Sidekick Song
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The exuberant comic number performed by the hero's animal or fantastical companion, providing energy, humour and heart between plot beats. Musically these swing — Dixieland jazz, scat, calypso, big-band swing, patter and up-tempo pop — with brassy, playful arrangements and a charismatic, often improvisatory vocal. Lyrics dispense advice, celebration or comic bravado, and performances prize personality and showmanship over restraint. The mood is joyous, funny and warm, giving the film its most purely entertaining moments.
History
The comic sidekick number runs from the swinging animals of The Jungle Book (1967) — Louis Prima's 'I Wan'na Be Like You,' Phil Harris's 'The Bare Necessities' — through Sebastian's calypso 'Under the Sea' (1989) and reached its apotheosis with Robin Williams's whirlwind Genie in Aladdin (1992). The tradition continued with Dwayne Johnson's 'You're Welcome' (Moana, 2016) and pop-star turns like Billy Joel's Dodger in Oliver & Company. Built to showcase virtuosic voice performances, the sidekick song is where animated musicals cut loose, and it has produced some of Disney's most quoted and covered numbers.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Friend Like Me(1992) — Robin WilliamsSpotifyYouTube
- You're Welcome(2016) — Dwayne JohnsonSpotifyYouTube
- Under the Sea(1989) — Samuel E. WrightSpotifyYouTube
- Everybody Wants to Be a Cat(1970) — Scatman CrothersSpotifyYouTube
- The Bare Necessities(1967) — Phil HarrisSpotifyYouTube
- Oo-De-Lally(1973) — Roger MillerSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Thomas S. Hischak and Mark A. Robinson, The Disney Song Encyclopedia (2009)
- Thomas S. Hischak, The Oxford Companion to the American Musical (2008)
- Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music (2008)