The Disney Song Encyclopedia - fieldi

“MELODY TIME” 129
“Matecumbe” is the calypso-like number that has a tribal beat even as it
borders on lite rock, written by Shane Tatum and Richard McKinley for the
adventure film Treasure of Matecumbe (1976). A male studio chorus sings
about the shadows calling, urging listeners to journey to a place where there
is promise of new life, and it is heard on the soundtrack during the opening
credits of the movie.
“May the Best Man Win” is the narrative ballad by Joel Hirschhorn and
Al Kasha that tells the premise of the film Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978).
Michael Dees sings the western-flavored song over the opening credits, explaining
how two brothers, one a cowboy and the other a missionary, decide
to run a race to determine who inherits their late father’s fortune.
“Me” is the boastful, egocentric marriage proposal that is one of the comic
highlights of the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast (1994). The
swaggering Gaston (Burke Moses) sings the clownish number, painting a
vivid picture of what married life with him will be like, while the less-thanimpressed
Belle (Susan Egan) makes sly comments that go over his thick
head. Alan Menken (music) and Tim Rice (lyric) wrote the prankish song.
“The Medfield Fight Song” is the spirited rah-rah song Richard M. and
Robert B. Sherman wrote for the film The Absent-Minded Professor (1961),
the first of many songs the songwriting brothers wrote for Disney feature
films. A studio chorus sings the vigorous number over the opening credits,
and it is heard later in the film during the climactic basketball game between
the fictitious Medfield and Rutland Colleges.
“Meet the World” is the peppy, optimistic song written by Robert B. and
Richard M. Sherman for an attraction at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. The
Meet the World exhibit was a carousel-type theatre where the center stage
rotated rather than the audience rotating around it, as in the Carousel of
Progress. It told the story of Japan, and between each scene the song was
sung in Japanese. The melody starts out with a mystical air, but soon develops
into a perky number on the line of “It’s a Small World.” The lyric is about the
origins of Japan, born out of a “great Mother Sea,” and how the island nation
has reached out to the world with love. Although the song and the attraction
followed history, it was thought best to make no mention of World War II.
“Melody Time” is the breezy title number George Weiss and Bennie
Benjamin wrote for the 1948 animated movie anthology. Buddy Clark and