"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" is a song from Disney's 1994 animated film ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'' composed by English musician Elton John with lyrics by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...

. At the 67th Academy Awards in March 1995 it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The same year the song also won Elton John the

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

. It was a chart hit in the UK, peaking at number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and achieved even more success in the US, reaching number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was a number-one hit in Canada and France.

History

The song, written by Tim Rice and Elton John, was performed in the film by Kristle Edwards (also known as Kristle Murden), Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky,

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

, and

Ernie Sabella Ernest Sabella (born September 19, 1949) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Pumbaa from ''The Lion King'' franchise, voicing the character in all media except the 2019 film. Sabella's TV roles include Mr. Dona ...

, while another version used in the film's closing credits was performed by Elton John. It won the 1994 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

. It also earned Elton John the

. The single version contains background vocals by

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song " Ne ...

Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the British pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, havi ...

and former collaborator

Kiki Dee Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947), better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records. Dee is best known for h ...

. It was planned to be sung only by Timon and Pumbaa, but John disliked the comical nature of the concept as he declared that the song was meant to follow "Disney's tradition of great love songs", and that it could "express the lions' feelings for each other far better than dialogue could". The final result was the song mainly sung by an off-screen voice (Edwards) with short lines from Simba (Williams) and Nala (Dworsky), and the beginning and end parts by Timon (Lane) and Pumbaa (Sabella). It also included Zulu vocals that, while mostly muted in the on-screen version, were much more prominently featured in the audio-only releases. Within around one and a half months before the film was released in June 1994, John's recording was released throughout radio stations as a commercial single and entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The music video of John's recording contains montages of John performing the song and scenes from the film. 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 follow-up ''

The Lion King 1½ ''The Lion King 1½'' (also known as ''The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata'', or ''The Lion King III: Hakuna Matata'') is a 2004 American animated direct-to-video musical comedy film produced by the Australian branch of Disneytoon Studios and release ...

'', 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 Timon and Pumbaa are an animated meerkat and warthog duo introduced in Disney's 1994 animated film '' The Lion King'' and its franchise. Timon was played through his many appearances by Nathan Lane (in all three films and early episodes of t ...

trying to disrupt

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in '' The Lion King II: ...

and Nala's night out with the " Peter Gunn Theme" playing while they try.

Reception

The single release of John's recording (the closing credits version) peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart for eight weeks. It also sold 500,000+ units in France. Swedish newspaper '' Aftonbladet'' described "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" as a "really good

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

". Heather Phares from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

stated that it is a "Lion King classic". Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' wrote, "

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

's distinctive voice slices through the quasi-orchestral tone of this

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

". He explained, "He taps into the song's pensive lyric, giving it a warm, human dimension that would be lost on a lesser performer." Troy J. Augusto from '' Cashbox'' commented, "From Hollywood’s ''The Lion King'' soundtrack comes the always welcome voice of Elton John, who takes a stab at reclaiming his talent for crossover hitmaking with this orchestrated ballad, his most affecting single choice in years." He added, "Moving performance and a heady theme add up to hits radio action as well the usual adult formats and even some

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

attention. A winner." David Browne from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' noted that John's "croon and piano skills are aging quite well". Another editor, Leah Greenblatt, described the song as a "soaring

tribute". A reviewer from Swedish '' Expressen'' called it a "typical Elton ballad with echoes of several of his old successes". Ron Fell and Diane Rufer from the '' Gavin Report'' said it is "sure-to-be a summer of '94 anthem." The magazine's Dave Sholin declared it as a "beautiful ballad", adding, "It isn't too early to work on that acceptance speech for next year's

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, Elton." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave it four out of five, noting that it is "a heavily orchestrated and dead slow ballad" and "one of Elton's more memorable recent melodies." ''The Network Forty'' deemed it an "elegant ballad". A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' called it "sappy", adding that it is "sure to be song of the year". In 2016, David Ehrlich of the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' magazine ranked John's performance of the song at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995 at number 12. British newspaper '' The Staffordshire Sentinel'' concluded with that "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" "creates the perfect romantic atmosphere". According to a 2020 survey by OnBuy found that couples that chose "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" as the song for the

first dance A first dance is the opening dance in various traditions. First Dance may refer to: * ''First Dance'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Michael Bublé * "First Dance" (song), a 2009 song by Justin Bieber * '' The First Dance'', a 2009 album by Bridezilla ...

at their wedding were more likely to stay together, with 77% of respondents who chose the song remaining in their marriage.

Track listing

''Festival of the Lion King''

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

's Animal Kingdom's ''

Festival of the Lion King There have been seven theme park live adaptations of ''The Lion King'' at Disney parks since the animated film ''The Lion King'' was released by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1994. These have included a parade, two theater-in-the-round shows, ...

'', the song is sung by Nakawa and Kibibi. As they sing, two ballet dancers (one male, one female) dressed as birds dance on the stage. After the main chorus is sung, the male bird dancer attaches his partner to a harness that allows her to fly through the air.

Personnel

* Elton John – piano, lead vocals *

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, backing vocals * Chuck Sabo – strings, drums *

Phil Spalding Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Se ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Guy Babylon Guy Babylon (December 20, 1956 – September 2, 2009) was an American keyboardist/composer, most noted for his work with Elton John. Babylon was born in New Windsor, Maryland. He attended Francis Scott Key High School before moving on to the ...

– keyboards *

– backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

General *

External links

* (official upload by DisneyMusicVEVO)
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" composed by Elton John
Piano sheet music , pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Can You Feel The Love Tonight 1990s ballads 1994 songs 1994 singles Best Original Song Academy Award-winning songs Best Original Song Golden Globe winning songs Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Elton John songs Walt Disney Records singles Love themes Disney Renaissance songs SNEP Top Singles number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs from The Lion King (franchise) Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Songs with lyrics by Tim Rice Songs with music by Elton John Pop ballads Donald Glover songs Beyoncé songs Mercury Records singles Rock ballads