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Menken working on Disney's Home on the Range
Alan Menken (b. 1949) is an Academy Award-winning composer famous for writing songs from Disney movies such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), and Tangled (2010). Menken also wrote the music for the 1982 musical Little Shop of Horrors, which was adapted into a feature film directed by Frank Oz in 1986.
Early in his career, Menken was a piano accompanist for Northern Calloway before composing for Sesame Street as early as 1978, then on a more frequent basis around the early 1990s. His Sesame Street songwriting credits include the songs "It's Gonna Get Dirty Again," "What is Friend?", "Martian Family (Yip Yip Song)," and "Todos un Pueblo." Menken says of his time on the Street, "It was pathetic money, but it still had some prestige to it. It was on the air and I was getting some royalties."[1]
Menken and longtime collaborator Howard Ashman also wrote the song "Wonderful Ways to Say No" for the 1990 animated TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. The song was performed by an all-star cast of characters, including Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, and Baby Gonzo.
Song Credits
- "Princess Grungeviere's Test" (Episode 2776)[2]
- "The Knighting" (Episode 2776)[2]
- "Six of One, a Dozen of the Other"[3] (season 10, Gordon and Susan)[2]
- "Without People"[3] (season 10, Big Bird)[2]
- "I Wish I could Tell" (season 13, Telly and Gordon)[2]
- "The Muscle Song" (season 13, Bruno, Gordon, Oscar)[2]
- "Blow Like the Wind" (season 14, Olivia)[2]
- "Finding Your Way Around" (season 14, Olivia and season 15, Susan)[2]
- "Up and Down" (season 21, chickens)[2]
- "Snuffle Friends" (season 21, Snuffy, Alice, Gordon, Miles)[2]
- "Yawn Song" (season 21, Big Bird and Elmo)[2]
- "Surprise" (season 21, Big Bird, Elmo, Hiroshi, Hoots, Athena)[2]
- "Thinking of You" (season 21, Maria, Luis, Gabby)[2]
- "A Family" (season 26, Luis, Maria, Oscar)[2]
- "Luis and Maria Remember Gabi as a Baby" (season 26, Luis, Maria, Gabi, Oscar)[2]
- "Oscar and the Bear Family" (season 26, Oscar, Gordon, Miles, Susan, Baby Bear, Papa Bear)[2]
- "Families Unite" (season 26, Baby Bear, Gabi, Gordon, Jamal, Angela, Luis, Mama Bear, Maria, Martians, Miles, Oscar, Papa Bear, Susan)[2]
References
- In the Dinosaurs episode "Honey, I Miss the Kids", Baby Sinclair watches "Little Underwater Girl" on TV. A trio of lobsters sing "Under the Water," a spoof of Ashman and Menken's song "Under the Sea."