Can You Feel the Love Tonight

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Simba and Nala embrace during the Can You Feel The Love Tonight sequence

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is an Academy Award-winning song from Disney's 1994 animated film The Lion King, composed by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. It was described by Don Hahn (the film's producer), Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (the film's directors) as having "the most diverse history" in the film.^[1]

The song was performed in the film by Kristle Edwards, Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, while the end title version was performed by Elton John. It won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. It also earned Elton John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In 2003, a remixed version of the song was included in the Special Edition soundtrack of The Lion King, again sung by Elton John.

In the midquel The Lion King 1½, the romantic scene where the song was originally featured also had the song playing, but with a difference: interspersed with the romantic scenes were short comedic shots of Timon and Pumbaa trying to disrupt Simba and Nala's night out.

1 Early production
2 Covers
3 Song samples
4 References

[edit] Early production

The song was once planned to be sung only by Timon and Pumbaa, but Elton John disliked the comical nature of the concept, as he had wanted to make a wholly romantic Disney song. Later, the song was planned to be sung this time only by Simba and Nala, but in the end the idea was scrapped again and the final result was the song mainly sung by an off-screen voice (Kristle Edwards) with short lines from Simba (Joseph Williams) and Nala (Sally Dworsky), and the beginning and end parts by Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella).^[2]

[edit] Covers

In 2002 the song was covered by the band SCLUB for the first disneymania cd.
The song was covered by American Idol contestant/reject William Hung on his debut album.^[3]
Sara Paxton also recorded her own version of the song for the DisneyMania 4 CD.

[edit] Song samples

Original version sung by Timon and Pumbaa (help·info)
Early film version (help·info)
Film version (help·info)
Elton John version (help·info)
Broadway version (help·info)

[edit] References

^ The Lion King: Platinum Edition DVD, Disc 1, 'Director's Commentary'
^ The Lion King: Platinum Edition DVD, Disc 1, 'Director's Commentary'
^ http://www.williamhung.net/clips.cfm

Preceded by: "Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia	Academy Award for Best Song 1994	Succeeded by: "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas

The Lion King
Films	The Lion King \| The Lion King II: Simba's Pride \| The Lion King 1½
Characters	Ahadi \| Kiara \| Kopa \| Kovu \| Ma \| Mohatu \| Mufasa \| Nala \| Nuka \| Rafiki \| Sarabi \| Sarafina \| Scar \| Shenzi, Banzai and Ed \| Simba \| Timon and Pumbaa \| Tojo \| Uncle Max \| Uru \| Vitani \| Zazu \| Zira
Songs	"Circle of Life" \| "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" \| "Be Prepared" \| "Hakuna Matata" \| "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
Books	The Lion King: Six New Adventures \| The Lion King: The Brightest Star
Games	The Lion King \| Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games
Other media	Original motion picture soundtrack \| Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable \| Rhythm of the Pride Lands \| The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa \| Broadway musical \| Festival of the Lion King \| Festival of the Lion King soundtrack
Misc	Kings of the Pride Lands \| The Lion King family
See also	"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" \| Kingdom Hearts II \| Kimba the White Lion controversy