"Belle" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for Walt Disney Pictures' 30th animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast. Originally recorded by actress Paige O'Hara and actor Richard White, "Belle" is a French and classical-inspired song that incorporates musical elements from both the Broadway and musical theater genres.
Summary[]
The film's first song, "Belle" is a large-scale operetta-style musical number that introduces the film's book-loving heroine Belle, a non-conforming young woman who has grown weary of the provincial village life that she is being forced to live, and Gaston, who desires her hand in marriage. The reprise mentions how she not only wants to give up her village life but also not accept Gaston's hand in marriage.
Other Versions[]
The song also appears in the Disney+ original series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. In the episode "Typecasting", the students of East High perform the song to audition for the school's production of Beauty and the Beast. The song is a mash-up of the original tune and its reprise.
Paige O'Hara and Richard White starred in a musical theater style performance of the song at the 1992 Academy Awards.
Lyrics[]
Belle: Little town, it's a quiet village
Every day like the one before
Little town, full of little people
Waking up to say
Man 1: Bonjour!
Man 2: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Bonjour!
Man 3: Bonjour!
Man 4: Bonjour!
Belle: There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town
Old Ladies: Look there she goes, that girl is strange, no question
Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?
Woman: Never part of any crowd
Barber: Cause her head's up on some cloud
Townsfolk: No denying she's a funny girl that Belle
Man 1: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Good day!
Man 1: How is your fam'ly?
Woman 2: Bonjour!
Man 2: Good day!
Woman 2: How is your wife?
Woman 3: I need six eggs!
Man 3: That's too expensive!
Belle: There must be more than this provincial life!
Townsfolk: Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle
Belle: Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my favorite part because you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!
Woman: Now it's no wonder that her name means "beauty"
Her looks have got no parallel
Shopkeeper: But behind that fair façade
I'm afraid she's rather odd
Very diff'rent from the rest of us
Townsfolk: She's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, diff'rent from the rest of us is Belle!
Gaston: Right from the moment when I met her, saw her
I said she's gorgeous and I fell
Here in town there's only she
Who is beautiful as me
So I'm making plans to woo and marry Belle
Bimbettes: Look there he goes
Isn't he dreamy?
Monsieur Gaston
Oh he's so cute!
Be still my heart
I'm hardly breathing
He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!
|
Man 1: Bonjour! |
Gaston: Pardon! |
Townsfolk: Look there she goes
The girl is strange, but special
A most peculiar mad'moiselle!
It's a pity and a sin
She doesn't quite fit in
'Cause she really is a funny girl
A beauty but a funny girl
She really is a funny girl
That Belle!
Man 1: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Bonjour!
Man 2: Bonjour!
Woman 2: Bonjour!
Man 3: Bonjour!
Man 4: Bonjour!
Belle: Madame Gaston!
Can't you just see it?
Madame Gaston!
His little wife
No, sir!
Not me!
I guarantee it
I want much more than this provincial life!
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned
Townswomen: Little town, it's a quiet village
Every day like the one before
Little town, full of little people
Waking up to say
Man 1: Bonjour!
Man 2: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Bonjour!
Man 3: Bonjour!
Man 4: Bonjour!
Townsfolk: There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town
Old Ladies: Look there she goes, that girl is strange, no question
Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?
Woman: Never part of any crowd
Barber: Cause her head's up on some cloud
Townsfolk: No denying she's a funny girl that Belle
Man 1: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Good day!
Man 1: How is your fam'ly?
Woman 2: Bonjour!
Man 2: Good day!
Woman 2: How is your wife?
Woman 3: I need six eggs!
Man 3: That's too expensive!
Belle: There must be more than this provincial life!
Townsfolk: Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar
I wonder if she's feeling well
With a dreamy, far-off look
And her nose stuck in a book
What a puzzle to the rest of us is Belle
Belle: Oh, isn't this amazing?
It's my favorite part because you'll see
Here's where she meets Prince Charming
But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!
Townswomen: Now it's no wonder that her name means "beauty"
Her looks have got no parallel
Townsfolk: But behind that fair façade
I'm afraid she's rather odd
Very diff'rent from the rest of us
She's nothing like the rest of us
Yes, diff'rent from the rest of us is Belle!
Gaston: Right from the moment when I met her, saw her
I said she's gorgeous and I fell
Here in town there's only she
Who is beautiful as me
So I'm making plans to woo and marry...
