The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you lookin' for?
The Little Mermaid was Disney's 1989 animated feature film. The movie set the tone for the period of growth Disney would enjoy in the 1990s, as they rattled off instant classics such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. If you'll pardon the pun, that tone was set by songwriter and score composer Alan Menken, as the music comprised in The Little Mermaid was loved by its young audience and peer critics alike. Conducted by Thomas Pasatieri, the score would go on to win two Academy Awards: one for Best Original Score, and one for Under the Sea, which took home the honor of Best Original Song, beating out fellow score favorite Kiss the Girl. Under the Sea was written by Howard Ashman and performed by Horatio Thelonious Ignatius Crustaceous Sebastian the crab, who himself is voiced by twice Tony Best Actor nominated Samuel E. Wright.
Under the sea, under the sea
Darling it's better down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we're devoting full time to floating
Under the sea, ha ha...
Under the Sea is a mouth of fresh sea-water if, you know, you're a merfolk. It has a bright and pleasant Caribbean canter to it, with the wind instruments playing just slightly above the vocals. The song is presented by Sebastian as an argument to Ariel that she would be no happier on dry land, because the ocean is the place to be! Ariel is acting the sullen teenager for much of the song, as she has just been reprimanded by her father, King Triton, for visiting the surface while he strictly forbids it out of fear that she would be captured by a "barbarious human". She is also distracted because she, Sebastian, and her best friend Flounder had just been at the surface again, watching a celebration aboard a ship turn to tragedy as Prince Eric was thrown overboard by a sudden storm. Ariel rescues the Prince, and sings to him until he begins to wake up, at which point she dives quickly away while being chided by Sebastian, who is realizing that Ariel is tougher to supervise than he first thought, and decides to entertain her via song. A task that the King's personal advisor is well suited for, seeing as he is also the principal conductor of the ocean's orchestra.
Wait? Sebastian, the advisor to King Triton is chasing after Ariel like a scullery maid to a dirty pot? This may take some explaining...
Down here all the fish is happy
And soft through the waves they roll
The fish on the land ain't happy
They sad 'cause they in the bowl!
But fish in the bowl is lucky
They in for a worser fate
One day when the boss get hungry
Guess who goin' be on the plate?
Retreating to even earlier in the film, we are privy to a conversation about Ariel's impetuous behaviour. In the conversation, King Triton and Sebastian are discussing Ariel's flippant attitude towards her responsibilities. Sebastian is agreeing passionately with the King, but gets trapped once Triton suggests that Ariel requires constant supervision. Sebastian is still in the middle of agreeing with the King when he hears "...and you are just the crab to do it." This news is swallowed by Sebastian, along with his pride, as he rushes off to find Ariel. He mopes about his time being wasted, which could instead be spent composing new music for the orchestra. Needless to say, he is not taking to this new task like a duck to water. He's nearly as upset with the situation as Ariel is, who was indignant over her father's thought that she needed a chaperon.
Wo-no, under the sea
Under the sea
Nobody beat us, fry us and eat us
In frickazee
We what the land folks loves to cook
Under the sea we off the hook
We've got no troubles, life is the bubbles
Under the sea (under the sea)
Under the sea (under the sea)
Since life is sweet here, we got the beat here
Naturally (naturally-ee-ee-ee)
Even the sturgeon and the ray
They get the urge and start to play
We've got the spirit, you've got to hear it
Under the sea
Malcontent with the thought of being only a babysitter, Sebastian attempts to become closer friends with one of his most talented chorus members. Being of a musical bent, Sebastian begins to sing Under the Sea, during which performance Ariel's indignation is revealed to have been out of place. Once Sebastian really gets going on the song, conducting all manner of sea creatures, Flounder enters the scene to whisper in Ariel's ear, and the two swim off unnoticed while Sebastian concludes his award winning song. And where would Ariel swim to but to a new human artifact Flounder has happened across? The same storm which threw Prince Eric from his ship also sank a statue of him, which was onboard the vessel as a birthday present. Before Ariel and Sebastian are reunited Ariel confides in Flounder that she is in love with the human whose visage they are gazing at. To put it another way: Ariel confides in Flounder that she is disobeying, apparent by her continual truancy from concert events and banquets in the opening underwater scene, the only rule her father has ever asked her to abide by - that of avoiding and evading any and all contact with humans. It is the only rule which King Triton has been known to discipline his daughters over. And it is a rule which Ariel breaks in confidence to Flounder.
Or rather, would have been broken in confidence, if not for the fact that Sebastian and King Triton are now at the edge of the scene and have heard everything.
The newt play the flute
The carp play the harp
The plaice play the bass and they soundin' sharp
The bass play the brass
The chub play the tub
The fluke is the duke of soul (yeah)
The ray, he can play the Ling's on the strings
The trout rockin out
The blackfish she sings
The Stout and the Sprat
They know where it's at
They know that blowfish blow!
Having heard her own heresy with his own ears, King Triton is enraged against Ariel. He punishes her, to great affect upon the young princess. Triton exits the scene, Flounder knows not what to say, and Sebastian half-heartedly tries to comfort Ariel while reinforcing her father's lesson. Their discussion over the next several scenes is terse, and the gulf between the two is palpable, even for the young audience. the relationship between the two is presented as a fiercely defined foil to the happiness of the song Sebastian sung only moments beforehand. In the song, Sebastian is trying to cheer himself up by doing something he enjoys - composing music. His self-interest of re-defining his assignment from "chaperon" to "entertainer" betrays the thought that Sebastian is trying to provide more value to Ariel than her thoughts of living on the surface.
While examining the song on the surface it is this, that a life in the ocean is better than one on land, which appears to be the message of Under the Sea. I am of the opinion that Under the Sea is equally as much about Sebastian feeling that his current assignment is unfitting of a crab of his skills, wherein "up there" is a future where he may spend all of his time composing and "the sea" is his current station of being a Princess's sitter. Even if it is on a subconcious level, Sebastian is attempting to make the best of his situation. The fact that he was singing the song for Ariel is the seed from which their friendship will later crystallize. At the point of the movie at which it is performed however, the song is most definitely the brightest point of their relationship. While still early in the film, we are shown Sebastian and Ariel to be at odds with each other, and one is left to wonder what events could strengthen their friendship and which would completely unravel it.
Yeah, under the sea
Under the sea
When the sardine begin to beguine
It's music to me (music is to me)
What do they got, a lot of sand?
We've got a hot crustacean band
Each little clam here know how to jam here
Under the sea
Each little slug here cutting a rug here
Under the sea
Each little snail know how to wail here
That's why it's hotter under the water
Yeah, we in luck here down in the muck here
Under the sea
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