1 Song From ‘The Lion King’ Made Elton John Question His Career

The Lion King is easily one of the most successful projects Elton John has been involved with. Not only is it considered one of Disney’s best soundtracks, but it also earned John his first Academy Award. It was a departure from John’s standard material since he had never written music for the stage or screen at that time in his career. It was also a shift for him, and one song from the Disney film made him question what he was doing. 

‘Hakuna Matata’ from ‘The Lion King’ made Elton John question his career

Disney had a ton of success in the early 1990s with hit movies such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. In 1994, the studio would release The Lion King, an animated musical that was their most successful film for a long time. Part of The Lion King’s success was due to its remarkable soundtrack, with songs written by Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice. 

The pair created musical gold with tracks like “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” One song that got stuck in people’s heads like an infection was “Hakuna Matata”. The track is performed by Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella), a meerkat and warthog who befriend the lion, Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas/Matthew Broderick). 

While it’s a catchy tune, it does include lyrics about farting warthogs. In an interview with Time, John said seeing these lyrics made him question his entire career. 

“I sat there with a line of lyrics that began, ‘When I was a young warthog,'” John said “and I thought, ‘Has it come to this?'”

However, John learned to have a sense of humor about it. If he were going to write a song about a farting warthog, then he would make it the best one ever. 

“At the risk of being big-headed, I’m pretty sure that in a list of the greatest songs ever written about warthogs who fart a lot, mine would come in somewhere near the top,” John wrote in his book, Me. 

John almost didn’t get asked to work on ‘The Lion King’ 

Before working on The Lion King, Elton John had not proven himself to be a songwriter for movies or musicals. Still, he was one of the biggest artists in the world, with many incredible songs he wrote alongside Bernie Taupin. In an interview with Famecrawler, John said Disney didn’t think he would agree to do The Lion King and was surprised when he said yes so quickly. 

“Funny thing is, when you get established, and you’re older, people get afraid to ask you to do things. They say, ‘Oh, he won’t do that.’ Like when Tim Rice called me to do The Lion King in 1993, it changed the course of my career,” John explained. “[Tim said,] ‘Disney said you’d never do this. And you’re a friend of mine, and I told them you will.’ I said, ‘Tim, I’ve worked with you before. I love you. Of course, I’ll do it.'”

John later told Rolling Stone he was immensely grateful for the opportunity as it opened new doors for his career. 

“It gave me the opportunity to write for the stage,” John said. “It gave me more strings to my bow. Up until that point, I was just doing records, videos, and touring. Of course, nobody knew it was going to be this big. I’m so proud to be involved in it, and I have Tim Rice to thank for it.”