Evil Never Sounded So Good

I apologize to everyone expecting to see my write up about my daughter and I watching A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Tomorrow, I am going to stay up as late as necessary to watch the movie and write about it!

This may be going against my plan to steer away from Disney for a little while, but this is a compilation CD of Disney Villain songs, and it's quite the mix! The CD follows the villain songs in chronological order of the release of the films featuring the songs and when all these songs are put together, it makes you step back for a moment and almost admire the work that went into these villains.

Some of the songs I was a little curious as to why they were chosen for the album. For example, "I Wanna Be Like You" is the theme for King Louie in "The Jungle Book" but I questioned the degree of villainy in this character. He's a fun-loving, scat-singing, banana-eating orangutan, and the most villainous thing he was was tempt Mowgli to stay in the jungle. He didn't try to kill him like Shere Khan; he didn't try to eat him like Kaa attempted; he didn't even pick him up in a fit of indignation like Cornell Hathi. Then again, this is an orangutan, and they do have their nasty sides. Goes to show that villainy can also be categorized with mischievousness. Oddly enough, mischief is a misdemeanor that can have you placed under arrest. Not that I know from experience.

I'm sure Erini would have enjoyed the album a lot more if she wasn't adamant about having a story read to her, but she did join in the dancing, especially when Caitlin and I danced a little Samba to Yzma's song, "Snuff Out the Light" sung by Eartha Kitt, which was cut from the final film. Bit of shame because it's a fun tune that makes you want to get up and dance.

I found it fascinating that Oogie Boogie's song "You're Joking" was on this disc, and I found it further fascinating that it was right after "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast. While accurate in chronology, it's quite the switch to have a burly bully singing a pub song, then have the jazzy Oogie Boogie man sing about how he wants to gamble away his victim's life.

My favourite song on the disc - and I would say Erini's favourite as well - is the song of Doctor Fascilier, "Friends on the Other Side." Perhaps it's because it's in my voice range, or just the fluidity of the jazz beat. It's a very inviting song, deceptively smooth, but in the final lines there's this marvelous phrase that has deep wisdom with it, "You got what you wanted, but you lost what you had." A bit of a twist on the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it," but just as strong.

The song that confused me the most as to why it was on the CD was the first track. "Pink Elephants on Parade." If the pink elephants are villains, then why aren't there more villains that can be defeated with a good sleep and coffee?

"What'll we do, Batman?"

"Fetch me an espresso, Robin, and I'll show you how to handle these Pink Elephants!"

That would be way too anticlimactic.