The classic Elton John song Disney tried to remove ‘The Lion King’
It’s always a difficult balancing act when an artist is tasked with making a film soundtrack. It’s impossible for anyone to make music that quotes their own heart, but when they have to be the voice of a character in a movie is a completely different way of looking at their craft, but Elton John never really had such a problem during his prime.
After all, he was used to bringing Bernie Taupin’s lyrics to life every time he made a record, and while he might not have agreed with everything that his songwriting partner worked on, he knew when certain songs struck a nerve in a way that no other artist could have done. ‘Roy Rogers’ might not strike the same kind of nostalgic trip for everyone reading the lyrics, but even if you have no idea who the fictional cowboy was, hearing John sing about him is bound to draw up memories from when you were young.
John had already checked off a lot of the boxes that come with being an icon by the time Disney reached out, but there was always going to be some trepidation going in. Soundtrack albums are not only hard to pull off, but for someone known as a pop singer, it was going to be difficult trying to maintain his starstudded reputation when he was first tasked with working on the music for The Lion King.
But even if John wrote the songs, he didn’t necessarily have to land the killing blow for most of it. ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ is a fantastic production without his voice, and for as much as Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon got credit for working in the field of world music, hearing the South African instrumentation working its way into ‘Circle of Life’ is still one of the greatest musical moments that Disney ever had,
Then again, making an album of material like this was never going to play out like a traditional Elton John record. Disney wasn’t looking for Goodbye Yellow Brick Road as sung by Simba by any stretch, but when looking at the main body of the album that the studio was looking for, John insisted that ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ be included in the final version.
According to the music icon, Disney were in favour of ditching the song altogether, saying, “Tim [Rice] and I were in Atlanta and [Disney] came to show the more-or-less finished movie. I was blown away. Up until that moment you hardly see more than clips and squiggles. I then said, ‘But you’ve taken out the love song ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’.’ Disney said ‘we couldn’t find the right place to put it.’ I said ‘Jeffrey, you cannot have this film without this song in it. There’s a need for this song.’ Tim and I were quite adamant, and to their credit, Disney put it back in. And they said ‘yes you’re right’.”
And while music is far from the only thing The Lion King has going for it, it’s impossible to think of a version of the movie that works without ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’. The song is one of the emotional centrepieces of the film, and given that it was showered with awards upon release, the ‘House of Mouse’ was probably grateful to have trusted John’s instincts during the section.
Because if there’s one thing that John knows better than anything else, it’s how his music is supposed to sound. By the 1990s, he had everything down to a science, and whether it was a typical rock and roll tune or a movie meant for children, he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure everything sounded perfect.
