# "Best original song" of 1995 Academy Awards: Can you feel the love tonight



## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

The song, written by Elton John for the animated film "Lion King", won the Oscar award "Best original song".

Live in the Disney World.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Well, technically, the 1995 Award was for the *1994* Song from *The Lion King*, released in 1994. The Awards Ceremony that was held in 1995 was for nominations from 1994.

And, technically, *Elton John* wrote _*"Lah, la-lah, la-lah, la-lah"*_. *Tim Rice *wrote _*"Can You Feel the Love Tonight"*_.

Also nominated at that Awards ceremony:

*Hakuna Matata*, from *The Lion King*; Elton John and Tim Rice
*Circle of Life*, from *The Lion King*; Elton John and Tim Rice
*Look What Love Has Done*, from *Junior*; Carole Bayer Sager, James Newton Howard, James Ingram, and Patty Smyth
_*Make Up Your Mind*_, from *The Paper*; Randy Newman

*Hakuna Matata*





*Circle of Life*





*Look What Love Has Done*





*Make Up Your Mind*





Given that there were three excellent songs nominated from The Lion King, and the other two were bland, generic, and unmemorable songs from films I'm not ever sure I'd heard of, makes me wonder what film songs were snubbed.

1994 brought us Pulp Fiction, and the soundtrack had eight rather interesting songs, including Ricky Nelson's *Lonesome Town*, Dusty Springfield's *Son of a Preacher Man*, and *Jungle Boogie* from Kool and the Gang. But I suppose that those songs weren't eligible as they'd already been released.

Same with Forrest Gump.

There shouldn't have been a shortage of songs; there were 10 film musicals released that year (although 8 of them were animated, including The Lion King).

The non-animated films, *That's Entertainment III* and *Brave* (based on the Marillion album of the same name), likely had no eligible songs.

But surely, there MUST have been at least one song each from the others that could have qualified:

Dot in Space (animated)
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (animated)
The Return of Jafar (animated)
A Christmas Carol (with Mariah Carey) (animated)
The Swan Princess (animated)
Thumbelina (animated)
A Troll in Central Park (animated)

:tiphat:

*Hans Zimmer* won the Academy Award for *Best Original Music Score* for *The Lion King*

The other nominees were

Thomas Newman *The Shawshank Redemption*
Alan Silvestri *Forrest Gump*
Elliot Goldenthal *Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles*
Thomas Newman *Little Women*


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

HansZimmer said:


> The song, written by Elton John for the animated film "Lion King", won the Oscar award "Best original song".


Yes...what about it?


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Forster said:


> Yes...what about it?


I'd guess he ran across this cover by this beautiful woman with a beautiful voice singing at Disney World with a symphony orchestra and just wanted to share it.

Probably should go in one of the CURRENTLY LISTENING threads.


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

pianozach said:


> 1994 brought us Pulp Fiction, and the soundtrack had eight rather interesting songs, including Ricky Nelson's *Lonesome Town*, Dusty Springfield's *Son of a Preacher Man*, and *Jungle Boogie* from Kool and the Gang. But I suppose that those songs weren't eligible as they'd already been released.


Yes, indeed the "best original song" award is for songs written for films, not for songs used in films.



> *Hans Zimmer* won the Academy Award for *Best Original Music Score* for *The Lion King*
> 
> The other nominees were
> 
> ...


Yes, and the "best original score" award is a different thing. "Best original song" is a competition between pop songs written for films, while "best original score" is a competion for orchestral music.

For "the best original score" award I opened a thread here: "Best original score" Oscar nominations in 1995


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## HansZimmer (11 mo ago)

Forster said:


> Yes...what about it?


To be honest, I opened a thread about "best original score" award of 1995 here: "Best original score" Oscar nominations in 1995

... and then I told to myself "Why not to post the best original song?". My real interest is in the scores.

Now, what about the song? I think it's good, but I prefer the score of the Lion King.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

HansZimmer said:


> To be honest, I opened a thread about "best original score" award of 1995 here: "Best original score" Oscar nominations in 1995
> 
> ... and then I told to myself "Why not to post the best original song?". My real interest is in the scores.
> 
> Now, what about the song? I think it's good, but I prefer the score of the Lion King.


Of the 5 songs nominated that year, The Lion King had the three best. Hakuna Matata is catchy, but I like Feel The Love and Circle of Life better, probably in that order.


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## Forster (Apr 22, 2021)

I like _The Lion King_. My sons liked it too, so we had the OST on cassette. On one side, the songs, and on the other, extracts from Zimmer's score.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

I love Elton John and I love the music he made for TLK. I also like Zimmer's score, which is one of his best. Overally, I don't like Zimmer's music much... too 'cold' and boring for my taste. I prefer Ennio Morricone.


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