"I'll Make a Man Out of You" is a song composed by Matthew Wilder, with lyrics by David Zippel featured in the 1998 Disney animated film Mulan. The song is primarily performed by Donny Osmond as the singing voice of Captain Li Shang.
Plot[]
During the film, this song acts as a training montage. The training scene involved climbing a vertical log with tethered weighs to retrieve an arrow on the top of it, training with Bōs, shooting onions in the air, blocking rocks with a Bō while balancing a bucket of water on the recruits' head, grabbing fish, dodging a field of fiery darts, chopping concrete blocks with recruits' head, hand-to-hand combat with Shang, walking over logs, cannon target practicing, and climbing a mountain while carrying heavy bags. Trainees are shown failing at each drill or exercise—particularly Mulan, whose efforts are sabotaged by Yao and Ling; however, they and Chien-Po had struggles of their own. Mulan is eventually told to return home after Shang has deemed her unfit for war. However, in one last effort, Mulan uses her ingenuity to successfully complete the log climbing challenge by using the weights as a strap around the pole to aid in climbing. In doing so, she impresses her comrades and Shang, who allows her to stay after seeing this. Her feat marks the beginning of improvement in all of the recruits, as well as gaining a new-found camaraderie. From this point on in the song, the individual recruits are shown excelling at tasks that had previously proved daunting. Also, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po started to bond with Mulan; Yao shows this by handing her the Bō that was tossed to her instead of using it to trip her like the first time. The group as a whole also progresses, exhibiting unity and coordination, where before disorder and confusion reigned. At the end, all the recruits have improved dramatically and successfully complete their training.
The song's title and lyrics are deliberately ironic in light of the fact that Mulan is a woman disguised as a man. It was also ironic in light of the fact that Li Shang and his group composed of freshly trained recruits only survived the war because Mulan (disguised as Ping) refused to heed her commanding officer's orders, using the cannon to trigger an avalanche which killed off nearly all of the Huns.
The irony is furthered in the film's climax where the song is reprised by an unseen choir when Yao, Ling, and Chien Po disguise themselves as concubines in order to fool the enemy Huns. Finally, it was through Mulan's strategies that they were able to save the Emperor from being slaughtered by Shan Yu.
Lyrics[]
Shang:[spoken] We got a long way to go.
Let's get down to business
To defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?
You're the saddest bunch
I ever met
But you can bet before we're through
Mister, I'll make a man out of you
Tranquil as a forest
But on fire within
Once you find your center
You are sure to win
You're a spineless, pale, pathetic lot
And you haven't got a clue
Somehow I'll make a man out of you!
Chien Po: I'm never gonna catch my breath
Yao: Say goodbye to those who knew me
Ling: Boy, was I a fool in school for cutting gym
Mushu: [spoken] This guy's got 'em scared to death
Mulan: Hope he doesn't see right through me
Chien Po: Now I really wish that I knew how to swim
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: We must be swift as the coursing river
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the force of a great typhoon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
Time is racing toward us
Till the Huns arrive
Heed my every order
And you might survive
You're unsuited for
The rage of war
So pack up, go home, you're through
How could I make a man out of you?
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: We must be swift as the coursing river
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the force of a great typhoon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang and Chorus: With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
[acapell for final lines]
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang and Chorus: We must be swift as the coursing river
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang and Chorus: With all the force of a great typhoon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang and Chorus: With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
(Be a man!)
We must be swift as the coursing river (Be a man!)
With all the force of a great typhoon (Be a man!)
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
Shang: Let's get down to business
To defeat the Huns
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?
You're the saddest bunch
I ever met
But you can bet before we're through
Mister, I'll make a man out of you
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: We must be swift as the coursing river
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the force of a great typhoon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: We must be swift as the coursing river
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang: With all the force of a great typhoon
Chorus: (Be a man!)
Shang and Chorus: With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
(instrumental sequence)
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- The lyrics "You must be as swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great Typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon" is similar to an excerpt by Sun Tzu in his treatise "The Art of War". The actual excerpt essentially reads "Swift as the wind, silent as the forest, fierce as the fire, and strong as the mountain."
- A bonus feature on the Mulan DVD features a music video of the song performed by Jackie Chan in Mandarin. Another variant is of the Cantonese version.
- The Mulan, Jr. version of the song attaches "Lesson Number One” from Mulan II to the bridge.
- The song was referenced in Marvel's comic "Don't Call Her the Cavalry" issue #1.
- Melinda May, the protagonist of the comic, is based on Ming-Na Wen's portrayal in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Wen was also the voice of Mulan.
- Out of all the tasks that the trainees failed at, the only one that didn't show them succeeding at is the one where they have to deflect the rocks with the Bō while balancing a bucket of water on their heads, probably due to its difficulty.
- While not sung in the 2020 remake, during the part where Mulan focuses on her chi, Commander Tung quotes a line from the song: "Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within", which is a reference to the song.
- The song is referenced in the Once Upon a Time episode "Lady of the Lake", by Mulan when she speaks to Emma and Mary Margret.
- The UK version pitch uses a higher tone.
External links[]
 |
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page I'll Make a Man Out of You. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |
v - e - d  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|