Written by Disney dream team Alan Menken (composer) and Howard Ashman (lyricist), this Broadway-style ballad is a center piece of The Little Mermaid. Ariel, played by Jodi Benson, rejects all of her material possessions and longs to experience life above water with humans "walking around on those - what do you call 'em? Oh - feet!"
This song was nearly cut from the film when it didn't test well with child audiences who caused a ruckus during the unfinished sequence, convincing studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg to eliminate the scene. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker pleaded with him to allow animator Glen Keane to finish the scene, likening the situation to the iconic "Over The Rainbow" almost getting cut from The Wizard of Oz. He relented and the second screening to a hushed group of children sealed the deal.
Jodi Benson wanted to feel like she was really singing in an underwater cavern, so she requested the lights be dimmed in the studio while she recorded this song.
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