Can’t believe I haven’t made this post sooner as I grew up with Disney Princess movies. But thanks to Cinema Parrot Disco who put up her fave Disney songs last week, I thought I should do the same.
So this list is limited to the Princess Movies, otherwise I’d have included The Lion King‘s Circle of Life & Can You Feel the Love Tonight, as well as Hercules’ Go the Distance and Tarzan’s You’ll Be In My Heart. That last one by Phil Collins never fails to make me tear up as the lyric’s so beautiful. I’m also excluding Pixar films, otherwise I’d have included Brave‘s Touch the Sky on here.
It’s REALLY tough to narrow it down to just 10 but here we go (in order of the movie’s release):
Heigh-ho – Snow White (1937)
I actually love the songs by the seven dwarves more than those sung by Snow White. This one is just so chirpy and fun to sing along to!
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A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes – Cinderella (1950)
Ok so the part where the birds and mice are singing along are pretty silly but I find it endearing. The song has such a dreamy quality about it that’s lush and lovely.
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Once Upon A Dream – Sleeping Beauty (1959)
I love this song so much I’ve dedicated a Sleeping Beauty’s Music Break post for it a few years ago. Based in Tchaikovsky‘s ballet, this song still sounds fresh even today. I like how the originally perky song is made darker and sexier in the Lana Del Rey’s rendition for Maleficent coming this May. I’m including both versions below:
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Part of That World – Little Mermaid (1989)
I remember being so moved by this film as a kid. What teenager doesn’t want to be someone else sometimes, but Ariel’s plight seems more than a flight of fancy. I really feel for her and her desire to be part of our world and this song still gets me teary-eyed.
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Kiss the Girl – Little Mermaid (1989)
I LOVE LOVE Sebastian, the adorable red crab voiced by Samuel E. Wright. I even owned the stuffed animal as a kid! This one deservedly won the Oscar for Best Original Song. I just love the Calypso/Afro-Caribbean music style used here, it’s such a whimsical and jovial tune!
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Something There – Beauty & The Beast (1991)
I’ve made a Beauty & the Beast Music Break post of this one as well. It never fails to make me all gooey inside every time I listen to it.
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A Whole New World – Aladdin (1992)
Anything by frequent Disney composer/lyricist Alan Menken & Tim Rice is usually a recipe for gold. This one won Best Original Song at the Oscar. I actually prefer the Brad Kane and Lea Salonga rendition instead of the Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle version.
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Colors of the Wind – Pocahontas (1995)
Oscars seems to get a lot of their picks right when it comes to songs, this is yet another Best Original Song winner by you guessed it, Alan Menken! I love both the Judy Kuhn version in the film, as well as Vanessa Williams’ cover. Great melody and poetic lyrics I love listening to year after year.
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I See The Light – Tangled (2010)
For some odd reason I always burst into sobs every time I watch this! I love Tangled and this emotionally-charged lantern sequence is by far my favorite scene. This unabashedly sweet and romantic love song between Rapunzel and Flynn is classic Disney. It’s Menken’s magic once again, featuring the voice of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi who’s a surprisingly good singer!
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For the First Time in Forever – Frozen (2013)
Let It Go is likely to nab Best Original Song at the Oscars this Sunday, but it’s actually not my favorite tune from the movie. THIS is the one I love most and the scene as its played in the movie is so much fun! I actually prefer Kristen Bell’s voice to Idina Menzel’s for some reason.
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HONORABLE MENTION:
In Summer – Frozen (2013)
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What do you think of my picks? Let me know YOUR own favorite Disney Princess songs!
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Hey, Ruth. It’s a great list. All songs are quite good.
I like For The First Time In Forever more than Let It Go, too. But my favorite songs in that movie are Do You Want to Build A Snowman and the second For The First Time In Forever, which might also be my favorite songs in the Disney canon.
Hello Josh! Oh yeah, Do You Want to Build A Snowman is a lovely song indeed. That’s by Kristen Bell’s also right, or was it the younger actress playing Anna? For some reason For The First Time In Forever always gets me emotionally, on top of having such a lovely melody.
