Dia de los Muertos is a deleted song that was used in early screenings of the 2017 Disney/Pixar animated feature film, Coco.
Background[]
The song was originally going to be used as the opening song to teach the audience about the rules about Day of the Dead (or Día de los Muertos) in an entertaining but bastardized way, followed by Ernesto de la Cruz singing the soundtrack version of "Remember Me". However, the song was scrapped because it was taking a while for Miguel, the film's main protagonist, to be introduced. For the final version of the film, the part where Ernesto de la Cruz sings is the only part retained from the deleted song in the final version.
Lyrics[]
Woman 1: Hear the bells ring, calling your home, calling your souls to return (repeat)
Woman 2: Follow... Follow... Follow my marigold petals (repeat)
Woman 3: Flame, lit in your name... This flame, lit in your name
All: On the first day of every November
We think of those we have lost and remember
We pray and we pay our respects
We let go of regrets
Because when the sun sets...
(upbeat rhythm)
The spirits of our dear departed
Come to life and paint the town
Everyone who's had a funeral
Soon are all up for getting down
It's not a time for being mournful
It's not a time to bow your head
Because the fun has just begun
After you die and life is done
The party's anything but dead
Yeah!
Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos
So gather 'round at the ofrenda
Laugh with those who passed away
Break out the pan de muerto rolls, sugar skulls, chicles and molé
Put their photos up and toast them
Dance and make a big to-do
'Cause when the time has come around
That you are six feet underground
You hope they do the same for you
Yeah!
Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos
Though the dead, they're never gone
The party just goes on and on
And on, and on, and on and on...
On Día... de los... Muertos
Muertos, Muertos
Yeah!
(applause then cue to soundtrack version of Remember Me)
Trivia[]
- Has this music made it into the final film, the idea that this music bastardizes the meaning of a holiday as personal as Dia de los Muertos would hint how Ernesto took a personal song Hector made (Remember Me) to become a bombastic yet meaningless ballad.
