Top Ten Favorite Disney Songs: #2

2. I'll Make a Man Out of You, Mulan (1998)

This song is so dramatic and elaborate, which makes it sooooooooo good. This is another one of those songs that I can play on loop and never get tried of it. Why hasn't Mulan made it to Broadway yet? Can you imagine that shirtless gorgeous specimen of a Captain running around on stage? YES PLEASE.

Aside from that, this is when Mulan proves she is just as strong as any man - heck yeah! Girl power! This montage sequence is one of my favorites in Disney animation history, showing humor, power, and honor in a matter of minutes. Serious greatness. Oh and yes: that is Donny Osmond singing.

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​2. When You Wish Upon a Star, Pinocchio (1940)

It’s Disney’s unofficial theme song: it greets you as you pass through Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle and evokes the very essence of Walt Disney himself.  Once upon a time, just like Geppetto, Walt made his own wish and, against all odds, it came true (Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Disneyland!)!  That’s my favourite part of the song – it’s sneakily defiant.  It’s the line that says “makes no difference who you are…” that separates it from all other longingly saccharine ballads of false hope and wanton optimism.  Walt proved that wishes and dreams aren’t just for the elite and bourgeoisie and that even a skinny, big nosed cartoonist from Marceline, Missouri, can become the most culturally relevant and innovative American there ever was! 

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