Snowman is split into three chunks. The first two are the younger singers. The final is Bell. And totally agreed on First Time in Forever, though it’s the Elsa section that hits me (in both versions).
With the exception of Frozen which I haven’t seen. I think this is a great list with “Heigh Ho” being my favorite of the bunch.
Hi Steven! Hope you see Frozen soon, it’s such a fun & heartwarming movie. The songs are of course amazing.
Awesome post, Ruth! Really makes me wanna go back and rewatch some of these. 😀
Hey thanks Chris! Glad you are familiar w/ Disney songs. If there’s one thing they know how to do is make great music!
What a nice selection of songs, Ruth! And yay for Something There! It’s my favorite song from the film (even though the title song is also a masterpiece on its own). Part of Your World, A Whole New World and Colors of the Wind are my favorites of all the Disney Princess songs, but there are many other great songs too!
Hi Fariz! Oh I adore that song, I even made a special post for it already. It’s funny but that’s the song from Beauty & the Beast I always play over & over instead of the main one. It’s kind of like the one from Frozen. There really are a ton of great Disney songs, even just from the Princess movies, I could probably even make a top 20.
Hey Ruth! Well, I feel terribly inadequate and to ashamed to comment. But I’ll just say it – I’m not familiar with any of these. Well, except the Hi-Ho song. I mean everyone loves that one, right? 🙂
Hi Keith! You must not have little girls around the house or you’ll be VERY familiar w/ these songs. I grew up watching Disney Princess movies so to this day I still have a penchant for them. Hi-Ho is awesome though, you’re right, who doesn’t love that one! 😀
Great choices…have been hearing a lot of Frozen the last couple of weeks, so the songs still are in my head. Beauty and the Beast is also one of those songs which I enjoy hearing…
Frozen definitely have a lot of great & indelible songs. I’m still humming ’em too. Beauty & The Beast certainly raised the bar for other Princess movies I think, the animation style was certainly modern for the day.
Nice list, Ruth. I like the Pocahontas one about respecting the forest. But I like all your others, too 😉
Glad to hear Cindy! As a nature buff, I can see why you love the message of Colors of the Wind. I love the poetic words and in a way it’s quite inspiring!
Great list, Ruth! I grew up listening to a lot of these with my little sister, and still find myself humming a few to myself from time to time. 😉 Disney definitely knows how to make a good soundtrack.
Hi Billy! Glad to hear we both grew up listening to Disney songs. They certainly have powerhouse talents like Alan Menken, etc. at their disposal to make these awesome tunes!
Colors of the Wind, Once Upon a Dream, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes. Check, check, and check. 🙂 I am dyyyying to see Frozen. Hoping maybe we can catch it at the cheap theater, and MAYBE take the little girl to her first movie.
Hi Samantha! Hey, glad to see we share some faves. Oh yes do take your little girl to FROZEN, I bet you both will enjoy it! Btw, did you see my review of Winter’s Tale? Sorry I wish I could say nice things about it.
Oh, A Whole New Word from Aladdin, of course! I must check out the other version by Kane and Salaonga.
Hi Becky! The version I’m including here is the Kane/Salonga one, I really like the more youthful voice singing this song.
Wonderful list! I’ve come over feeling all nostalgic. Have to say I’m with the Little Mermaid all the way – Kiss The Girl is just Magic and Under The Sea was my absolute favourite!
I LOVE The Little Mermaid, I was obsessed w/ Ariel & Sebastian for some time. Their songs are absolutely magical, fun and full of heart! God bless Alan Menken!
AHHHH!!! I have a post planned for next week on practically this very subject!!!! You beat me to it, and so wonderfully I might add. LOVE these picks.
Hey Andrew! Great minds eh? Well I hope you’d still post your picks, I want to see ’em. Do send me the link when you get that posted, man.
I think my niece would love this list, she loves Disney’s princes movies. Can’t say I’ve seen any of these animated movies myself, I think I saw Cinderella years ago when I was still into animations.
