Disney's Best Movies for Songs

This is an article which sums up the results of the three Disney related songs countdowns. Each countdown was for a different "era". Here are the timezones of each era:

"Walt's Era"- 1937-1967 (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-The Jungle Book)
"Pre-Renaissance Era"- 1970-1988 (The Aristocats-Oliver and Company)
"Renaissance Era"- 1989-1999 (The Little Mermaid-Tarzan)

Thanks to 0BleuFever0, aiemerryserius, allis143, anubis210, becca85, BKG201, ClonedPickle, cromulanfav, daralekshaw, dollyrox, DreamyGal, dustfinger, fhghu, FlightofFantasy, jinxenmoonday, KataraLover, kiraragirl200, lauutje, LisaForde, Lisiii, Mongoose09, NCISLuverjk93, nevermind606, Okami_Amaterasu, princess829, princesslullaby, sheepprncss3, sugarcane15, VGfan30, and yorkshire_rose for all commenting on my picks. You all really helped me write my article.

I would also like to see people's input on what they would think the ranks should be and post their opinions of the countdown. So without any ado, here are the results of the three countdowns I posted, and the rank of the best Disney songs of each of these eras. This is for the Pre-Renaissance Era.

Pre-Renaissance Era Background

The era of the 1970’s and 1980’s had a huge variance in Disney songs, just like the movies. The era had a wide variety of emotions in their songs, ranging from the sad tones of The Rescuers and The Fox and the Hound to the swingy tones of The Aristocats to the energetic tones of Oliver and Company, that made it hard to generalize too much about the era’s songs- other that they are generally less well known than the songs of Walt’s Era and the Renaissance. The song amount in this era ranges from none to six songs, so the movies varied on song amount.

7. The Black Cauldron



Songs: None

First to be removed was The Black Cauldron, mostly because this film lacked any songs. Fans plainly liked the songs from the other movies, and the consensus is that none of the songs from any movie were negative.


6. The Great Mouse Detective



Songs: (3)

Goodbye So Soon
Let Me Be Good to You
The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind

The Great Mouse Detective is a movie that does not have a lot of songs, with only three songs in the movie. They weren’t considered the best songs either by fans, as most of these are generally not considered to be among the most popular songs, giving it this rank on the countdown. Notable about this movie is that the villain sings two out of the three songs.


5. The Rescuers



Songs: (6)

Faith is a Bluebird
For Penny’s a Jolly Good Fellow
Rescue Aid Society
Someone’s Waiting For You
The Journey
Tomorrow’s Another Day

Unlike The Great Mouse Detective, The Rescuers has quite a few songs, but many of them are noticed rarely, if at all. Its most well known song, “Someone’s Waiting For You”, was nominated for an Academy Award. In what you may expect from one of Disney’s most depressing movies, it is often considered the saddest and is thought of as one of the most likely Disney songs to be a tear-jerker.


4. Robin Hood



Songs: (5)

Love
Not in Nottingham
Oo-De-Lally
The Phony King of England
Whistle Stop

With its quiet, bluegrass tones and heavy use of guitar, Robin Hood’s songs are generally not that well known. “Love”, nominated for an Academy Award, is the most traditional Disney love song in the Pre-Renaissance Era, but it still has the same bluegrass feel as the others. Many of these songs in this movie are actually sung by the narrator of the movie, the rooster.


3. The Fox and the Hound



Songs: (5)

Appreciate the Lady
A Huntin’ Man
Best of Friends
Goodbye May Seem Forever
Lack of Education

The Fox and the Hound’s songs in many ways are a hybrid between its two predecessors, Robin Hood and The Rescuers. Much like Robin Hood, The Fox and the Hound has bluegrass tones to it too, but fitting the setting of the movie, they are considered stronger here than in Robin Hood. Also, The Fox and the Hound, like the Rescuers, has very sad songs. While The Rescuers is known for its sad song, “Someone’s Waiting For You”, it is very well possible that The Fox and the Hound might have even more sad songs, particularly “Goodbye May Seem Forever,” which stands out as being on most lists of sad Disney songs, and is considered to be a tear jerker. Also, much like Robin Hood, the main characters do not sing too much in this movie, rather, Big Mama sings quite a few songs in the movie.


2. The Aristocats



Songs: (4)

Ev’rybody Wants To Be A Cat
Scales and Arpeggios
The Aristocats
Thomas O’Malley

The two most popular film soundtracks from this era The earliest Pre-Renaissance film has ties to The Jungle Book in its jazzy tunes that are seen in “Thomas O’Malley” and “Ev’rybody Wants to Be A Cat”, not only because of their style, but also because Thomas O’Malley has the same voice actor as Baloo, the singing star of The Jungle Book. The Aristocats, though, also has very refined songs, such as “Scales and Arpeggios”, and portions of “Ev’rybody Wants to Be A Cat”, that Duchess sings parts in.

1. Oliver and Company



Songs: (5)

Good Company
Once Upon A Time in New York City
Perfect Isn’t Easy
Streets of Gold
Why Should I Worry

Considered to be a test run for the musical format used frequently in the Renaissance, the last Pre-Renaissance film certainly has a very distinguishable soundtrack, which screams 1980’s. Unlike in The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, and The Rescuers, are fast-paced and upbeat unlike the mellow songs of many of Disney’s other Pre-Renaissance movies. “Why Should I Worry” in particular is very fast paced, and the other songs here are well-liked, and this movie indicated the success of the myriads of songs in the movies that would soon succeed it. The movie also has a lot of self-confident songs that radiate the confidence of the characters, such as “Why Should I Worry”, “Streets of Gold”, and “Perfect Isn’t Easy”. The general peppiness unique to this soundtrack of the era helped make Oliver and Company to have the top soundtrack of the era.