The Song with the Screen

The moment when the opening of The Lion King is pushed to greatness is when you look at the amazing song and how it is relevant to what is happening on screen. The opening song, “The Circle of Life”, was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of best song in 1994. The score as a whole won the award for the best music score. With a résumé like that, it is sure that the song at the begging was going to hold up its part of the bargain. Your attention is immediately grabbed when the first notes of the song spring to life, and the sun rises. The sun rising gives you a sense of beginning. It then goes on to show how the song being sung is grabbing many of the animal’s attention as well. When the low drum comes in and the verse begins, it shows all of the animals making their journey to see their new king.  As it reaches the chorus, all of the animals have arrived and begin to gather around that King’s home. The music softens as it flashes to the new born baby and brings a feeling of innocence around him. As Simba is hoisted up into the air, the music regains power and the feeling of innocence is changed to a feeling of hope and triumph. The song perfectly complements the action on the screen. This is why the introduction to the Lion King is one of the greatest to ever touch the film screen!

The Lyrics

The lyrics in “The Circle of Life” bring even more to the song as a whole than you may have ever realized. The lyrics were done by Tim Rice, a British author and lyricist. Rice, who is known for his work on Jesus Christ Superstar and The Wizard of Oz, is also no rookie to working with Disney. He did work on both Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. One of the most amazing things about this song is the fact that it is sung in both Zulu and English. The beginning and the background vocals were done in Zulu and the verses and chorus in English. I was surprised to find that the opening, which is in Zulu, actually means this:

“Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]

Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba

Sithi uhhmm ingonyama

Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]

Ingonyama

Ingonyama nengw' enamabala” [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]

I found this interesting because it really speaks about what the entire movie is about to be about! The chorus is very well written. Its lyrics are this:

“It’s the circle of life

And it moves us all

Through despair and hope

Through faith and love

Till we find our place

On the path unwinding

In the circle

The circle of life”

These lyrics tell us a story about life getting hard, but finding your place and hope in the knowledge that life continues regardless of your circumstances. This is a great message and just another small reason that this is one of the greatest openings in all of film!

The Music

The music surrounding the lyrics in the song “The Circle of Life” is brilliantly put together. The song was composed by more than qualified Elton John. John, who is known for hits such as “Tiny Dancer”, “Your Song”, and “Bennie and the Jets”, brings a touch of Africa to the screen with this composition. The instruments used in the song are a piano, vocals, a small woodwind, and percussion. The music starts with very powerful vocals which grab your attention and pull it towards the screen and what is about to happen. The vocals then turn to harmonies from a choir. Over that, the vocals begin to repeat as a low deep drum comes in. The song starts to build, the piano comes in, and the energy within the music grows too. It suddenly calms as the small woodwind comes in with a sort of lullaby type sound. My “ah-ha moment” came as all the music came back in abruptly. It gave me a victorious and hopeful feeling. John’s use of all of these instruments and his excellent timing gave this song life and brought you to another world. The music alone within the song sets the tone for the rest of the movie, and gets you excited for what is to come!