Recorded 1993 Length 3:59 | Genre Soft rock Label Walt Disney | |
Released May 12, 1994 (1994-05-12) Format CD, vinyl record (7"), audio cassette | ||
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. It was described by Don Hahn (the film's producer), Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (the film's directors) as having "the most diverse history" in the film. It was a chart hit in the UK, peaking at #14 on the UK Singles Chart, and achieved even more success in the U.S., reaching a peak of #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was a number-one hit in France, and it sold 11 million copies worldwide.
Contents
History
The song was performed in the film by Kristle Edwards, Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella, while the end title version was performed by Elton John. It won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It also earned Elton John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
In 2003, a remixed version of the song was included in the Special Edition soundtrack of The Lion King, again sung by Elton John.
In the followup The Lion King 1½, the romantic scene where the song was originally featured also had the song playing, but with a difference: interspersed with the romantic scenes were short comedic shots of Timon and Pumbaa trying to disrupt Simba and Nala's night out with the "Peter Gunn Theme" playing while they try.
Early production
The song was planned to be sung only by Simba and Nala but in the end the idea was scrapped because the directors decided it was an "unearned" moment between Simba and Nala.
The song was then planned to be sung this time only by Timon and Pumbaa, but Elton John disliked the comical nature of the concept. John declared that "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" was meant to follow "Disney's tradition of great love songs", and that it could "express the lions' feelings for each other far better than dialogue could". The final result was the song mainly sung by an off-screen voice (Kristle Edwards) with short lines from Simba (Joseph Williams) and Nala (Sally Dworsky), and the beginning and end parts by Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella). It also included Zulu vocals that, while mostly muted in the on-screen version, were much more prominently featured in the audio-only releases.
Other languages
With the usual number of dubs normally released by Disney, for The Lion King a special Zulu dub was made in South Africa. This is not just the only Zulu dub ever made by Disney, but also the only dub made in any African language, other than Arabic.
Beside the official dubs, several local TV stations made their own dub of the movie, or re-dubbed an existing version, in local languages. Namely: Arabic, Armenian, Austrian German, Crimean Tatar, Kabardian, Nogai and Tamil.
Festival of the Lion King
In Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom's Festival of the Lion King, the song is sung by Nakawa and Kibibi. As they sing, two ballet dancers (one male, one female) dressed as birds dance on the stage. After the main chorus is sung, the male bird dancer attaches his partner to a harness that allows her to fly through the air.
Cover versions
English pop group S Club, Sara Paxton and Elliott Yamin all covered the song for Disneymania, Disneymania 4 and Disneymania 6, respectively. Filipino soprano Vell Baria covered the song in a classical version as a dedication song for the APEC Philippines 2015 was released in her YouTube channel. Jackie Evancho covered the song for her album Songs from the Silver Screen. Harajuku, a Eurodance band covered a dance version of the song in a 1995 release with singer Stephanie O'Hara, also known as Stefanie Obst, performing vocals. Italian trio Il Volo covered the song releasing it in the special edition of their album We Are Love.
We Love Disney
The song was covered in different languages for the series We Love Disney by: