The 10 Greatest Disney Songs of All Time

magic-carpet-ride2.jpg

I played a little game the other night called a “Disney Power Hour” where a custom made video is played that has one minute of a Disney song, after which it switches and you take a shot of beer. After about forty-five minutes I was getting nice and nostalgic, and would get bummed every time a song went on that I liked and it switched to a new song.

So I’ve assembled this list to reminisce with all of you about our childhoods. It’s almost impossible for at least a few of these songs to bring back some good memories, and thankfully, Disney has decided not to be copyright Nazis, and I was actually able to find almost all of the songs matched up with their actual scenes in the movies. Enjoy.

IT’S THE CIIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIIFE!

10. I Won’t Say I’m in Love (Hercules)

I often forget that Hercules is a Disney movie, because this is when they made the move to a more angled animation style that I strongly disliked, but this song is top notch. Check out this chick’s waist for examples of the design switch though.

9. You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2gPZRsz0Q

I was debating whether or not to put this on here, but I think Toy Story is still a Disney movie, even though it’s the dawn of the Pixar generation. Here’s a question, how come all of the new Pixar films have zero singing, while all of the old animated Disney films have tons of it? I think it would translate just fine.

8. Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas)

I never watched Pocahontas all the way through, but I recall this part, and the song really is memorable.

7. You’ll Be in My Heart (Tarzan)

Oh Phil Collins, the man dominated the soundtrack for this film, a soundtrack that was actually better than the movie itself, this is my favorite piece from the track listing.

6. Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pPUmv3U2XY

You’ll find that some movies get more than one song on here. Little Mermaid is one of them, and there could have been many more from the film on this list too.

5. Circle of Life (The Lion King)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc

Maybe I should have put this a little higher, as it’s probably the most epic song on this list, but I just like these next ones better.

4. Kiss the Girl (The Little Mermaid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXmLRHnoSAs

I used this in my car on a date once. After she stopped laughing, it totally worked.

3. Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)

I still wonder how exactly they animated this ballroom sequence. It looks like CGI before CGI was even around.

2. A Whole New World (Aladdin)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g74Q5MKV7ko

Just barely missing the number one spot is the hit track from the famous magic carpet ride. What I’d pick instead?

1. Can You Feel the Love Tonight? (The Lion King)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7XLnxKlYEo

And not the Elton John version (which is also good), this is the one where the LIONS sing. Probably the most romantic moment in Disney history, even though there are no humans or kissing involved.

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39 Comments

  1. I like just about every song on here. What is the matter with me?

    Kiss the Girl is the best, though. I even had that one on my ipod. For, like, heavy lifting at the gym. Yeah, that’s what it was…

  2. Yeah, as far as Beauty & the Beast goes, I’m pretty sure that Pixar did all the CGI background and camera work resulting in the amazing animated sequence you posted.

  3. Good list but these are all newer Disney…where’s Bippitty-Boppity Boop?

    Actually, best old Disney song was the Siamese Cat song from Lady and the Tramp….”We are Siamese if you please….we are Siamese if you don’t please..” Classic

  4. bad list paul, I read a lot of your stuff and this is the first thing i’ve ever really really disagreed with. Some of the songs you missed are cross generational and iconic. your #10 and #7 shouldnt appear on here period.

    Notable Omissions:
    “Heigh Ho” (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
    “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (Mary Poppins)
    “When You Wish Upon a Star” (Pinocchio) (ya know, only disney’s anthem!!!)
    “Be Our Guest” (Beauty and the Beast)

    not to mention my two personal favorites:
    “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” (Aristocats)
    and
    “Ohdellolly” (Robin Hood)

  5. A side note on Beauty and the Beast, the ending ballroom dancing scene from Beauty and the Beast is recycled from Sleeping Beauty. This list made me think of this video, and it blew my mind. I had no idea how much recycling disney did with their animation. At around 2:50 you see the Beauty and the Beast/ Sleeping Beauty scenes

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzyLZYYb2qk

  6. Gee, the oldest movie on here is from 1989. Are you kidding? You are aware that Disney has been making feature length animated movies since 1937. And “Colors of the Wind” better than “Be Our Guest”? “Whole New World” better than “Poor Unfortunate Souls”? Please, I like all these Disney films, but their love songs are always conventional and trite.

