Top 11 Songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
- CJ Tiernan
- 21 hours ago
- 7 min read
By CJ Tiernan
This two-human combination was a comet. They whizzed by, lit up the night sky, and then – poof – it was over. Alan Menken was the composer and Howard Ashman was the lyricist for an absolute musical dream team. They wrote songs for Disney staples like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, as well as an Off-Broadway reimagining of Little Shop of Horrors that became the basis for the 1986 movie. That’s right, these guys helped craft the soundtrack of your childhood. Then, in ’91, Ashman died from complications with AIDS at the age of 40. Menken has continued on the Disney path, writing songs for Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tangled (among others) and been nominated several times for Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. But this list is designed specifically to honor this wonderful duo. Here are my Top 11 Favorite Songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Enjoy!
1. Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid (1989)
Disney’s three animated movies released prior to The Little Mermaid were The Black Cauldron (1985), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Oliver & Company (1988). It is largely known as the “Dark Age” of Disney Animation. I kinda liked The Black Cauldron (and who doesn’t love Billy Joel?) but I get it. The Little Mermaid ushered in what became known as the Disney Renaissance. I get that too. Four of their next five releases were The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. That’s one heck of a run. Menken and Ashman were no small part of that. This song is my all-time favorite Disney song. Given that I have both Beetlejuice and its sequel in my Top 500 movies of all time, you can deduce that I’m susceptible to Calypso music. The island beckons and I want to be toes in the sand with a beer in hand. That’s the message The Little Mermaid is sending, right? (or maybe I’m confusing it with a Corona commercial).
2. Suddenly, Seymour - Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Little Shop of Horrors is my favorite live-action musical movie. The music is phenomenal and I really enjoy how none of the characters are really winners. I mean, Audrey II is a winner in the sense that it keeps getting what it wants (which, Spoiler Alert if you haven’t seen it, is to eat people and take over the world) but otherwise, it’s a tale of the disenfranchised… and a love story. It is a tender song, but unfortunately the word “suddenly” is forever and inextricably linked to an item found in the grocery store. You’re walking through the aisles, minding your own business when BAM! “Suddenly Pasta Salad” makes an appearance.
3. Be Our Guest - Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Be Our Guest is sung by Mrs. Potts and Lumiere. These are anthropomorphic household accoutrement, welcoming Belle to Dinner, played by Angela Lansbury (of Murder…She Wrote) and Jerry Orbach (of that John Mulaney bit about Jerry Orbach’s eyes and Law & Order fame). We did this as a stage production my Senior year of High School and I played the highly-memorable, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Cheese Grater. I got to juggle on stage, which was a lot of fun. Also, how polite is the name of this song? When I worked at Target we always had to refer to customers as guests. They were rarely polite enough to necessitate such a moniker.
4. Friend Like Me - Aladdin (1992)
Robin Williams, much like Howard Ashman, is an entertainment figure that was simply gone too soon. In this film, at the height of his powers, he brings an energy and singularity to The Genie that I don’t know has ever been matched. No one could riff and improv like Robin Williams and it’s startling to hear how much he was able to do that even within the confines of an animated character. In Friend Like Me, he sang this jazzy, swing song with gusto and might, matching the towering height his character was capable of reaching. That being said, I still struggle with calling that thing a lamp. It looks nothing like any lamp I’ve ever used anywhere in my whole life (and I’ve been to Europe twice!).
5. Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid (1989)
The “I Want” or “I Wish” song is a musical staple. It paints a picture for the audience, in a florid, visual manner, for the desire(s) of the main character. This is the first of two such songs on my list (see #9 for the other). In fact, Ashman and Menken may have churned out two of the greatest such songs ever. There is raw emotion in this song, with words sometimes almost whispered (or escaping the body uncontrollably) that really crafts some complex feelings for what could otherwise be dismissed as a kid’s movie. The feeling of not belonging to your own tribe and wanting to be somewhere just out of reach taps into a universality that really makes this song sing. Plus, who doesn’t love a song that can work in so many non-specific nouns (gadgets, gizmos, whozits, whatzits, and thingamabobs all in a short rat-a-tat-tat).
