicked Always Wins
Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Zelena's as I consider her one of the weaker villains from the show but Mark Isham does enough here to strike the right chords to make the theme for this Wicked Witch truly creepy and eerie. I'd actually say that this is one of my favorite pieces of music from the show. And now, we go back in time to the first season as we look at perhaps the most iconic piece of music that associates another witch, The Evil Queen.
The Queen's Curse
Every Once fan knows this piece of music as this was for the longest time, the theme music for the show. And while Regina may not be an Evil Queen any longer, when she was. Ooh boy, this piece of music was perfect for her. As it's really tense and foreboding. Making you fear what is going to happen next as you have no idea, what is about to take place. Just like the characters back, when the first curse took effect.
Our last set of songs come from Disney's film adaption of the Stephen Sondheim musical, Into The Woods as there is a character in that story that is simply known as The Witch. In the film, she was played by Meryl Streep. Who I feel delivered a rather good performance. So, we will be closing out this Music Fridays by looking at The Witch's 4 songs from the film adaption of Into The Woods. Starting with perhaps, her most poignant song that she sings to her adopted daughter, Rapunzel.
Stay With Me
This song is interesting as I've seen Disney fans make the obvious comparison to Mother Gothel but I don't think that is as apt as people think. Because while The Witch is considered a villain, I feel that her relationship with Rapunzel is a bit more complex as she truly does seem to love Rapunzel as a daughter but at the same time, she is upset with Rapunzel's actions and that is why she punishes Rapunzel in such a cruel fate but at the same time, I do think that The Witch did truly love Rapunzel. Also interesting note here, Donna Murphy the voice of Mother Gothel played The Witch in a production of Into The Woods.
Witch's Lament
I think that Witch's Lament goes another step further in distinguishing the difference between The Witch and Gothel as we hear in Witch's Lament, her sing of the regret and guilt over the actions that she took. Hence the title.
The Last Midnight
This is actually my favorite of The Witch's songs as she is wiling to call out all of the other characters on what they did to get their happy ending. And this is perhaps the closest that The Witch has to a straight up villain song. But you can't help but side with The Witch because she is in the right here in what she's saying.
She'll Be Back
Film adaptions of musicals have this tendency to write an original song in the hopes that come award season, they will be noticed. And She'll Be Back does come off as an example of that but the song was cut from the film because as director, Rob Marshall said, the film is stronger without it. My feelings on the song are as such, Meryl Streep delivers a fine performance but I don't think that it fits with what we know of The Witch and how she felt about what she did to Rapunzel here. Witch's Lament showed us a remorseful side of her, whereas here, she seems to be going back and forth on how she feels about her actions. I personally do think that the film is better off not having this song in here. Who knows? Perhaps, if they had kept this song in there and kept Rapunzel's fate from the stage production in which she dies, this song may have had more weight but not killing off Rapunzel, really seems to lessen any type of weight that this song could've had.
There you have it, my look at music by witches from Disney films, TV Shows, and scores. I hope that you've enjoyed this special edition of Music Fridays. Peace!
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