The Lion King (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Tracklist
The Lion King is Disney’s 32nd animated motion picture and was released in 1994. Simba, a lion cub destined to succeed his father Mufasa as King of the Pride Lands, is despised by his uncle Scar who wishes to take the throne for himself. Scar hatches a plot to murder Mufasa which succeeds and causes Simba to believe that he was responsible for his father’s death. Simba, racked with guilt, flees into the desert where he is rescued by Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog and raised by them in their jungle home. After reuniting with his childhood friend Nala and Rafiki the sangoma mandrill, Simba realises that he has to return home, challenge Scar, and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful King.
Tim Rice was invited to write the songs, and he suggested that Elton John assist him as a composing partner. Disney agreed and Elton John expressed interest in writing “ultra-pop songs that kids would like; then adults can go and see those movies and get just as much pleasure out of them”.
The score was composed by Hans Zimmer, who was hired based on his work in two films in African settings. His work was supplemented with traditional African music and choir elements arranged by Lebo M.
The soundtrack received critical acclaim and has shipped over 10 million copies in the United States alone, with the soundtrack achieving 10x Platinum in 1995 (its certification was promoted to Diamond when the award was instituted in 1999).
“The Lion King (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” Q&A
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What has Elton John said about The Lion King?
He has often said how important The Lion King was for him:
“The Lion King changed my life. It gave me the opportunity to write for the stage. It gave me more strings to my bow. After The Lion King, I wrote Aida, I wrote Billy Elliot, and I wrote The Vampire Lestat – four stage musicals. Up until that point, I was just doing records, videos and touring. Of course, nobody knew it was going to be this big. I’m so proud to be involved in it, and I have Tim Rice to thank for it. He phoned me up and said, ‘Disney said you won’t do it,’ and I said, ‘Of course I’ll do it, it’s a great story.’ It was a wonderful experience working with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Tim, and Bernie gave me his blessing – there wasn’t any jealousy or anything like that. I don’t often play the songs from it live, because they don’t really fit in, but I do play ‘Circle of Life’ because it’s a brilliant lyric. It’s really the song that should have won the Oscar, but ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ did. I’m not complaining.”
