"Beauty and the Beast" (also known as "Tale as Old as Time") is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Disney's 1991 animated feature film of the same name, serving as its theme song, and originally recorded by Angela Lansbury in her film role as Mrs. Potts.
Summary
Commonly identified as the film's theme song, its lyrics describe the relationship between the film's two main characters, Belle and the Beast. It specifically addresses how it has managed to transform them, allowing their friendship (and later, love) to grow as Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip watch on. It is later reprised during the final dance in the epilogue of the film.
The song also appears in the Disney+ original series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Kourtney (Dara Renée), who was cast as Mrs. Potts in East High's production of Beauty and the Beast, practices the song along with Seb (Joe Serafini) at Big Red's family pizzeria.
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
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
Madame de Garderobe: Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Mrs. Potts: Winter turns to spring
Famine turns to feast
Nature points the way
Nothing left to say
Beauty and the Beast
Chorus: 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
Gallery
Videos
Trivia
- Every single line 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, which ended up in the film.
- 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.
- The song is ranked #62 on the list AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs,[1] along with "Hakuna Matata" (#99), "Someday My Prince Will Come" (#19), "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (#36), "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44), "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" (#47), "When You Wish Upon A Star" (#62), and "The Rainbow Connection" (#74). It is one of only seven songs from Disney that made the cut.
- Both Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson have included the song on some of their respective greatest hit and compilation albums.
- Peabo Bryson would later sing "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle for the closing credits of Aladdin the following year.
- 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 attraction movie It's Tough to Be a Bug!'s queue at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Disney California Adventure, utilizing insect buzzing sounds.
- 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 for the first time as husband and wife. Mr. Gold even dresses up in the blue outfit worn by the Beast. The song reappears 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.
- It was parodied in Dave the Barbarian as "Candy and her Zit".
- The reprise used in the 2017 remake contains an additional verse, sung between verses four and five, with new lyrics, which 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.[2]
- The song was also featured in the 2017 remake, performed by Emma Thompson. The end credits version uses vocals from Ariana Grande and John Legend.
References
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs".
- ↑ Hughes, Kayleigh (March 21, 2017). "These 'Beauty And The Beast' Lyric Changes Matter So Much" (Article). Bustle.
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