6. Kiss the Girl - The Little Mermaid (1989)
Back to the island music! This is a smooth song with a call-and-response vocal element. We’re in an impossibly blue lagoon, rooting for this guy to kiss this girl, even though she can’t speak. It’s, uh, not aged well when viewed out of context but, I mean they’re animated characters so no one got hurt. The real problem is who designs a spell that way? The one way a spell doesn’t ruin your whole world is if a handsome young guy kisses a pretty young girl? Outside of an Amish colony or a family reunion (north of the Mason-Dixon), I think the odds are actually pretty good for a kiss.
7. Skid Row - Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Skid Row – noun – ramshackle neighborhood, wrong side of the tracks, rundown area of New York City. It is not the ideal, perfect place. It is a place you end up, not the place you aim to go. However, this song has the most wonderful juxtaposition between the place they sing about and the way they sing about it. It’s like a ‘60s doo-wop with background singers that just appear out of nowhere. It’s wonderful. There is allegedly no relation to the band of the same name (“18 and Life” and “I Remember You” are two of their biggest hits), but the band did also change their name from The Skids to Skid Row in 1986 so…
8. Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Beauty and the Beast (the movie) stands out for several reasons. It was nominated for Best Picture before the field expanded to 10 movies and before there was an animated movie category. It was that good. The scene of Beauty and the Beast (the song) stands out because while the characters were still hand-drawn all normal, 2D like, the ballroom itself was computer-generated 3D. It was seriously groundbreaking at the time. Disney pulled it off with a little help from their friends (aka Pixar). It, uh, it worked. It’s a breathtaking moment.
9. Somewhere That's Green - Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
The actress that plays Audrey (the first one, the human) has this extremely distinct voice that she manages to use as both a speaking and singing voice. It is a lispy, high-pitched yet soft voice that appears almost nowhere else in the universe. So, we must give a shout-out to Ellen Greene. In fact, she portrayed the character in the original Off-Broadway run before doing the movie four years later. She lists all of these things that she wants out of life in the song and it is so enduring and funny because they are such small, simple desires like a “disposal in the sink” and “plastic on the furniture” and a “big, enormous 12-inch screen” TV. You can’t help but root for someone who dreams so hard and so small.
10. Arabian Nights - Aladdin (1992)
The music in Arabian Nights is transportive. We know, just by the sounds and instruments used, that we are in a faraway land. This is a trick of the mind. The style of music is known as Hollywood Orientalism (Yikes! Are we still using that term?). It is a style of music that has evoked the Asian and North African setting in media for many moons but isn’t all that indicative of the music that is made by the people that actually live in those areas. But it gets results. The brain is designed to constantly be on the lookout for shortcuts. Much like a Senior nearing the end of High School, it is infected with laziness. This is a cheat code that’s frequently exploited by the score of music and TV. Such is the case here. Don’t hate the players, hate the game.
11. Poor Unfortunate Souls - The Little Mermaid (1989)
This song is classical musical theater. It harbors a blend of spoken-word lyrics with opportunities for the singer to plant their feet and belt out a note or two. This is the only song on my list that is sung by the villain. We naturally root for the good guy, the protagonist of the picture, so perhaps this is subconscious bias on my part. Nevertheless, Ursula the Sea Witch (a bad guy name if there ever was one) is dressed in black and has eels as henchmen so there is no mistaking the sinister aura surrounding her. Quick trivia: do you remember the names of her evil eels? I’ll stall while you think of it. Take a look at the title of the song again. There is such a rhythm (a wonderful word that lacks traditional vowels) to it. Like the up-down of iambic pentameter. These Ashman and Menken guys might have been really good at their jobs. (The names are Flotsam and Jetsam).
Final Thoughts
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the documentary on Howard Ashman that is simply titled “Howard.” It was a Disney+ release that really gave a great account of his life and accomplishments. His partnership with Alan Menken was his greatest professional achievement and he never got to fully realize the rewards. He won an Oscar posthumously for the title track of Beauty and the Beast at the 1992 Academy Awards. This duo was OP and who knows how the history of animation changes if Howard didn’t have to leave us too soon. This concludes my list of the greatest songs by Ashman and Menken. Please let me know in the comments if there is one you love that I missed. I have a couple that just missed my list that I’ll leave down below. Thanks! Have a great day!
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