Beauty and the Beast (song)

## Beauty and the Beast

### Other performers

"**Beauty and the Beast**" (also known as **"Tale as Old as Time"**) is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Disney's 1991 animated feature film of the same name, serving as its theme song, and originally recorded by Angela Lansbury in her film role as Mrs. Potts.

## Summary

Commonly identified as the film's theme song, its lyrics describe the relationship between the film's two main characters, Belle and the Beast. It specifically addresses how it has managed to transform them, allowing their friendship (and later, love) to grow as Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip watch on. It is later reprised during the final dance in the epilogue of the film.

The song also appears in the Disney+ original series *High School Musical: The Musical: The Series*. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Kourtney (Dara Reneé), who was cast as Mrs. Potts in East High's production of *Beauty and the Beast*, practices the song along with Seb (Joe Serafini) at Big Red's family pizzeria.

## Lyrics

* 1991 film version
* 1991 reprise
* 2017 reprise

Tale as old as time

True as it can be

Barely even friends

Then somebody bends

Unexpectedly

Just a little change

Small to say the least

Both a little scared

Neither one prepared

Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same

Ever a surprise

Ever as before

Ever just as sure

As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time

Tune as old as song

Bittersweet and strange

Finding you can change

Learning you were wrong

Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

*Off to the cupboard*

*With you now, Chip*

*It's past your bedtime*

*Goodnight, love*

Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

**Madame de Garderobe:** Tale as old as time

Tune as old as song

Bittersweet and strange

Finding you can change

Learning you were wrong

**Mrs. Potts:** Winter turns to spring

Famine turns to feast

Nature points the way

Nothing left to say

Beauty and the Beast

**Chorus:** Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast

## Trivia

* Every single line of the song has five syllables.
* Angela Lansbury told *The Huffington Post* that Ashman and Menken had originally written the song in the style of a rock ballad. Although she enjoyed it, she felt incapable of recording it because of the unfamiliar style in which it was written. She questioned the songwriters' choice in her, asking them, "Are you sure you want me to do this?" She also felt as though her voice she was not in suitable condition to record "Beauty and the Beast", feeling insecure about having to sustain its several "long, extended notes". Ashman and Menken simply advised her "to sing it the way [she] envisioned it". Ultimately, she successfully recorded it in only one take, which ended up in the film.
* The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1992, marking Menken and Ashman's (posthumously) second win after the 1989 award for "Under the Sea" from *The Little Mermaid*.
* It won the 1992 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It later went on winning two Grammy Awards in 1993, for the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, and the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
* The song was also nominated for two other important Grammys: Record of the Year and the Song of the Year.
* In Canada, it won a Juno Award for the Single of the Year.
* The song is ranked #62 on the list AFI's *100 Years... 100 Songs*, along with "Hakuna Matata" (#99), "Someday My Prince Will Come" (#19), "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (#36), "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44), "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" (#47), "When You Wish Upon A Star" (#62), and "The Rainbow Connection" (#74). It is one of only seven songs from Disney that made the cut.
* Both Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson have included the song on some of their respective greatest hit and compilation albums.
	+ Peabo Bryson would later sing "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle for the closing credits of *Aladdin* the following year.
* Both American pop group Jump5 and *American Idol* winner Jordin Sparks have recorded pop renditions of the song for the film's platinum and diamond edition re-releases respectively.
* It was included in *Disney Sing Along Songs: Be Our Guest* and *Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Once Upon a Dream*.
* Lansbury, Dion, and Bryson all performed the song live on stage during the 64th Academy Awards.
* Dion and Bryson performed it also at the Grammy Awards in 1993.
* The French music video was shot on location inside Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris, using the Grand Staircase under bright lighting to change the mood.
* In 1998, a version of the song, called "Beauty and the Bees", was made for the 3D attraction movie *It's Tough to Be a Bug!*'s queue at Disney's Animal Kingdom and Disney California Adventure, utilizing insect buzzing sounds.
* Paige O'Hara covered it along with other non-Disney songs on her album *Dream with Me*.
* The song was included later on Céline Dion's greatest hits albums *All the Way… A Decade of Song* (1999) and *My Love: Essential Collection* (2008).
* In 2002, the song was covered by the group Jump5 and placed on the CD *Disneymania*.
* In 2005, Julie Andrews selected the song for her album *Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs*.
* In 2009, the CD *Disney's Dream Pop: Tribute to Tokyo*, the song is covered by the group Bright.
* In 2010, Jordin Sparks recorded her cover version of the song and filmed an accompanying music video with director Philip Andelman.
* In *Kingdom Hearts II*, an arrangement of the song created by Yoko Shimomura plays during the finale of the episode at the Beast's Castle when the Beast and Belle are dancing on the courtyard of the castle.
* The song has been referenced in various Disney works:
	+ A brief minor version can be heard in the score of *Enchanted*, which, not coincidentally, was also composed by Alan Menken. It can be heard on the soundtrack as part of the track "Nathaniel and Pip". It is heard in a soap opera watched by Prince Edward and Nathaniel at a hotel, which features Paige O'Hara (the voice of Belle).
	+ In the *Phineas and Ferb* episode "Gaming the System", the notes to the lyric, "Tale as old as time" can be heard when Perry, Heinz Doofenshmirtz, and Candace get clothed in ball gowns.
	+ In *Once Upon a Time*, Mr. Gold plays the song when he dances with Belle for the first time as husband and wife. Mr. Gold even dresses up in the blue outfit worn by the Beast. The song reappears in a much fuller orchestrated form, in the Season 6 premiere, as Rumple uses the song in an attempt to awaken Belle from her nightmarish dreamscape.
* It was parodied in *Dave the Barbarian* as "Candy and her Zit".
* The reprise used in the 2017 remake contains an additional verse, sung between verses four and five, with new lyrics, which were written by Ashman for the original 1991 film but removed from the final version. They were added back for the 2017 film as a nod to Ashman.
* The song was also featured in the 2017 remake, performed by Emma Thompson. The end credits version uses vocals from Ariana Grande and John Legend.

## External links

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1. ↑ AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.
2. ↑ Hughes, Kayleigh (March 21, 2017). These 'Beauty And The Beast' Lyric Changes Matter So Much (Article). *Bustle*.