The Lion King Fan Site:
The Music Behind The Magic
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Lyrics
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Imagine for a second that you could see the world from young Simba’s point of view. What would it look like? Every sight, every sound, every smell would be brand new. Anything would be possible. And one day you would rule it all.
Now, how do you say that with a song?
For “The Lion King”, a rock and roll Legend teamed up with an academy award winning Lyricist to provide this and other key pieces to the story telling Puzzle and in the process, create one of the most memorable collections of songs in disney animation. Till we Find our place Elton John and Tim Rice wrote five spellbinding songs for “The Lion King” over a two year period.
--Robert Guiallme, Disney's "The Making of The Lion King"
Tim Rice wrote all the lyrics for The Lion King songs. To prepare for the Job Tim watched a lot of T.V. shows about animals. He even went to a wild-game park in Africa. After meeting the creatures face to face, he learned to sing about them--but he sure wouldn't talk back to one.
Interviewer: How do you write songs for Lions?
Tim: I write for them like they're people. I mean, even thought they're lions and baboons, they're really just good guys and bad guys
Interviewer: Pop superstar elton Jhon worte the music. What was it like working with him?
Tim: I was amazed at how quickly he works. If he doesn't get a song in 20 minutes, he throws it out and starts again.
Interviewer: Which would come first the words or the music?
Tim: I usually write the word safter somebody has finished the tune, like when I worked on Aladdin. But Elton was keen to have me do the lyrics before he started the music. I liked that. It was fresh!
Interviewer: Who's your favorite character?
Tim: I have a sneaking sympathy for Pumbaa the warthog because he's the underdog. Elton likes the hyena's.
--Jhon Cade
In the ongoing film making, Africa was a mother load of ideas. Other elements of Africa can be found in “The Lion King’s” richly textured underscore, written by renowned composer Hans Zimmer, whose credits include “Rainman”, “Driving Miss Daisy”, and “Thelma and Louise”.
“If you have a musician playing an instrument, all they’re trying to so is, they’re trying to get as clsoe to the emothion as possible, of a human voice.In a way, this Cello really sings, you know. So I thought, lets shortcut that and go straight to the source and get some really good singers together for this” quoted Hans.
African Choirs, conductied by vocalist Lebo helped shape the underscore. Just as Andy Gaskill Researched the Visual Elements of the Film, Zimmer Spent two years Looking for the right talent and Musical sounds for the Lion King. A musical tapestry which complements the visual art. and a design for the film that you could call colorful, mystical, majestic, dramatic, or you could just call it Africa.
--Robert Guiallme, from Disney’s “The Making of The Lion King”
Hans Zimmer help create music for "The Lion King" that would make people feel like they were in the jungles of Africa. To get that wild feeling. Hans used everything form native African instruments to peices of old drain pipe that he tosed together to make great spooky noises. We asked him aoub his jungle jam.
Interviewer: How did you decide which instruments to use in "The Lion King"?
Hans: If they were loud, they were good.
Interviewer: What were some of the wierdest instruments you used?
Hans: They're all wierd. I used the marimba, which is like a wooden xylophone. I like clonking bones. I use it in a lot of chase scenes. I also used a little thumb piano called the Kalimba. It's made out of a piece of wod with metal spokes on it. You pluck the spokes with your fingers and they make a haunting racket.
Interviewer: Did you have any adventures in Africa?
Hans: Oh yeah! I made frends with a Zulu warrior! His name is Lebo and he hlped me write music for The Lion King. And I got the Zulu tribe to be by choir.
Interviewer: So how did the Zulus Jam?
Hans: The Zulus sing without instruments. They are warriors--they don't like carrying grand pianos when they go warring. But when they sing, they stomp the clay with thier feet. Have you ever heard the sound of 600 people somping thier feet? it's pretty frightning.
--Jhon Cade, Disney Adventure July 30, 1994