What’s not to love about Disney songs? They’re an entire genre of music all on their own. There’s a reason why Disney became the powerhouse it is, because they make really good movies, at least when it comes to cartoons. Who doesn’t love the marathon awesomeness that was Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the early to mid-90s? And then Pixar, wow. Is there any greater movie-maker than Pixar these days?

For a fun list idea, I decided to show you all My 6 Favorite Disney Songs. This is Music Week, after all.

Play Mickey, play

Back in Middle School choir, all we sang were Disney songs. The popular ones too. I remember learning the songs to The Lion King specifically. I’m sure we learned some others. Then we’d all stand up on those green metal risers and sing for our parents on show night. It was fun at that age to learn the lyrics to the movie.

Feel free to sing along.

6. ‘Be Prepared’ from The Lion King

My favorite characters in The Lion King were the hyenas…for some reason. They were funny and looked cool. What a jerk, Mufasa was, to banish them to the elephant graveyard. Aren’t hyenas part of The Circle of Life too? Guess not, since when they take over they turn the Prideland into a freaking wasteland! Did they drink up all the water in the rivers? Did the hyenas stop it from raining? Maybe they conjured up some acid rain.

Still, they make great shock troopers. The villainous lion Scar sings them a powerful and vicious call to arms before he commits regicide. It’s full of darkness and shadows, with twisting rocks and a vibrant use of colors. One almost wants to root for the bad guys after this one. Scar’s voice is like a poisoned dagger! The hyenas ruin the song with  dumb spoken interlude, but Scar saves it in the end. The greens give way to a sickly yellow, then finally to a violent red and orange as the very Earth twists under Scar’s awesomeness. Brilliant use of color.

5. ‘Out There’ from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is my favorite of the classic Disney cartoon movies. We probably have the songs to thank for that choice. The setting is pretty neat, and the characters are complex – the hero doesn’t get the girl!? – but the crowning achievement in this film are the songs. This list could all be songs from this movie, but I picked ‘Out There’ for its energy. Quasimodo is just so excited and happy singing this song. His story is a tragic one, but the guy still has music in his heart.

Of course, it starts out with an opening by Judge Frollo, one of the vilest villains of all Disney movies. That villain was made to sing. And he sets up Quasimodo’s part of the song nicely. Poor hunchback is ordered to stay in the belltower. Quasimodo’s tune starts out soulful, but then bursts into a more excited tour of the city as he frollics around the cathedral. He’s got a great singing voice. Why didn’t he get the girl again?

4. ‘The Mob Song’ from Beauty and the Beast

If you think about it, Gaston and the townspeople were just going to get revenge for Belle. The Beast was keeping her prisoner in his castle. Belle’s dad had barely escaped with his life earlier in the film. It’s not Gaston’s fault that Belle developed Stockholm Syndrome and fell in love with her kidnapper. If Beast really cared for Belle, he wouldn’t hold her prisoner!  A few talking appliances is all it takes for Belle to want to stay at the castle. She even expects everybody else to be completely cool with the beast.

Not Gaston! He’s always loved Belle. And when he learns that she was held captive, he rallies the militia to come to defeat this kidnapping monster! Sure, it requires a little bending of the truth to convince a few of them to come, but maybe the Beast really would eat their children in the middle of the night. He didn’t have anything against holding Belle or her father captive and threatening to kill them. Once Gaston really gets going, he puts those powerful lungs to work and paints an exciting and spooky picture of the monster. It’s the perfect song to build up to the movie’s action climax.

3. ‘I Will Go Sailing No More’ from Toy Story

Short but beautiful. The song is barely more than a minute long, but it’s so touching as Buzz Lightyear confronts the horrible truth that he’s a toy and not really a space ranger. Randy Newman sings like a narrator after Buzz sees a commercial for the Buzz Lightyear action figures. He’s dejected and alone…but dammit! It just can’t be true! Buzz climbs up high and takes the leap!

But alas. He’s just a toy. I love the soulfulness of the song. I’ve probably used that word a lot on this list, and for good reason. These are the types of songs I love. It’s full of character and imagery. It’s Buzz Lightyear’s defining moment. You can’t help but weep for him. And it’s a nice metaphor too, sailing for flying. I dig it.

2. ‘Worthless’ from The Brave Little Toaster

This one may be stretching the ‘Disney’ part, but it was definitely distributed by Disney. Did you know The Brave Little Toaster only had a limited theatrical release? It debuted instead on the Disney Channel, then went on to have a great shelf life on video. I’m pretty sure my family taped our copy off the TV, and I just rewatched the same tape over and over. This movie is one of my favorites from when I was a kid. Fun characters, an epic adventure and great songs.

Worthless plays towards the end, when Toaster and the other appliances have been thrown out at the scrap yard. They are fleeing from the angry magnet crane who intends to carry them over to the crusher. The song is sung by the various junk cars and trucks piled around the scrap yard as they themselves are carried off to the crusher to be cubed. So it’s essentially the death song of a bunch of anthropomorphic cars! And their individual stories are heartbreaking, but with a peppy beat so you can sing along. It’s tense but catchy. There’s also an underlying sadness. So it’s perfect for the climax.

1. ‘Heaven’s Light, Hellfire’ from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Villains always have the best songs. And few are more villainous, or have better songs, than Judge Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. We already listened to him once on this list, well here is his masterpiece. He wants to punish the sinful, but oh that Esmeralda is really sexy! What’s a guy supposed to do? Who should he listen to, the angel or the devil on his shoulder?

Like the best villains, Frollo is convinced that what he’s doing is right. He’s a man of God, doing God’s work. But man never seems to interpret God’s desires very well. The fiery imagery in this song is beautiful. There are dancing flames creating long shadows as Frollo flails around in his long judge’s robe. The fire animation is brilliant in this song. The faceless, hooded chorus appears to cast judgement on Frollo, only to disappear into a swirling, burning cry to God himself.

Frollo rules.