  7. what bout “hickety pickety pockety pack, odds and ends and brack-a-brack” from sword in the stone.

    ya gotta admire how they sorta just broke in to song in all these movies, i feel like going and watching as many as possible now.

    I have a question to do with aladin though. At the start with the street vendor what is the box that he opens the corner and goes “thsppppppp , still good” ment to be?

  8. Wow, I’ve seen some terrible lists on the net, but this one takes the cake. bdougs makes some nice suggestions, but what about an oscar winning song in Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah? Forget the American stigma against the film “Song of the South,” that song, along with many older Disney classics, trumps almost everything on your list.

    Way to do your research.

  9. This list is great. Most people that are complaining about it have failed to remember what your prefaced the list with: you were drinking to a Disney Power Hour. Meaning, you had an amazing time SINGING these songs. Many of the songs that people listed above were most likely included in the 60 minute slew of Disney songs; however, the ones you picked were the ones that would probably make most people get up and sing out to them. Looking back, it does make you realize that they just don’t make ’em like they used to.

    PS. Whoever thought of doing Disney Power Hour= genius.

  10. OK, I get that this is meant to be “reminisce with all of you about our childhoods”, where the target group is a bunch of twenty-year olds. So I won’t criticise the omission of all the classics. But I will point out that this really shows how even in its best moments Disney has really slipped. None of these songs can compare to “I wanna be like you” and “The Bare Necessities” (Jungle book), “Everybody wants to be a cat” (Aristocats) and at least half the songs from Mary Poppins. Agree with one of the other commenters though, that if you are going to make a list like this one, “When She Loved Me” (Toy Story) has to be on it.

  11. I remember being in sixth grade choir and we did a disney medley of songs and it was the most fun I had in choir. Arabian Nights, Be Our Guest, Kiss the Girl, Under the Sea are the ones that come to memory from it. They need to bring some of the movies out of that damn Disney vault

  12. Quite good list, but still not how I would´ve done it. I haven´t really thought of a Disney song toplist, but these songs are the ones I have in my Ipod, so I asume that they´re my favorites:

    A whole new world
    Friend like me
    Prince Ali
    Streets of gold
    Why should I worry
    We are one
    Everybody wants to be a cat
    Go the distance
    I won´t say I´m in love
    That´s what friends are for
    Bells of Notre Dame
    Be prepared
    Can you feel the love tonight
    Circle of life
    I just can´t wait to be king

    They´re not in any specific order, that would just be to hard for me to do.

  13. That scene was definitely computer generated in Beauty and the Beast. Disney’s own Black Cauldron was the first cartoon to use computer animation.

  14. If I had my way, my list would be littered with the Lion King and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (And Mulan – merely for “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” – great song)

  15. Good list! My favorites are “The Circle of Life”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, “A Whole New World”, “Under the Sea”, “You’ll Be in My Heart”, and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”. There’s so many I love

  16. all disney song is my inspiration because i like very much their song like a whole new world in alladin because they song can imagine to everyone that even you cannot see your special but sing this song you can imagine them! i was amaze also the song of little mermaid like part of your world,even you are not human beings,people are acting like you are monster but don’t give up like ariel,she did not give up to become a human so she granted by her father a feet to be part of the human world and especially her prince!!! every one dont give up in any problem you can catch up……….. you had to sing in disney song!!!!!!!

  17. I truly love “I won’t say I’m in love” 🙂 It’s my fav. And I loved how they rendered Meg. 🙂

    Credit for the song should defiantly go to Alan Menken. He’s written almost all the songs on this list. Cool guy. 🙂

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