Colors Of The Wind

Label

Hollywood Records

Genre

Stage & Screen

Media Type

AC

Composer(s)

Alan Menken;Stephen Schwartz

Entered Chart

Jun 24, 1995

Peak Date

Aug 26, 1995

Released

June 6, 1995

Recorded

1995

Catalog #

Hollywood 64001

B-Side

Listen to Your Heart II

Original Artist

Judy Kuhn

This was the theme song to Pocahontas, the hugely popular animated Disney film about the Native American princess who saved the life of American explorer John Smith, ultimately contributing to the founding of the United States. The song finds Pocahontas chastising Smith for his arrogance and ignorance, telling him that he doesn't understand the wonders of nature. The line "Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?" is where she makes the point that even though he stakes his claim to the Earth, he doesn't know how to nurture it. The song makes reference to the Circle of Life in the lines, "We are all connected to each other in a circle, in a hoop that never ends." The previous year, this was the theme of the Disney movie The Lion King. The music was written by Alan Menken and the lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Menken also wrote the music for "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)." Schwartz also wrote lyrics for songs in the Disney movies The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted. In the movie, this was sung by Judy Kuhn, who was the singing voice of Pocahontas. The Vanessa Williams version played over the end credits and was released as the single. The movie version contains an additional verse that begins: You think I'm an ignorant savage And you've been so many places I guess it must be so The single release, which at 4:12 is about a minute longer than the movie version, starts with the line, "You think you own whatever land you land on," but adds an extra chorus and is performed at a slower tempo. This won the Oscar for Best Original Song, beating out "You've Got A Friend In Me" from Toy Story and "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" from Don Juan DeMarco. It also won the Golden Globe in that category and took home the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Movie. In 1983, Vanessa Williams won the Miss America pageant, but gave up her crown when nude photos of her surfaced. The moral outrage that cost her the crown had clearly abated by the '90s, as the family friendly Disney felt comfortable having her perform this song. "It really is one of the most important songs I've ever written," Menken told Entertainment Weekly. "That was the first song I wrote with Stephen Schwartz - the Broadway prodigy who wrote Godspell and Pippin. He did a lot of research about American Indian folklore, and we listened to a lot of tribal music. It was born out of the modality of Native American music, but it quickly moved to its own place, which is hard to define. The grand, slow elegance. It's a very serious song, but there was no getting humor into Pocahontas. God knows we tried. We wrote a song for Grandmother Willow to try to add some comedy, but we just couldn't. The only other option would have been to give a song to the pug and the raccoon, and they don't even speak!" Judy Kuhn still has no idea what she is singing about on one of the lyrics. Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon "Actually, I have no idea what a blue corn moon is," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2015. "I have always hoped someone could explain it to me. That being said, I don't believe I have ever heard a wolf cry. I do live in New York City where we now apparently have coyotes, but I have not heard of any wolf sightings. Yet."

You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sun-sweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth
The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
Heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends


Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or let the eagle tell you where he's been
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

How high does the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know

And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
For whether we are white or copper-skinned
We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain
Need to paint with all the colors of the wind

You can own the Earth and still
All you'll own is Earth until
You can paint with all the colors of the wind