His best known work includes the Disney animated movies, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as Little Shop of Horrors, Enchanted, Tangled and most recently, Sister Act the Musical.
Main Title: Prologue Pt. 2
Alan Menken Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Seeking shelter from the bitter storm
As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose
Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away
But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances
For beauty is found within
To reveal a beautiful enchantress
The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late
For she had seen that there was no love in his heart
As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast
And placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there
As day bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world
For the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved
But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose
If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell
The spell would be broken
If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time
As the years passed, he felt into despair and lost all hope
For who could ever learn to love a beast?
The lyrics of Alan Menken's song "Main Title: Prologue Pt. 2" narrate the backstory of the prince who is transformed into a beast. One night, a stranger seeking shelter from a storm arrives at the castle and offers the prince a single rose as a gift. However, the prince, repulsed by her appearance, rejects her without considering her inner beauty. The stranger, who is revealed to be an enchantress, warns the prince about the deception of appearances and the importance of finding beauty within.
Despite the prince's desperate pleas for forgiveness, it is too late, and the enchantress curses him, transforming him into a hideous beast. She also places a powerful spell on the castle and its inhabitants. As time passes, the prince and his servants are forgotten by the world, as the enchantress erases all memory of them from the minds of their loved ones. The only hope for the prince to break the spell is to learn to love another and earn their love in return before the last petal of the enchanted rose falls. However, the prince gradually loses hope and falls into despair, questioning how anyone could ever love a beast.
Overall, these lyrics create a tragic and mystical atmosphere, setting the stage for the tale of love and redemption that unfolds in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."
Line by Line Meaning
Then one night, an unexpected intruder arrived to the castle
At the castle, a visitor arrived unexpectedly during the night
Seeking shelter from the bitter storm
The visitor was looking for a safe place to stay due to the harsh storm
As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose
As a kind gesture, the visitor presented the prince with a single rose
Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away
However, repulsed by her unattractive looks, the prince rejected the woman
But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances
Still, she cautioned him not to judge based on looks alone
For beauty is found within
Because true beauty lies within a person
When he dismissed her again, the old woman's outer appearance melted away
When the prince disregarded her once more, the woman's external appearance magically transformed
To reveal a beautiful enchantress
Unveiling herself as a stunning enchantress
The prince begged for forgiveness, but it was too late
The prince pleaded for forgiveness, but his plea came too late
For she had seen that there was no love in his heart
Because she saw his lack of love and compassion
As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast
As retribution, she cursed him and turned him into a monstrous beast
And placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there
Moreover, she cast a potent spell upon the castle and its inhabitants
As day bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world
Over time, the prince and his loyal servants were completely forgotten by society
For the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved
The enchantress had wiped away all recollections of them from the minds of their loved ones
But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose
However, the rose she had given carried a powerful enchantment
If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell
The curse would be lifted if he could manage to love someone and be loved back before the last petal of the rose fell
The spell would be broken
In such a case, the magical spell would be broken
If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time
Otherwise, he would be condemned to live as a beast forever
As the years passed, he felt into despair and lost all hope
As the years went by, he sank into despair and lost every ounce of hope
For who could ever learn to love a beast?
Because who could ever grow to love a terrifying beast?
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Alan Menken
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Midgetwithahacksaw
You know, there's another lesson The Beast has to learn here. The Enchantress says, "Don't be fooled by appearances, for beauty is found within".
Well, later on, The Beast says this in regards to Belle: "She's the daughter of a common thief! What kind of a person do you think that makes her?!"
And Mrs Pots says, "Now, you can't judge a person by who their father is now can you?"
And The Beast can't really argue back.
He has to look pass the surface of who Belle is in order to see her inner beauty too. In this adaptation, it's a more fleshed out two way street.
DormantRabbits
The Enchantress be like:" I'll curse the prince and all his subjects for being vain, but I think I'll let Gaston slide"
Hubi Guschti
not really, she's only "human" as well and not visiting the whole world I guess, only the castle and who knows where she might have been before... she didn't know of gaston at all, why would she ;)
sa as
That mans got plummeted into the ground to death shit bro ham
CV
dormantrabbits this alway hit like what IF Gaston wasn't a villain but actually hero back but Agatha put a spell on Gaston and make him being Selfish and being rude to Belle so that way Belle can fall in love with the Beast(aka Price Adam).
serina D
SnowGlow i thought that tooo!
Brittany Weaver
flowers-that- died-of-thirst nope totally agree with u I thought that too :)
Cecy Ruiz
"But who could ever learn to love a beast?..." This gave me the chills <3
Handy HTF
@Mike Marsh If friendly yes...
Mike Marsh
could you?
Sarah Na
1:42 I'm really happy this was added to the narration, since I always wondered how the prince was so quickly forgotten by everybody