Beauty and the Beast (song)

"Beauty and the Beast" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Walt Disney Pictures' 30th animated feature film Beauty and the Beast (1991), serving as its theme song. Originally recorded by Angela Lansbury in her film role as Mrs. Potts, it was featured as the final track on the film's soundtrack album. Another version is performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson at the end of the film.

Plot
Commonly identified as the film's theme song, its lyrics describe the relationship between the film's two main characters, Belle and the Beast, and specifically addresses how it has managed to transform them, allowing their friendship (and later, love) to grow. In during which, Lumière, Cogsworth and Chip watch on.

Lyrics
Tale as old as time True as it can be Barely even friends Then somebody bends Unexpectedly

Just a little change Small to say the least Both a little scared Neither one prepared Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same Ever a surprise Ever as before Ever just as sure As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time Tune as old as song Bittersweet and strange Finding you can change Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun Rising in the east Tale as old as time Song as old as rhyme Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time Song as old as rhyme Beauty and the Beast


 * The reprise of the song used in the finale begins from the fifth verse.


 * The reprise used in the 2017 remake contains an additional verse, sung between verses four and five, with new lyrics:

Winter turns to spring Famine turns to feast Nature points the way Nothing left to say Beauty and the Beast


 * These additional lyrics were written by Ashman for the original 1991 film but removed from the final version. They were added back for the 2017 film as a nod to Ashman.

Trivia

 * Every single verse of the song has five syllables.
 * Angela Lansbury told The Huffington Post that Ashman and Menken had originally written the song in the style of a rock ballad. Although she enjoyed it, she felt incapable of recording it because of the unfamiliar style in which it was written. She questioned the songwriters' choice in her, asking them, "Are you sure you want me to do this?" She also felt as though her voice she was not in suitable condition to record "Beauty and the Beast", feeling insecure about having to sustain its several "long, extended notes". Ashman and Menken simply advised her "to sing it the way [she] envisioned it". Ultimately, she successfully recorded it in only one take.
 * The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1992, marking Menken and Ashman's (posthumously) second win after the 1989 award for "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
 * It won the 1992 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It later went on winning two Grammy Awards in 1993, for the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, and the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
 * The song was also nominated for two other important Grammys: Record of the Year and the Song of the Year.
 * In Canada, it won a Juno Award for the Single of the Year.
 * "Beauty and the Beast" was ranked as #62 on the list AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs, along with "When You Wish Upon A Star" (#7), "Some Day My Prince Will Come" (#19), "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (#36), Wind Beneath My Wings (#44), "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (#47), "The Rainbow Connection" (#74), and "Hakuna Matata" (#99).
 * Both Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson have included the song on some of their respective greatest hit and compilation albums.
 * Both American pop group Jump5 and American Idol winner Jordin Sparks have recorded pop renditions of the song for the film's platinum and diamond edition re-releases respectively.
 * It was included in Disney Sing Along Songs: Be Our Guest and Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream.
 * Lansbury, Dion, and Bryson all performed the song live on stage during the 64th Academy Awards. Dion and Bryson performed it also at the Grammy Awards in 1993.
 * In 1998, a version of the song, called "Beauty and the Bees", was made for the 3D movie It's Tough to Be a Bug!'s queue at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Disney California Adventure.
 * Paige O'Hara covered it along with other non-Disney songs on her album Dream with Me.
 * The song was included later on Céline Dion's greatest hits albums All the Way… A Decade of Song (1999) and My Love: Essential Collection (2008).
 * In 2002, the song was covered by the group Jump5 and placed on the CD, Disneymania.
 * In 2005, Julie Andrews selected the song for her album Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs.
 * In 2009, the CD Disney's Dream Pop: Tribute to Tokyo, the song is covered by the group Bright.
 * In 2010, Jordin Sparks recorded her cover version of the song and filmed an accompanying music video with director Philip Andelman.
 * In Kingdom Hearts II, an arrangement of the song created by Yoko Shimomura plays during the finale of the episode at the Beast's Castle when the Beast and Belle are dancing on the courtyard of the castle.
 * The song has been referenced in various Disney works:
 * A brief minor version can be heard in the score of Enchanted, which, not coincidentally, was also composed by Alan Menken.
 * In the Phineas and Ferb episode "Gaming the System", the notes to the lyric, "Tale as old as time" can be heard when Perry, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, and Candace get clothed in ball gowns.
 * In Once Upon a Time, Mr. Gold plays the song when he dances with Belle. It reappears, and in a much fuller orchestrated form, in the Season 6 premiere, as Rumple uses the song in an attempt to awaken Belle from her nightmarish dreamscape.