LeFou: He's making plans to woo and marry...
Townsfolk: He's making plans, he's making plans,
he's making plans to woo and marry... Belle
Bimbettes: Look there he goes
Isn't he dreamy?
Monsieur Gaston
Oh he's so cute!
Be still my heart
I'm hardly breathing
He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!
Gaston: Right from the moment when I met her, saw her
I said she's gorgeous and I fell
Bimbettes: Or with wish who he could be
Gaston: Or Belle
Bimbettes: As beautiful as she
Gaston: It's me! And I'm making plans to woo and marry...
LeFou: He's making plans to woo and marry...
Townsfolk: He's making plans to woo and marry,
to woo and marry, marry marry marry marry marry marry...
|
Man 1: Bonjour! |
Gaston: Pardon! |
Townsfolk: Look there she goes
The girl is strange, but special
A most peculiar mad'moiselle!
It's a pity and a sin
She doesn't quite fit in
'Cause she really is a funny girl
A beauty but a funny girl
She really is a funny girl
That Belle!
Man 1: Bonjour!
Woman 1: Bonjour!
Man 2: Bonjour!
Woman 2: Bonjour!
Man 3: Bonjour!
Man 4: Bonjour!
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- "Belle" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992, ultimately losing to the film's title song.
- When Belle is talking about her favorite book, there is foreshadowing to later parts of the movie, such as "daring swordfights" (like the battle between Gaston and the Beast, although ironically, blades weren't actually used during the battle until just prior to Gaston's death when he stabbed the Beast in the back), "magic spells" (in the castle and on its inhabitants), "far off places" (as the castle seems far away from the town, although the actual distance is ambiguous), and a "prince in disguise" (the Beast). When the librarian tells her "If you like it all that much, it's yours", he is not only telling her she can have the book, but it is also foreshadowing that she would go on to live the tale itself.
- In addition, the book that Belle was reading (which the sheep briefly bites a page off) is implied from her description to be Sleeping Beauty, which was later confirmed in the New Fantasyland attraction version of Belle's Cottage, which shows both the original book Belle's mom read to her as a child (explaining why it was her favorite) and the book that she acquired from the bookkeeper.
- In the first speaking portion of the song, when conversing with the Baker, her description of the book implied that the book she had finished and returned was Jack and the Beanstalk. Although Jack and the Beanstalk's earliest known publishing date was in 1807, which at first glance would conflict with the setting of the film being late 18th Century France, the story itself preceded that date significantly, with a similar story, The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean, being included in the 1734 second edition of Round About Our Coal-Fire.
- There is a brief moment of fourth-wall breaking in the ending of the song. Shortly after the final verses of the song (where the crowd is tailing her and singing about how she's odd while exchanging "bonjours"), Belle briefly snaps back a look, and the townspeople proceed to resume to their duties as if nothing happened.
- Similar to "Under the Sea" in the Official Comic Adaptation for The Little Mermaid, the song was incorporated into dialogue in the Official Comic Adaptation for the film.
- In addition, in the fifth issue of the Beauty and the Beast comic serial published by Marvel Comics, her flashback to the village referenced the events of the opening song, or rather, the scene immediately after it.
- The woman who sings "Bonjour! // how is your wife?" originally was supposed to be a mother with her child tagging along, as well as wearing a far more conservative outfit.[1]
- During the village chatter scene near the end of the song, there are some anachronisms and errors in the statements: Specifically, a woman and a man requested for 10 yards and a pound of something, respectively. In the setting the film took place in, late 18th century France (implied to be the prelude to the French Revolution by Glen Keane), the actual measurements used during this time were hands and feet, with the Metric system only being established during the events of the French Revolution. In addition, the measurement terms of "yard" and "pound" belonged to the US Customary measurement system, something that isn't used in France even in the present day, let alone during the setting of the film.
- In the animated film, after the three bimbettes sing their lines, they faint. In the live-action film, a horse kicks mud up at them and LeFou tells them "It's never gonna happen, ladies."
- Archive footage of this song sequence from the original 1991 animated film would later be re-used for the opening sequence of the 1995-1996 children's TV series Sing Me a Story with Belle, albeit heavily re-dubbed with the show's theme song, the animated Belle is replaced by the live-action Belle portrayed by Lynsey McLeod, and only the parts of the original film where Belle walks to the bookshop were used.
