The most famous song from “The Lion King” was supposed to be sung by someone else. Elton John: I didn’t sign up for this

The song “Can you feel the love tonight?” in 1994 and 1995, it topped the world charts for weeks. The song from “The Lion King”, composed by Elton John, has gone down with golden notes on the list of the most beautiful romantic ballads. It can be heard twice in the film – once by Kristle Edwards, a gospel artist, and once, during the end credits of the animation, by Elton John himself. However, originally someone else was supposed to sing this hit.

“Lion King”. The hit “Can you feel the love tonight?” another duet was supposed to sing

The famous song begins in the film with Timon and Pumbaa, despairing at the sight of Simba’s transformation from a delightful child into a man in love and longing for his homeland. And it was supposed to stay that way, according to the original plans. “Can you feel the love tonight?” originally sung by them – Natan Lane and Ernie Sabella playing Timon and Pumbaa. The gentlemen even recorded a song that they sing in the voices of their characters, but when Elton John heard it, he strongly vetoed the idea.

In the original, we sang the whole thing. Elton was chilled that a warthog and a meerkat were going to do it. He said: “I created this song because I wanted Disney to have his own love ballad. But I didn’t sign up for it to be sung by a rat and a pig.”

And so we recorded ourselves. We sang the whole thing with the voices of Timon and Pumbaa. It wasn’t supposed to be some Broadway version, so we sang as Timon and Pumbaa. And it’s hard to do that and be romantic at the same time. Elton was right and fortunately, with his opposition, he made all the originators of this duo come back to their senses – recalls Nathan Lane in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

And indeed, unused recording exists. You can hear Timon and Pumbaa singing the famous line “Can you feel the love tonight?” in slightly false voices. accompanied by piano. The song is much shorter than the one that ended up in the film – and that’s good, because it’s hard to listen to, although it’s extremely funny. Check if you like this version:

“Can you feel the love tonight?” won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. The song also appeared in a refreshed version in “The Lion King” in the live-action version from 2019. It is performed by Beyonce and Donald Glover.