"You'll Be in My Heart"

**"You'll Be in My Heart"** is a song from the 1999 film Tarzan.

## Lyrics

Kala: Come stop your cryin' it'll be alright

Just take my hand, hold it tight

I will protect you from all around you,

I will be here, don't you cry

Phil Collins: For one so small, you seem so strong

My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm,

This bond between us can't be broken,

I will be here, don't you cry

'Cause you'll be in my heart,

yes you'll be in my heart,

From this day on now and forevermore

You'll be in my heart,

No matter what they say,

You'll be here in my heart,

Always...

Kala: Always...

## Production

Phil Collins was originally hired by Disney in 1995 as a songwriter, but was chosen because he was a drummer at first and given his history as a drummer for the rock band Genesis, Collins appealed to the Disney production crew, who "wanted a strong jungle beat to accompany Tarzan's adventures". Early into production, directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck decided not to follow Disney's musical tradition by having the characters sing and instead, Phil Collins perform the songs in the film serving as the narrator. The choice of Collins, a popular and well established adult contemporary artist, led his ability to write and record the five original songs. This "ballad" is one of original songs he wrote for the film, and he ended up also performing this song as well.

The song, originally written for his daughter Lily, who was ten years old at the time, was called "Lullaby", is used in a scene when Tarzan's adoptive gorilla mother Kala sings that her baby should stop crying because she will protect him and keep him safe and warm. She says everything will be fine and she tells him that "you will be in my heart always". The song is about "how love is a bond that cannot be broken".

In the movie, the song ends on the first verse, the full version of the song on the soundtrack album notes that others don't understand why a mother and child who are so different can love each other. When destiny calls, the child is told he must be strong even if the parent is not with him. The song is one of only two songs within Disney's Tarzan to have a part performed by an actual character (the other being "Trashin' the Camp" which the character's role in the song can be classified as scat singing). The rest of the songs were performed by Collins himself and overlaid into the movie. The full song is finally played all together during the end credits.

In the 2006 stage version, the song is performed by Kala with the ensemble, while a reprise is performed by Merle Dandridge as Kala and Daniel Manche as Young Tarzan when the latter "decides to join the human world". This was because the omniscience of Collins' songs did not translate too well, so the song along with "Two Worlds", "perform similar thematic and character introductions on stage".

## Reception

### Critical Response

Manila Standard said Collins "waxes poetic" with the song.  The Disney Song Encyclopedia deemed it an "uptempo ballad" and "tender song". American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle said that Merle Dandridge, who sang this song as the role of Tarzan's adoptive mother Kala in the Broadway version, had "the best song". American Literature on Stage and Screen: 525 Works and Their Adaptations said this song was "contemporary sounding yet [its] rhythmic momentum blended beautifully with the pulsating sounds of the jungle". Billboard said the song ran "in the same vein" as another Collins song "Can't Stop Loving You". Musical Experience in Our Lives: Things We Learn and Meanings We Make recounted a personal story of how the song has a special meaning to a mother/daughter relationship involving foetus-singing. Similar stories were recounted by two other sources.

Soon after the song was released, it was already "being touted as an Oscar contender". The song went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Collins performed the song live at that year's ceremony. The song also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, but lost to Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.