"God Help the Outcasts" is a song from Disney's 1996 animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The soft ballad was written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and recorded by American singer and actress Heidi Mollenhauer in her film role as the singing voice of Esmeralda for a scene inside Notre Dame as she prays for the Romani to set themselves free after seeing how Society cruelly treats Quasimodo and her people. After finishing singing the song a parishioner confronts Quasimodo mistakingly thinking he's causing trouble in which Quasimodo accidentally knocks over a candlestaff and flees back to the bell tower. Esmeralda sees this, terrified at what the parishioner has done and follows Quasimodo. The parishioner then attempts to prevent her and Djali from following him, but the Archdeacon intervenes and prevents him from proceeding any further.
It replaced another song, "Someday", which was cut when the directors wanted a quieter song in a cathedral. A pop version of "Someday", with slightly altered lyrics, is performed over the movie's credits. A pop cover of "God Help the Outcasts" was recorded by American entertainer Bette Midler and is featured on the film's soundtrack, though it is not used in the movie itself. It is 3:26 minutes long and Track 16 - the final track. The film version is track 5 on the film soundtrack and is 3:45 minutes long. Extra voices were provided by Brian Cummings, Debi Mae West, and Lisa Russo.
Production[]
The song was adapted for the German stage version of the animated film, known as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame. Stephen Schwartz said "the scene...with all its candles and projected recreation of Notre Dame, I thought was absolutely stunning".
Stephen Schwartz explains that "The song 'Someday' was originally written for the Disney animated feature THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME as a possible replacement for the song 'God Help the Outcasts'. Ultimately, we went with the other song instead", though adds that "since everybody liked 'Someday' as well, it was then used as an end title credit for the film". While both songs find a home in the musical version ("in the stage version, 'Someday' is used towards the end, when Esmeralda is being led to execution"), in the film, both songs took place at the same point in time - "Esmeralda's first entrance into Notre Dame cathedral [where she is both] awed by the serenity and splendor of the place [and] brings with her a bitter and acute awareness of the injustice of her situation and that of her people and the less fortunate of society in general".
Lyrics[]
Esmeralda:
I don't know if You can hear me
Or if You're even there
I don't know if You would listen
To a gypsy's prayer
Yes, I know I'm just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to You
Still, I see Your face and wonder
Were You once an outcast, too?
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on earth
God help my people
We look to You, still
God help the outcasts
Or nobody will
Parishioners:
I ask for wealth
I ask for fame
I ask for glory to shine on my name
I ask for love I can possess
I ask for God and His angels to bless me
Esmeralda:
I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
Please help my people
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God
God help the outcasts
Children of God
Parishioners:
Salve, Regina
Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo
Et spes nostra, salve
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
In hac lacrimarum valle
Esmeralda:
I don't know if You can hear me
Or if You're even there
I don't know if You would listen
To a gypsy's prayer
Yes, I know I'm just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to You
Still, I see Your face and wonder
Were You once an outcast, too?
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on Earth
God help my people
They look to You, still
God help the outcasts
Or nobody will
Quasimodo:
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on Earth
Parishioners:
I ask for wealth
I ask for fame
I ask for glory to shine on my name
I ask for love I can possess
I ask for God and His angels to bless me
Esmeralda:
I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
Please help my people
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God
Quasimodo:
God help the outcasts
Esmeralda:
God help the outcasts
Children of God
Quasimodo:
Children of God
Esmeralda / Quasimodo
Children of God
I don't know if you can hear me
Or if you're even there
I don't know if you will listen
To a humble prayer
They tell me I am just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to you
Still, I see your face and wonder
Were you once an outcast, too
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on Earth
The lost and forgotten
They look to you, still
God help the outcasts
Or nobody will
I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
God help the outcasts
The poor and down-trod
I thought we all were
The children of God
I don't know if there's a reason
Why some are blessed, some not
Why the few you seem to favor
They fear us, flee us
Try not to see us
God help the outcasts
The tired, the torn
Seeking an answer
To why they were born
Winds of misfortune
Have blown them about
You made the outcasts
Don't cast them out
The poor and unlucky
The weak and the odd
I thought we all were
The children of God
[ALAN MENKEN, speaking:
The door slams, Frollo has left, Esmeralda is alone in the church.]
PARISHIONERS:
[vocalizing, to the tune of Someday]
[MENKEN:
We hear parishioners singing in choir, this is the scene between Esmeralda and the archdeacon.]
PARISHIONERS:
[vocalizing]
[MENKEN:
Esmeralda goes to the statue, she says, “I don’t know how to do this, I don’t know if You’d listen to my prayer,”]
ESMERALDA:
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show us the mercy
We don’t find on Earth
God help the outcasts
[MENKEN:
Quasi is listening.]
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God
[MENKEN:
The other parishioners, the poor people of Paris, hear her.]
I thought we all were
The children of God
[MENKEN:
And one of the parishioners, a little girl, a little ragamuffin girl, comes to Esmeralda and sings.]
LITTLE GIRL:
Someday
[MENKEN:
New lyric.]
[vocalizing]
[MENKEN:
Another parishioner, perhaps the baker man, comes to her.]
BAKER:
Someday
I pray we may yet live
To live and
Let live
[MENKEN:
More of the poor parishioners–]
PARISHIONERS:
Someday
[vocalizing]
[MENKEN:
New lyric here, obviously.]
Godspeed
This bright millennium
On its way
Let it come someday
[MENKEN:
And Esmeralda sings.]
ESMERALDA:
Someday
When we are wiser
When the world’s older
When we have learned
Someday
Mankind will be kinder
Just as blinder
[MENKEN:
And the parishioners join with her.]
ESMERALDA & PARISHIONERS:
Someday
Our fight will be won then
We’ll walk in the sun then
That bright afternoon
[MENKEN:
Esmeralda solo.]
‘Til then
On days when the sun is gone
I’ll hang on
Wish upon the moon
[MENKEN:
And they all sing together.]
Change will come
One day
Someday—
[MENKEN:
Esmeralda solo.]
–soon
PARISHIONERS:
[vocalizing]
[MENKEN:
And singing ‘Ah’s, the voices of the parishioners swell up around her, and through the church.]
PARISHIONERS:
[vocalizing]
Esmeralda:
I don't know if You can hear me
Or if You're even there
I don't know if You would listen
To a gypsy's prayer
Yes, I know I'm just an outcast
I shouldn't speak to You
Still, I see Your face and wonder
Were You once an outcast, too?
God help the outcasts
Hungry from birth
Show them the mercy
They don't find on earth
God help my people
We look to You, still
God help the outcasts
Or nobody will
Parishioners:
I ask for wealth
I ask for fame
I ask for glory to shine on my name
I ask for love I can possess
I ask for God and His angels to bless me
Esmeralda:
I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
Please help my people
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God
God help the outcasts
Children of God
Critical reception[]
The New York Times said "The score, with lively music... and nicely agile lyrics, soars to sanctimonious heights with the lifting, catchy power ballad God Help the Outcasts", and added that it was "a sure thing for next year's Oscar show". Unfortunately, none of the songs from Hunchback were nominated the Academy Award for best original song.
Going Home to Heaven called the song "a bolder stroke than [the Disney team] had ever done before", and says that the messages of this piece, along with Hunchback songs like "Sanctuary" and "The Bells of Notre Dame" are "very powerful".
Trivia[]
- During the song, the people who pray for things for themselves are shown in a darker part of the church, while, in the end, Esmeralda is an area that shines with light from the outside. This could be seen as God listening solely to Esmeralda.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
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