To those who don’t know, i.e. all three of you, The Prince of Egypt is one of my favourite animated movies. It ranked at #5 on my now-illegible list on ScrewAttack, and with good cause: it’s excellent. It’s not flawless, mind you, but the movie’s so good that I even once tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to write a blog on it a while back. But the desire lingered, so I figured that I’d write a different blog on the film’s best aspect: its songs. So here’s me ranking them from worst-to-best and discussing each one. The movie has no bad songs anyway, so why not?
Keep in mind that this is a personal list. If you disagree with it…go write your own. No really. Anyway, let’s get started!
7. “I Will Get There”
Courtesy of Karly Emily.
I’m not kidding! Listen to it and tell me it isn’t the most-90’s song ever! I think that’s because, like “I Believe I Can Fly” from Space Jam, it’s not all that deep or compelling. It’s fitting that I mention that, especially considering that both songs were sung by 90’s pop sensation Boyz II Men. No really, that’s what they’re called. And it’s hilarious.
I haven’t touched on the song yet, so I’ll be brief and say that it’s nothing special. Boyz II Men had a fatal flaw in that for as ridiculous and forgettable as their name was, their songs were more-so. “I Will Get There” is the epitome of that, saying little-to-nothing about the movie. It only serves as a excuse to pad the credits, which it does. Moving on.
6. “When You Believe”
Courtesy of peepo23.
Ignoring that, “When You Believe” kicks off the denouement of The Prince of Egypt in fitting style. Considering that this is the earned redemption for the Israelites, you’d better believe that it’ll be thankful and powerful. It starts slow and quiet, as a duet with Miriam and Tzipporah, but quickly goes into a full-blown chorus when the children pitch in. By the final stanza, it’s an epic. And it’s amazing because of that.
That having been said, if I have a quibble, it’s that it uses God’s prayer name. Considering that it’s sacrilegious to use God’s prayer name in Judaism when you’re not praying to God, those lines are always a little uncomfortable. Even as a kid I’d be frantically searching for a yarmulka to wear when that part came on. These days I wear one anyway, but it’s still jarring. Other than that, no complaints.
5. “All I Ever Wanted”
Courtesy of Nicole Rey.
“What?! You’re placing ‘All I Ever Wanted’ above ‘When You Believe’?! Are you crazy!” Firstly, my list. And secondly, I already explained why I did that. Besides, I actually think that this is one of the more under-appreciated songs in The Prince of Egypt, specifically because it’s so low-key.
And yet, that’s kinda why I like it. It’s not only low-key, it’s also intimate in a unique and charming way. It’s sung from the perspective of a confused Moses, having been told who his real family is, and is pretty much him in denial. The entirety of the ballad reconciles the house he grew up in with reality, coming to the conclusion that he doesn’t care before dozing off to sleep near the chamber of etchings (which, by the way, leads to a powerful sequence. But that’s not relevant right now.)
As a side-note, I also like the reprisal with Moses and his adoptive mother for two reasons: firstly, it’s a nice bonding moment between adoptive mother and adoptive son, showing that she still loves him despite having lied all these years. Anyone who’s ever been adopted can instantly relate, especially if the adoptive parents are on good terms with them. And secondly, the reprisal ends with a subtly-inserted jingle that hearkens back to the movie’s opening cue. Considering that the running motif with Moses for the first-act is him slowly learning the truth about who he is, it’s a nice callback. All-in-all, a fitting companion to a fitting ballad about ignoring your heritage.
4. “Through Heaven’s Eyes”
Courtesy of Łukasz Frączek.
Much like “All I Ever Wanted”, “Through Heaven’s Eyes” is personal and low-key. Unlike “All I Ever Wanted”, “Through Heaven’s Eyes” is also a powerhouse song that marks the halfway mark. It’s the montage/time-skip sequence that animated musicals tend to be known for, but it’s not wasted space. A lot happens in it, namely Moses adjusting to life in Median and marrying Tzipporah, that serves to set up the more powerful and action-filled second-half. And it does this under the guise of Jethro recounting a life-lesson about one’s place of life.
Like I said, not a single moment is wasted: Moses starts as a guest in Median. He takes up residence and flirts with Tzipporah. His beard grows, signifying lapses in time. He eventually courts Tzipporah in a dance, followed by a silhouetted conservation with Jethro about marriage arrangements. The montage then ends with the marriage itself, followed by dancing and a pan upwards into the night sky.
