Colors of the Wind

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## General information

### Shows

*Mickey's 90th Spectacular
The Disney Family Singalong*

### Attractions and stage performances

*Fantasmic!
Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
The Golden Mickeys
World of Color/World of Color: One
Pocahontas and her Forest Friends
Disney Princess - The Concert*

### Other performers

"**Colors of the Wind**", by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, was the 1995 Oscar-winner for Best Original Song from the Disney 1995 animated feature film, *Pocahontas*. It also won the Golden Globe in the same category as well as the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Movie. It was also nominated for AFI's 100 years...100 songs, as one of 15 songs from Disney and one of 17 songs from an animated movie to be nominated. The songs that eventually made the cut were: "When You Wish Upon a Star" (#7), "Someday My Prince Will Come" (#19), "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44), "Beauty and the Beast" (#62), "The Rainbow Connection" (#74) and "Hakuna Matata" (#99).

The song poetically represents the Native American viewpoint that the earth is a living entity where humankind is connected to everything in nature. This song is about Pocahontas' exhortation to John Smith about the wonders of the earth and nature, including the spirit within all living things, encouraging him not to think of them as things he can conquer or own, but rather as beings to respect and live with in harmony. She also urges him to accept humans who are different in appearance and culture and to learn from them.

The whole song's music plays in the theatrical trailer, as shown on *The Lion King* video, but she only is heard singing the song starting from, "You think you own whatever land you land on."

It can be heard briefly in *Ralph Breaks the Internet* when Pocahontas uses the power of the wind to help save Ralph.

## Composition

The song is set in two distinct keys, F major for the first part, and D major for the second part. This means the first part is in B flat, and the second has two sharps, F and C.

It is fairly slow, and has an emphasis on wind instruments - both woodwind and brass - as well as stringed instruments.

## Melody

The first two notes of Alan Menken's melody span a musical interval of a major sixth. Overall, the span of the melody reaches an eleventh. Because the melody spans a slightly larger range than some instruments, such as the Native American flute, can reach, alternate versions of the melody have been arranged that span a more modest interval.
Described as a "stirring anthem to animism", this song is Pocahontas' exhortation to Captain John Smith about the wonders of the earth and nature, including the spirit within all living things, encouraging him not to think of them as things he can conquer or own, but rather as beings to respect and live with in harmony. She also urges him to accept humans who are different in appearance and culture and to learn from them.

There is some debate over where the song begins within the narrative of the movie. The first part is sung, when the music technically begins, has Pocahontas talking about how having experience with other races does not necessarily mean understanding them and has her asking John Smith whether she is the savage between the two of them. As she sings this, she angrily shoves his gun into his hands, implying that the European attitude towards guns, violence, and racism is far more savage than the views that the Native Americans have. Pocahontas then tells John Smith that there is a lot about the Earth he doesn't know. At this point, it is considered that the song actually begins. The first line of the chorus tells of the wolf crying to the "blue corn moon", with the second line varying with the verse context. The phrase "blue corn moon" has no actual meaning in Native American folklore. It was made up by lyricist Stephen Schwartz because he enjoyed the sound of it, being inspired by a Native American love poem that read "I will come to you in the moon of green corn". The second time the chorus is sung in the single version, the second line becomes "Or let the eagle tell you where he's been" from the original "Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned," likely because the latter phrase refers to imagery in the movie of a fictitious constellation which resembles a bobcat. The third line tells of singing with the voices of the mountains, as the fourth line concludes with the title imagery of painting with the colors of the wind.

## Lyrics

* Film version
* Original Demo Lyrics
* Vanessa Williams's version

You think I'm an ignorant savage

And you've been so many places

I guess it must be so

But still I cannot see

If the savage one is me

How can there be so much that you don't know?

You don't know...

You think you own whatever land you land on

The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim

But I know every rock and tree and creature

Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people

are the people who look and think like you

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,

you'll learn things you never knew you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest

Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth

Come roll in all the riches all around you

And for once, never wonder what they're worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers

The heron and the otter are my friends

And we are all connected to each other

in a circle, in a hoop that never ends

How high does the sycamore grow?

If you cut it down, then you'll never know

And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

For whether we are white or copper skinned

We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain

We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

You can own the Earth and still

all you'll own is earth until

you can paint with all the colors of the wind

You come from a land full of wonders

And you say what we have here

You improved on long ago

You'll teach us how to live

But what lessons will you give?

When it seems there is so much that you don't know

You don't know...

You think you own whatever land you land on

The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim

But I know every rock and tree and creature

has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people

are the people who look and think like you

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger,

you'll learn things you never knew you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest

Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth

Come roll in all the riches all around you

And for once, never wonder what they're worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers

The heron and the otter are my friends

And we are all connected to each other

in a circle, in a hoop that never ends

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

Or let the eagle tell you where he's been?

Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

How high does the sycamore grow?

If you cut it down, then you'll never know

And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon

For whether we are white or copper skinned

We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain

We need to paint with all the colors of the wind

You can own the Earth and still

all you'll own is earth until

you can paint with all the colors of the wind.

## Gallery

Pocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4653.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4675.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4693.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4707.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4491.jpgPoca-in-forest.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4527.jpgLowering John's gunPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4531.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4783.jpgPocahontas wolf howl .jpegPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4806.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4817.jpgPoca-john-smith2.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4842.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4849.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4615.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4624.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4864.jpgPocahontas-Screencap-pocahontas-6247826-852-480.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4887.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4902.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4911.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4919.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4932.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4946.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4718.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4978.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4981.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-4998.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-5024.jpgPocahontas-disneyscreencaps.com-5034.jpg
## Videos

Vanessa Williams Color Of The WindDisney Music Box ǀ Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Instrumental ǀ Makiko Hirohashi - Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Instrumental ǀ Neverland Orchestra - Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Instrumental ǀ Fred Mollin - Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Instrumental ǀ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Instrumental ǀ BBC Concert Orchestra - Colors Of The WindTori Kelly "Colors of the Wind" Performance - Mickey's 90th SpectacularColors of the WIndAshanti Feat. Shi Shi - Colors Of The Wind-2Ashanti Feat. Shi Shi - Colors Of The Wind (Soul Sister Remix)-2Colors of the Wind-2Colors of the Wind-3Colors of the Wind-4Pam Tillis - Colors Of The Wind-2Disney Eurobeat 2 - Colors of the Wind-2WYS - Colors of the Wind (From "Lofi Minnie- Chill"-Visualizer Video)Pocahontas -02- Colors of the Wind (SEGA GEN-MD) - OSTColors of the Wind (From "Pocahontas")Colors Of The WindTori Kelly - Colors of the Wind (Pocahontas) - We Love DisneyThe Chipettes - Colors of the Wind
## Cover versions

* Vanessa Hudgens on *Disneymania 5* and *Princess Disneymania*
* Ashanti (feat. Lil' Sis Shi Shi) on *Disneymania* and *Disneyremixmania*
* Michael Crawford on *The Disney Album*
* Christy Carlson Romano on *Disneymania 3*
* Pam Tillis on *The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney*
* Brian Wilson covered "Colors of the Wind" on his album *In the Key of Disney*, which was released on October 25, 2011.
* La Década in "La Década: DisneyManía"
* Tori Kelly on *Mickey's 90th Spectacular*

## Trivia

* This was the first song Menken and Schwartz had composed together as a duo.

## Charts

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