Topsy Turvy
There is a lot that happens within the course of the song with regards to story telling. The festive starts and Quasimodo gets caught in the swing of it, Quasimodo meets Esmeralda, Esmeralda dances getting the attention of Quasimodo, Phoebus and Frollo, the King of Fools contest starts, and Quasimodo is crown the king. There so much that happens that the song is broken up into four part essentially. These parts are well connected and the last portation with Quasimodo as the King of Fools features a keynote change to denote the ending of the song.
As far as the song is concerned it’s fun. It’s very celebratory, the lyrics are clever and Paul Kandel does well singing it. It’s the only Disney song to use a word meaning prostitutes. The line “Join the bums and thieves and strumpets,” a strumpets is an old fashion word for a prostitute or a harlot. Kind of interesting that the only Disney song to use a word for prostitute would also feature a pole dance.
The visuals help make this song memorable. There lots of reversals to help keep the momentum going and the fun up. This visually also give Quasimodo something to react to and since he is seeing all this craziness for the first time, Quasimodo acts as the audience in this song. There is a cast of thousand. The crowds were made using CG and at the time were a feat but the crowd in movie hasn’t aged well.
The song has several reference that harken back to Victor Hugo’s Novel. First the lyrics mention the date a being January 6, which is the day the Feast of Fools took place on. Of course the movie doesn’t seem to take place in winter, then again it could just be unseasonably warm.
Another Reference is Clopin referring to Esmeralda as “La Esmeralda.” Esmeralda in the book is very often referenced to with the article “La.”
The last reference and probably the most interesting. Is on the line “shock the priest” Clopin is holding a Frollo puppet. This is a clear reference to Frollo being a priest in the book.
The song itself is fine, it big and fun but it’s not my favorite. I would position this song in the middle of the ranking however I can understand why many would like it, it’s a fun song that adds to the movie and alludes to the book very appropriately.
Next Song – God Help the Outcast
is for all intended purposes is a solo but its prelude is duet between Frollo and Quasimodo. Frollo sings about how awful the world is as a means for controlling Quasimodo. When Frollo departs the scene, the mood of the song changes into Quasimodo singing about a yearning to venture beyond the tower and go flocking with the normal people.
, the directors made a point of mentioning how Frollo looked 20 years younger in the flashback, and in a subtle was he does a little bit but you can really see it with the Archdeacon’s look. Mainly because Frollo goes from ashen gray to gray whereas the Archdeacon goes from grayish black to white. Not sure who is older, Frollo or the Archdeacon, my guess would be the Archdeacon.
, the gargoyles went through a lot of revisions. But the gargoyles went through at lot of revisions as the film progress during the course of it’s animation. It was originally convinced that these three gargoyles were the stone mason’s cast-off and they’re something of outcast which is why Quasimodo gravitated towards these three, if the imagination theory is true (which like so many other things in this movie is inconsistent in it’s execution). The film never did played this angle. Also they were going to have tiny imperfections like a chip ear, but that was never realized either in the film.
