Thread by @j_mcelroy

nobody:

me: in the history of disney animated movies there have been exactly 18 types of songs, and i'm going to tell you about each of them

This Is The Movie (26 entries):

- It summarizes the theme of the film or says its title several times
- It is at the beginning of the film (exception: Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas)
- It is first sung by a chorus, or an unseen or minor character (exception: Pocahontas)

I Want (26 entries):

- It is sung by the main character (exception: the Frozens, Ralph Breaks the Internet)
- It is a monologue, sung alone — or to animals! — expressing their greatest desires

I’m The Villain (18 entries):

- It’s sung by the villain (exception: Cruella De Vil)
- It always comes after the I Want songs
- It usually expresses the villain's desire, but can also be mocking the main character

We Should Bone (17 entries):

- Never happens in the first-third of the movie (exception: One Song, Love is an Open Door)
- Can be a duet, monologue, montage, OR a separate character egging things on
- If a man is singing, he’s either egging things on, or in a duet

Cheer Up, Kid! (17 entries):

- It’s always sung by a supporting character who likes the protagonist
- The theme is always positive
- It generally builds up to dancing or fevered choreography, with an element of "let's put on a show!"

The core songs of great Disney movies are in the This Is The Movie/I Want/I'm The Villain/We Should Bone/Cheer Up Kid! categories, particularly once the Disney Renaissance starts.

But there are five other song types that are very important to the Disney canon.

Here’s My Deal (21 entries):

- It expresses a character’s their joie de vivre, often in a bragging way
- While the I Want song is about inner desires, this expresses outward joy
- It is sung by the main character or clear second, soon after we meet them

Here’s Our Deal (18 entries):

- It expresses the MO of a group of characters and their motivations within the movie
- It is usually very early on the film
- The song generally shows the characters working, or talking about a specific desire

Here’s Their Deal (13 entries):

- A character or two best friends is being described by another person or group
- Usually sung shortly after we meet the character (or Aladdin’s case, reinvention of the character)
- Often has elements of a montage & and an unseen singer

Things Will Be Okay (17 entries):

- The downbeat counter to "Cheer Up, Kid!"
- The song expresses hope, but can indicate doubt
- The tone is warm, quieter, or downbeat. No dancing happens
- It’s generally sung by a supporting character that helps the protagonist

It’s Dancing Time! (11 entries):

- Sort of self-explanatory
- The protagonist never instigates the dancing, and if they’re in the scene, the dancing sort of happens around them
- generally serves as an intermission for the movie

These 10 song types are the most common in the Disney canon, and they're generally the best at creating memorable moments and moving along the plot.

But there are eight other, lesser types of Disney songs that pop up from time to time.

Montage (13 entries):

- It’s a montage. You know what a montage is.
- There are no great montage songs, only acceptable ones
- There were no montages before Hercules
- Half the songs Phil Collins wrote for Tarzan and Brother Bear were montages, and that was a poor choice

Package Movie Shorts (13 entries):

- Hey, remember Melody Time and Make Mine Music?
- No? Well they were Disney movies that were just a bunch of shorts jammed together
- Lots of those shorts had songs
- Nobody cares about those songs
- But we're including EVERY SONG, so

We Won! (8 entries):

- Is about celebrating that something good has just happened, or is about to happen
- Typically happens at the end of the movie
- Is never sung by the main character, but they’re often around
- Three Winnie the Pooh songs!

It’s Nature Time (8 entries):

- Is a song where the focus is on the place or the weather
- Is never about a person
- Is often a short song setting up a scene
- You're right, none of this sounds interesting!

Here’s A One Note Character (7 entries)

- Is sung by or a minor character who usually only appears once (exception: the harp in Fun and Fancy Free)
- Is essentially a short “I Want” or “Here’s My Deal” song by someone you don't care about
- Three Alice in Wonderland songs!

The Drug Song (7 entries)

- Trippy as heck, maybe nightmare inducing?
- More an excuse for animators to be creative than advance the plot
- Supernatural powers displayed by characters in song are never explained
- One could argue every Alice In Wonderland song should be here

Life Lesson Time! (6 entries)

- Advice on how to live one’s best life is given
- It is always directed to the main character (exception: Scales and Arpeggios)
- I’ll Make A Man Out Of You is here
- Which is weird, because that's a great song! And great songs don't live here

Problematic (6 entries)

- The only category filled with songs that used to be part of other categories
- Has not aged well!
- No, I will not be explaining this further, for what I hope are obvious reasons

Every single song in a Disney animated feature fits into one of these 18 categories.

And there are 18 columns in the Table of Elements.

I think you know what that means.

This is the Disney Songbook Table of Elements.

It contains every single original Disney animated song, put in categories, organized by time era, and colour-coded for specific films.

anyways that's how i spent my long weekend

hope new followers enjoy my other content:

- here's a detailed play-by-play of a public hearing in a suburban town

- let's get really excited about a small piece of culture a few thousand people are aware of

- my provincial leader makes dumb dad jokes and it annoys me so