And all of this in a few minutes. It’s pretty much the Biblical, animated musical version of “Married Life” from Up, except upbeat instead of sad. Regardless, it’s equally as powerful, with some concrete character building and little spoken dialogue. If the first-half of this movie’s about Moses finding his way, and the second-half’s about Moses saving the day, then this is the halfway point where he’s content with his lot in life. As an audience member, it’s also needed downtime before the heavy material.
3. “Playing with the Big Boys”
Courtesy of Teresa Gonzalez.
The Prince of Egypt has a wide variety of songs that elicit different reactions. Some, like “When You Believe”, evoke a feeling of grand, earned belief. Others, like “Through Heaven’s Eyes”, elicit contentment with Moses’s lot. Even others, like “All I Ever Wanted”, create a connection through confusion and uncertainty. Then there’s “Playing with the Big Boys”, which isn’t only a showcase for parlour tricks and editing that plays to the strengths of animation, but is also the epitome of cool in general.
The song’s biggest strength is slyness. Ramses’s priests could’ve easily used gone for a grand number and it would’ve worked perfectly. They could’ve also not sung at all and it would’ve worked. But they decide to be more sadistic and, like the showmen they are, tempt Moses into submission with their display of magic. Everything about this, right down to the use of shadows and lighting, screams devious and manipulative. And it’s awesome.
Of course, it’s also back when Ramses still thinks Moses is joking. We know better as the audience, but why not humour us? Moses was notorious for being a joker, so play to his mischievous nature with some dramatic irony! It’s a cleverly-written, sung and animated sequence in a movie already filled with those. Best of all, it’s fun.
2. “The Plagues”
Courtesy of Nicole Rey.
It was tough picking my runner-up. In the end, “The Plagues” lost by a small margin. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic in its own right! But it’s not as good as my #1 spot. That said, “The Plagues”’s biggest strength is its grandness.
I’m not kidding: the animation is grand, showcasing the horrors of destruction and chaos of the plagues. The use of lighting and shadows is grand, especially when contrasting the reactions of Moses and Ramses. And the lyrics are grand, with Moses and Ramses duking it out via a variation of “All I Ever Wanted” from earlier in the movie. There’s no way around it, this is a grand song!
I think what holds it back from the top-spot is that it has a crippling flaw: the chorus. Which, don’t get me wrong, is still excellent, really driving home the stakes. But the lines are said so quickly and/or quietly for the majority of the song that it’s hard to make out what they’re saying most of the time. I, honestly, thought that the opening lines were “a syphilis” over and over for the longest time, and it stayed that way until I looked them up online. Even now, I still can’t get them right! But it’s a small quibble for the runner-up to my favourite song in The Prince of Egypt…
1. “Deliver Us”
Courtesy of Jessica van den Brand.
Be honest: you were waiting for me to mention this. I can’t lie: while many musicals have had grand opening numbers, none hit me quite like this. I remember a YouTube video describing “Deliver Us” in the vein of Les Miserables’s opening number, and it’s not hard to see why. And truthfully, it’s as perfect an opening as you can get for a film like this anyway, with the song transitioning from powerhouse chorus, to somber ballad, to powerhouse chorus, to emotional lullaby and then back to powerful chorus without feeling awkward. It’s so great that, aside from setting up the inevitable pay-off of “When You Believe” in the third-act, it can easily be broken up into three parts akin to a three-act story on its own: the set-up, Yocheved’s lullaby to Moses and Miriam’s prayer for Moses once he’s found by Pharaoh’s wife.
Actually, let’s focus in on that second part. Not only is it the emotional high-point, containing a lullaby that resurfaces a few times in the first act, but it gives you a chance to hear the late-Ofra Haza. Her voice resonates because of how much raw energy she has, and she even provided the singing voice of Yocheved in several other languages. It’s also a real shame that this was her big break before dying of AIDS, as we never got to witness her full-potential. But you can’t change the past, so…
If there’s one detail that binds “Deliver Us” together, it’s its narrative cohesiveness. Like I said with “Through Heaven’s Eyes”, this works as its own short-film in that it flows in a complete arc: there’s the opening that sets up the conflict, the star the story centres around, the song that sets up stakes and a thematic resolution and a hopeful-yet-open-ended conclusion. “Deliver Us” is only the beginning number, but it’s so well-structured that it could’ve been its own piece without much trouble. It’s that good. And while it might be unfair to have the opening cue be at my top spot, I dare you to disagree. Because it really and truly sets up why The Prince of Egypt’s as good as it is.
So yeah, that’s my ranking of The Prince of Egypt’s songs. Have a happy Passover!
No comments:
Post a Comment