I thought it’d be an easy cop out of writing an original blog post this week fun to give you guys a sneak preview of my article that will appear in Eleven‘s next issue, which is set to drop this Wednesday, April 1st. This is only the first half of the article – I’ll post up the second half a few days after the magazine is released. I’d hate for you to not pick up the next issue on account of already reading the only article written by the only author worth his salt I’ve written.
Some notes:
- In exchange for copy/pasting most of my written material, I’ll at least do you the service of linking to each song’s YouTube video. This, technically, should be a regular feature on Eleven’s actual website. You’ve got as good a guess as I do as to the problem our webmaster seems to be having. It’s been well over a year, Jacob.
- If you’re a student at Washington University, or if you’re a random dude reading this and you’re from the St. Louis area, definitely come check out Eleven’s Great Mixtape Exchange, set to go down on distribution day, Wednesday. Details about it on our Facebook event page.
All right, enough nonsense.
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Top 11 Disney Songs
I was originally planning on writing a Top 11 about poop. Then I thought about it: I’ve nearly graduated. In like a month I’m going to be out in the real world, at a real job, and all that. Maybe I could have gotten away with that Freshman year; by now I ought to be writing about things that are more mature. On that note, for your reading and listening pleasure, here are my picks for the eleven best Disney songs.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWzNJOfLVJ4]
11. Down to Earth, Wall-E – An incredibly peaceful and relaxing song that was the perfect finishing touch to a sublime movie. The music in “Wall-E” was a huge part of what made the movie so good, and I don’t just say that because there wasn’t any dialogue for like the first 25 minutes.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxYwwIL5zQ]
10. Zip-a-de-doo-dah, Song of the South – Didn’t even realize this was as Disney song until after I did some research. It’s transcended the Disney stigma, which is rare enough to warrant its mention here. Also, it’s great to whistle.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMU2NwaaXEA]
9. Theme Song, Duck Tales – I think I’ve been pretty consistent in making sure to include one theme song in each of my Top 11 columns. I’d hate to disappoint my following. The “Duck Tales” theme song is the cream of the Disney theme song crop. Definitely wish my life more hurricanes, racecars, lasers, aeroplanes. Wouldn’t mind Scrooge’s swimming pool of gold coins, either.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xafme2PWA]
8. Why Should I Worry, Oliver and Company – If you’re like me (and you are), you won’t immediately recognize this song, or even name of this film. I’ll fill you in: A dog wearing sunglasses romps around New York City, makes a big mess of everyone else’s stuff, and basically says, “yep, I don’t give a damn and how do you like that?” Plus, he wears sausage links for a neck tie. Plus, he’s voiced by Billy Joel. What’s not to love?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEVczA8PLU&]
7. Hakuna Matata, The Lion King – There’s definitely a running motif here of songs along the Bob Marley “don’t worry, be happy” train of thought. Interesting thought #1: Google couldn’t confirm this, but I’m pretty sure I learned that warthogs and meerkats (the Timon animal) live in entirely different areas of Africa. I wonder how Simba would have turned out had he only learned the “matata” half of the phrase. Interesting thought #2: In retrospect, how uptight were we as a society in the ’90s that Disney couldn’t say “fart” in a G-rated movie? Our vocabularies might have been soiled (hah!) forever.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOcyYyxqN_g]
6. I Wanna Be Like You, The Jungle Book – Here’s our other running theme: Parallels with Eleven. Readers, you want to be like me. You want to walk like me, talk like me, too. Pardon me while I stroke my ginormous ego.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD8HDta7Z_4]
5. The whole movie, Fantasia – This whole movie was just one long song with a tripped-out theme, story, and characters. It also doubled as an instructional video for children on what happens when an LSD trip goes sour. This movie traumatized me as a child. Funny to think that about 50 years after it was made, Walt & Company wouldn’t even be able to get away with a little fart joke.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-Z0SSyUcw]
4. Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious, Mary Poppins – I make up a lot of words. You better believe I’m jealous of how Supercalifragilisticexpailidocious has vaulted a fake word into the mainstream. And I’m esophagating [like salivating, but more in your throat] about being mean to my copy editors. As of this draft submission, I’ve intentionally spelled Supercalifragilisticexpiallidocious differently and incorrectly in all three uses. Thanks, Mary Poppins, and have fun, guys!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSKkKrUzUk]
3. Circle of Life, The Lion King – A fantastic song that really sets the tone for what I’d consider the masterpiece of all Disney movies. The song (and the movie, for that matter) is even better live on Broadway. But I think the best part about Circle of Life is that everyone who hears it has their own lyrical interpretation of Rafiki’s monologue in the opening seven seconds.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB8UjOUHP04]
2. A Whole New World, Aladdin – Think of the magazine as your magic carpet, and the Eleven staff as your handsome and mysterious guide to a whole new world of music. Man, that sentence was about as cheesy as I could muster. I just did one of those half throw-up-in-your-mouth things. I hope you feel uncomfortable having read it. Just consider that at least you don’t have to listen to a topless and flamboyant Robin Williams running his mouth while you’re reading the mag.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sjAb-qYflE&feature=related]
1. Eye to Eye, A Goofy Movie – As per the movie: a down-on-his-luck high school outcast rocks out on stage in concert with his favorite artist, Powerline (think: a Disney version of Michael Jackson, but with more yellow tights and less artificial skin). Also, in doing so, he wins the heart of the really cute redhead, Roxanne. Yeah, Roxanne. (Why aren’t there more girls named Roxanne??) This is literally every hipster’s dream; Disney just somehow managed to visualize and animate it.