Hi Ted! I know you’re not into animated features but I still would highly recommend Frozen. You might be pleasantly surprised by that one.
Finally! Someone who likes For the First Time in Forever more than Let it Go! I totally agree!
Yay! Glad you’re on my camp Kevin. It’s such an awesome song isn’t it, less of a ballad than Let it Go but sooo much fun to listen to.
Aww, what a great list! I have never seen Frozen or Tangled, so I think I would’ve added Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty, as that is my FAVORITE. And maybe Won’t Say I’m in Love from Hercules, I always liked that one too.
Oh I was gonna include Hercules but somehow I didn’t see it as a Princess movie. But yeah Won’t Say I’m in Love is a great song, I also love Go The Distance by Michael Bolton, again written by Alan Menken.
Oh duh, you’re right. She’s not a princess. I’m stupid. lol
My favorite of those is definitely A Whole New World. That song sticks in your head like none other!
That’s a lovely song indeed Nick! I like the one sung in the movie a lot, more so than the Peabo Bryson one.
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I’m a man in his 30s and I make no apologies to loving Disney songs till this very day. I’m with completely with you on “A Whole New World”. The Kane & Salonga version is much better. Have you seen the behind-the-scenes/recording of it? It’s on Youtube and just looking at Salonga’s facial expressions is priceless! She looks like an animated character herself!
Well I like you all the more for it Asrap! 😀 Oh no I haven’t seen the behind the scenes stuff of “A Whole New World”, I have to look that up now.
Yay! Great to see your list. : ) And great to see the love for Frozen. Love that film! Just didn’t know if I should include the songs in my list so soon. Sleeping Beauty’s Once Upon A Dream is so lovely. Will be interesting to see Maleficent! Not sure what that’s going to be like… Hope it’s good. I should have included the Tangled song. It’s such a beautiful scene, too. Great list! : )
Thanks for the inspiration 🙂 I wasn’t sure if I should include Frozen or not but I couldn’t NOT include it as it’s sure to be a modern classic. I’m curious about Maleficent, first time they did a film on a Disney villain! That Tangled song is one of my all time faves as it always made me tear up.
Interesting list Ruth! There’s a couple of these that I don’t think I’ve seen all the way through but you just can’t question the catchiness of Disney’s songs! I love that Frozen is finding it’s place amongst the classics, had a huge amount of fun with that one.
They are indeed very catchy. Menken’s such a genius that nearly every song he did is so lovely to listen to.
Haha, cute idea. I like “When Will My Life Begin?” from Tangled. It’s a shame Tangled didn’t get in for best animated feature, I really loved it.
Great choices overall. Big Disney fan eh?
Hi Jack, I can’t remember that Tangled song for some reason. Yeah it was Oscar worthy for sure. Yes I’m a massive Disney animation fan 🙂
Nice choices! I love Heigh Ho (probably my favorite), Kiss the Girl, A Whole New World, I See the Light and For the First Time in Forever. Let It Go might make my top 10, but it’s too recent for me to judge accurately.
Hi Josh! Glad we share some favorites. There are really so many to choose from so it took me a while to decide these, but I’m quite happy w/ my picks 😀
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You have some awesome choices here!
I’d add in Under the Sea (The Little Mermaid) and The Work Song (Cinderella)! 🙂 Non-princess features would be Everybody wants to be a Cat from The Aristocats!
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I agree, Kristen Bell’s voice is so much sweeter, and classic “disney princess” Idinas voice is really strained and she does sound great but she is also going to wreck her voice if she doesnt use technique. Let it go is perfect though for her voice and Elsa’s character, im just a real classic lover at heart. Kristen’s voice is beautiful, controlled, clear. And For the first time in forever” is truly fitting for a disney princess, i LOVE it! also “Love is an open door” has to be my all time favourite disney duet… and thats saying alot. I grew up with disney and have been disney obsessed since forever haha. great list! Part of your world was my all time fave as a kid. Its what inspired me to become a good singer.