Be Prepared

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Scar towers over the hyenas.

"Be Prepared" is a song from the 1994 Disney film and 1997 Broadway musical The Lion King. The song was composed by Tim Rice (lyrics) and Elton John (music) and originally performed by Jeremy Irons, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, and Whoopi Goldberg in the film and by John Vickery, Kevin Cahoon, Stanley Wayne Mathis, and Tracy Nicole Chapman in the original Broadway cast for the musical.

The song continued what had become a Disney tradition in their newer movies at that time, where the villain had his or her own song in the movie. This included Professor Ratigan's "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" in The Great Mouse Detective, Ursula's "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in The Little Mermaid, Gaston The Mob Song in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar's version of "Prince Ali" in Aladdin, and- to a lesser extent- Frollo's Hellfire in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (as it depicted the inner conflict of the villain).

The Lion King

Before the song begins, Scar is talking to the hyenas about their failed attempt to kill Simba and Nala. Shenzi says in their defense "Well, you know, it wasn't like they was alone Scar", to which Banzai adds "Yeah, what were we supposed to do, kill Mufasa?". Scar, with a wicked grin and one paw under his chin replies "Precisely..." Scar sings about the lack of intelligence displayed by the hyenas and how, if they assist him in his plan of killing Mufasa and Simba, he can ensure that they are never hungry again. The song gradually intensifies throughout, from Scar's comparatively tame first verse to the louder and more complex final section, in which the hyenas sing in counterpoint to Scar. Set in a geothermically unstable area, the song features stylized earthquakes and geysers throughout.

In the beginning of the second verse, an army of hyenas is shown goose-stepping in front of Scar, who is perched on an overlooking cliff. This is modeled after footage from the Nazi propaganda movie Triumph of the Will.

Early production

Originally, the song was about Scar introducing the hyenas to the lionesses after he pronounced himself king and when the lionesses opposed him. This idea was scrapped in favor of the song in the film. It was called "Thanks to Me". A reprise of the song after Mufasa's death was also cut from the film, but is featured in the musical version.

Original recording

On the original soundtrack recording, Scar opens the song with a soliloquy:

In the film this is cut and the song begins immediately. This was due to a plot adjustment.^[1] The soliloquy had Scar considering using the hyenas for his plot, but in the final version he had already used the hyenas in his plans before the song.

The Lion King 1½

In The Lion King 1½, the music from the beginning of the song is briefly heard as Timon and Pumbaa tour Scar's lair as a possible new home. The shadows of the goose-stepping hyena army are seen marching in front of them, though they haven't started singing yet and in the original movie different music was playing.

The Lion King musical

Like the original soundtrack recording, Scar begins the song with a brief soliloquy. The song is similar to its film counterpart in most respects, including the goose stepping Hyenas, but there is a dance number performed by the hyena ensemble halfway through. Scar later sings a brief reprise while declaring himself king at Mufasa's funeral in which he introduces the Hyenas as his direct and privileged minions. However, the Broadway reprise was not featured in the soundtrack, and is instead replaced with a sinister chord at the end of the song "Rafiki Mourns". In other soundtracks from different productions, the song is not represented at all.

Festival of The Lion King

In Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom's Festival of the Lion King, Scar sings the line "And where do we feature?" (originally sung by Shenzi) and its answer "Just listen to teacher!", turning it into a rhetorical question. In part of the song, an actor dressed in a tribal hyena costume performs a dance with a flaming torch.

References