Howard Ashman singing "Prince Ali" from "The Music Behind the Magic" CD. I don't have the copyright of it. I uploaded this video just for entertainment and to honor this great great artist.
@@TheHManShow From what I understand, more than a couple of songs that were "new" to the Musical were cut ones from Menken and Ashman's pitches, like "High Adventure", and it feels very apparent when you listen to the lyrical compositions of the different songs.
It still irritates me that "A Whole New World" gets most of the glory from this movie. "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali" were much more fun and lyrically interesting, in my opinion.
Agreed. I always thought "Prince Ali" and "Friend like Me" were leaps and bounds better than "A Whole New World". Years later, I learned why. RIP Howard Ashman
I love responding to a 7 year old comment lol but Part of Your World is a damn near perfect love song and what's done it musically is so beautiful. The lyrics are more impressive here, but what is done is new world is so beautiful
Alan Menken actually hauled a key board to St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City and Howard and Alan literally wrote Prince Ali on Howard's Hospital bed.
This was the second last song Howard wrote before he died. To write it Alan Menken literally brought a key board to his hospital room, and they wrote it on his hospital bed.
This one is actually Alan Menken...I believe this was one of the final songs that Howard Ashman wrote prior to his death but was too ill at the time to demo the song himself. Still a very nice tune.
That's true, in fact it was the second last song he wrote before his death. The very last was a song called humiliate the boy, which was cut from the final version of Aladdin.
Actually, they started working on Aladdin after they finished The Little Mermaid. They wrote songs and rough draft of the story but most of it was rejected so it was almost back to square 1 for them. But before they could do any revisions, Howard was told that Disney wanted him to be in charge of Beauty and the Beast because the team on that movie was really struggling with it badly. That movie needed to be as successful as The Little Mermaid or Disney’s new image would e hurt and they felt Howard was their only hope to make that happen. Howard agreed to be in charge of Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin was put on hold.
In my opinion this is possibly the greatest song lyrically that Disney has ever produced. Graphing it's poetic expressions makes that even more clear to me. Disney will never have another Howard Ashman, and they will never have another Menken/Ashman team.
When listening to Prince Ali or Friend Like Me compared to the songs penned by Rice the lyrical deficit of the latter is painfully clear. Ashman's lyrics are always clever, witty and insane when you think of getting words like "genluflect" in there!
In my humble opinion, Rice did an alright job with the unenviable task he was given. In particular, the song "Me" from the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast is the closest he's ever gotten to Ashman's sense of humor. Every line of that song sounds like it came from the same comically-unhinged-yet-genuinely-threatening guy that would boast about using antlers in all his decorating, and the number is practically carried by that character consistency.
What Mr. ashman excelled at was he was very knowledgeable of the source material and the setting of the story, he always would drop different lyrics that were exclusive to the world that they were in as in the case of Aladdin, references to “ 40 fakirs “ or a “ world class menagerie “are exclusive to the Arab mythology and help make the song more believable and sincere
@@nickprado7952 yeah when you’re writing lyrics set in a specific time and place it helps to do your research and be clever with everything you are writing about
@gurlie1275 it's actually Menken. Unless Alan can't recognize his own voice, he makes note that it's him singing on this demo in the notes for "The Music Behind The Magic" boxset. He also notes that he wished Howard had been well enough to sing it himself as he would've loved to have heard his take on it.
Some of this song's lyrics that weren't used in the movie, are used in the Broadway version of it. I saw a video of the number or at least heard the lyrics to it, and it is amazing!
0:04 I hope they have this bit at the beginning of the song in the 2019 _Aladdin._ They used original lyrics from the demo of the Gaston song for 2017’s _Beauty and the Beast,_ that were never used in the 1991 version, so why not? 😀
I came here to say the same. Its definitely Menken singing. No question. A really good example of Howard's voice is the demo for Poor Unfortunate Souls
Some reason I always thought Robin Williams mostly improvised the lyrics for this and “Friend Like Me”, and agreed to give credit to the late Ashman as a sign of respect.
Well I still love all of those songs,but Tim Rice helped Alan Menken finish up Howard Ashmans thoughts & ideas for the movie I basically think of Tim Rice as someone to fill in for Howard Ashman,but Tim's got some big shoes to fill if he ever wants to be like Alan Menken & Howard Ashman.
That's Howard singing. Many people don't realize that towards the end of production of Little Mermaid Alan and Howard were working on THIS adaptation of the Arabian Nights story when they were pulled away to rescue the Beauty and the Beast production that was floundering as a non-musical. They started work on it BEFORE Beauty and the Beast. It was Howard, after all, who pitched the idea of taking on Alladin and the magic lamp. The demos were recorded when Howard was still healthy.
What do you mean "that's Howard singing"? He doesn't sound anything like Menken, and this is CLEARLY, 100 % confirmed Alan Menken singing I can assure you of that. You are simply spreading misinformation. Your story about when they started working on this is very well known, and has NOTHING to do with who is actually singing here.
Howard Ashman was perhaps too sick to sing on his own, so Alan Menkin sang most of the song while Howard sung in the background as accompaniment. Not sure what the situation was but I do believe that may have been a possibility unless if anyone who was there at the recording would be able to explain further.
Make way for Prince Ali Say hey, it's Prince Ali Hey! Clear the way in the old Bazaar Hey you, let us through it's a brand-new star Oh, come be the first on your block to meet his eye Make way, here he comes Ring bells, bang the drums You're gonna love this guy Prince Ali, fabulous he, Ali Ababwa Show some respect, boy, genuflect, down on one knee Now, try your best to stay calm Brush up your Friday salaam Then come and meet his spectacular coterie Prince Ali, mighty is he, Ali Ababwa Strong as ten regular men, definitely He's faced the galloping hordes A hundred bad guys with swords Who sent those goons to their lords? Why, Prince Ali Fellas, he's got (He's got 75 golden camels) Uh-huh, now the ladies, what he got? (Purple peacocks, he's got 53) Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh When it comes to exotic-type mammals Everybody help me out He's got a zoo? I'm telling you, It's a world-class menagerie Prince Ali, handsome is he, Ali Ababwa That physique! How can I speak? Weak at my knees! You yummy boy So get on out in that square Adjust your veil and prepare To gawk and grovel and stare at Prince Ali, oops He's got 95 white Persian monkeys (He's got the monkeys, a bunch of monkeys) And to view them he charges no fee (He's generous, so generous) He's got ten thousand servants and flunkies (Proud to work for him) They bow to his whim, love serving him They're just lousy with loyalty to Ali Prince Ali Prince A... We're waiting for you! We're not going until you go You can do it There it is Prince Ali, amorous he, Ali Ababwa Heard your princess was hot! Where is she? And that, good people, is why He got all cute and dropped by With 60 elephants, llamas galore (for real?) With his bears and lions, a brass band and more (what?) With his 40 fakirs, his cooks, his bakers His birds that warble on key Make way for Prince Ali
Annoying that the demo version doesn't really have proper written lyrics to post here. He doesn't pronounce everything super clearly so it's hard to write the lyrics down
