 |
| Mulan singing with Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po |
Hi everybody! It’s Kimberly here for my thirtieth post for
the genre “Children’s Music.”
When little girls used to say, “I want to
be a princess,” that used to mean that they simply wanted to wear a pretty
dress and be swept off their feet by a handsome prince. Even though that may still be true, the
meaning behind the words “I want to be a princess,” has expanded to mean something
more (as shown in the Disney “I Am a Princess” commercials). Today, Disney and Pixar princesses like
Merida, Rapunzel, and Elsa have shown little girls what it means to stand up
for yourself and be brave (pun-intended).
Just over 16 years ago, Disney released Mulan, who although isn’t technically a princess, showed that a
girl can be strong and fight for her family.
If you’ve read my past reviews, you might know that I sometimes review
songs that may not be the most known songs from a particular movie. Following that trend, I will be reviewing, “A
Girl Worth Fighting For,” from Mulan.
The music for “A Girl Worth Fighting For”
was composed by Matthew Wilder. In fact,
he’s behind all of the music in Mulan including
fan favorites such as “Reflection” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” Wilder has also worked on songs for projects
such as Hannah Montana and even wrote
the music for “What Dreams are Made Of” from The Lizzie McGuire Movie. David
Zippel as the lyricist is no less impressive than Matthew Wilder. Not only did he write the lyrics for all the
songs in Mulan, but he also worked on
projects like songs in Ella Enchanted,
Captain America: the First Avenger,
and Hercules (particularly “I Won’t Say I’m in Love.”) The pair of Wilder and Zippel has proven to be quite
successful.
Since Mulan
has just celebrated its sweet sixteen, I’m going to give a brief summary of
it just in case you forgot what it’s about.
When China is in need of soldiers, they seek male representatives from
each family. To protect her father, who
isn’t as strong as he used to be, Mulan steals his armor and takes his place disguised
as a man. “A Girl Worth Fighting For” is
what the army sings as they trek through China to defeat the Huns. The melody includes many oriental themes that
tie the song into its setting of China.
The song flows well and is upbeat, yet slow like an army marching to
battle. The lyrics are well-written and
funnily express what the soldiers want in a woman. I particularly like Chien-Po’s part where he
sings, “I couldn’t care less what she’ll wear or
what she looks like. It all depends on
what she cooks like. Beef pork chicken
mmmm.” Overall, the melody and lyrics
make for a nice transition song. I’m
giving “A Girl Worth Fighting For” 4 records because its melody and lyrics are
good, but aren’t as memorable as the other songs in Mulan like “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”
I hope you enjoyed my review of “A Girl
Worth Fighting For,” and thank you for checking out JUKEBOX. J
Below is the clip of “A Girl Worth Fighting For” from Mulan.
Because it’s practically everyone’s favorite song from Mulan, here is the song “I’ll Make a Man
Out of You.”
Rating: 4 RECORDS
Photo: Angelfire
No comments:
Post a Comment