11. “It’s Dancing Time”
It’s Dancing Time! (11 entries):
– Sort of self-explanatory
– The protagonist never instigates the dancing, and if they’re in the scene, the dancing sort of happens around them
– generally serves as an intermission for the movie pic.twitter.com/njjEWruyaa— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
12. That mostly covered things but McElroy wasn’t quite finished…
These 10 song types are the most common in the Disney canon, and they’re generally the best at creating memorable moments and moving along the plot.
But there are eight other, lesser types of Disney songs that pop up from time to time.
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
13. He had a few…
Montage (13 entries):
– It’s a montage. You know what a montage is.
– There are no great montage songs, only acceptable ones
– There were no montages before Hercules
– Half the songs Phil Collins wrote for Tarzan and Brother Bear were montages, and that was a poor choice pic.twitter.com/DNyyIZ7akx— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
14 …More…Such as!
Package Movie Shorts (13 entries):
– Hey, remember Melody Time and Make Mine Music?
– No? Well they were Disney movies that were just a bunch of shorts jammed together
– Lots of those shorts had songs
– Nobody cares about those songs
– But we’re including EVERY SONG, so pic.twitter.com/K1ehLsra6E— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
15. “We Won!”
We Won! (8 entries):
– Is about celebrating that something good has just happened, or is about to happen
– Typically happens at the end of the movie
– Is never sung by the main character, but they’re often around
– Three Winnie the Pooh songs! pic.twitter.com/241uccwtGa— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
16. “It’s Nature Time!”
It’s Nature Time (8 entries):
– Is a song where the focus is on the place or the weather
– Is never about a person
– Is often a short song setting up a scene
– You’re right, none of this sounds interesting! pic.twitter.com/qqWDzcrwtU— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
17. “Here’s A One Note Character”
Here’s A One Note Character (7 entries)
– Is sung by or a minor character who usually only appears once (exception: the harp in Fun and Fancy Free)
– Is essentially a short “I Want” or “Here’s My Deal” song by someone you don’t care about
– Three Alice in Wonderland songs! pic.twitter.com/PkUFSHoxLT— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
18. “The Drug Song”
The Drug Song (7 entries)
– Trippy as heck, maybe nightmare inducing?
– More an excuse for animators to be creative than advance the plot
– Supernatural powers displayed by characters in song are never explained
– One could argue every Alice In Wonderland song should be here pic.twitter.com/YlqITumGEO— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
19. “Life Lesson Time!”
Life Lesson Time! (6 entries)
– Advice on how to live one’s best life is given
– It is always directed to the main character (exception: Scales and Arpeggios)
– I’ll Make A Man Out Of You is here
– Which is weird, because that’s a great song! And great songs don’t live here pic.twitter.com/jJOPQL2hpk— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
20. And of course…”Problematic”
Problematic (6 entries)
– The only category filled with songs that used to be part of other categories
– Has not aged well!
– No, I will not be explaining this further, for what I hope are obvious reasons pic.twitter.com/wtWOSkjHiP— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
21. McElroy wrapped up his helpful thread by condensing his theory of everything…
Every single song in a Disney animated feature fits into one of these 18 categories.
And there are 18 columns in the Table of Elements.
I think you know what that means.
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
22. …Into a musical periodic table that categorizes every Disney song by multiple metrics.
This is the Disney Songbook Table of Elements.
It contains every single original Disney animated song, put in categories, organized by time era, and colour-coded for specific films. pic.twitter.com/Ay8s410ytZ
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020
23. Look people have a lot of time on their hands right now.
anyways that’s how i spent my long weekend
— Justin McElroy (@j_mcelroy) May 18, 2020