"The Mob Song" is unnervingly realistic. We can feel Belle's hopelessness as she and her father are overwhelmed by the villagers and locked into their own basement. The song marks a shift in Gaston, and it is a shift that will lead to his ultimate demise. His mission changes from wooing Belle to killing the Beast.
With his popularity up against the dubiousness of Maurice's and Belle's reputations (as well as the image of the heartbroken Beast roaring in the magic mirror), the villagers are easily incited into a mob, complete with pitchforks and torches. None of them had even known of the Beast's existence until a few moments earlier, but they are all swiftly convinced that the Beast would surely ravage the village, focusing on the women and children. We actually witness the baseless rumors passing from villager to villager.
This is also one of the most explicitly violent Disney songs. Gaston openly announces his intentions to decapitate the Beast and keep his head as a trophy; the villagers sing of their guns, knives, and bows; everyone enthusiastically proclaims that they want the Beast dead.
Most villainous lines: "Hear him roar, see him foam, but we're not coming home 'til he's dead. Good and dead! Kill the Beast!"
7. "Prince Ali (Reprise)" - Aladdin
When it comes to villainy, Jafar doesn't go halfway. He forces the lovably naive Sultan into marionette strings, turns the full-grown tiger Raja into an admittedly adorable tiger kitten, dresses Jasmine in what is clearly meant to be a demeaning outfit, forces her into subserviency, and orders the Genie to make her fall in love with him (presenting some dubious consent issues in a G-rated movie).
His scheming is impressive and--fortunately--his ego inflated enough to lead to his inevitable Disney downfall in the end of Aladdin (1992). His gleeful rendition of a reprise to the catchy "Prince Ali" is an example of his villainy that very nearly takes our hero out of the equation. He reveals that Prince Ali is none other than the charming beggar (and pathological liar) Aladdin before sending him to freeze to death in some distant snowy wasteland. Jafar even would have ultimately succeeded if he'd had the forethought to make sure that he wasn't sending any magical flying carpets along as well.
Most villainous lines: "His personality flaws give me adequate cause to send him packing on a one-way trip so his prospects take a terminal dip, his assets frozen, the venue chosen is the ends of the Earth, whoopee! So long, ex-Prince Ali!"
6. "Be Prepared" - The Lion King
One of the most beloved Disney films of all time, The Lion King (1994) is basically Hamlet with lions and singing. The scar is deliciously evil as he murders his older brother and orders his nephew (only a cub) to be torn apart by hyenas. Like Jafar, Scar understands that if you go bad, you have to go all the way. Of course, in a way, Scar was unfairly judged for evilness by the other lions before Simba's return.
The drought wasn't actually his fault. The scar may be a murderous usurper, but he can't control the weather. Keeping Zazu in a cage made of rib bones wasn't his most magnanimous act, but he wasn't wrong when he said that it was the lionesses' job to do the hunting. Really, if it hadn't been for the regicide, fratricide, and ordered murder of his nephew, Scar could only be accused of doing the best that he could under bad circumstances. He just wanted to be king. Part of why Scar is remembered as such a great villain is because he was the smartest character in the entire film. He managed to recruit fearsome allies in the hyenas and planned his coup so minutely that it actually would have worked perfectly if his main trio of hyena advisors hadn't allowed Simba to escape alive. Scar was smaller and weaker than Mufasa but still managed to kill him. Besides, if the tables had been turned, Scar definitely would have realized much earlier that Mufasa was plotting against him rather than only when hanging off of a gorge above a wildebeest stampede.
"Be Prepared" is an amazing song, perfectly encapsulating everything that is Scar. He's classy and smart and does the plotting while his foot soldiers do the trotting. Surprisingly charismatic for a villainous lion, the entire scene plays as very Hitler-esque, with Scar promising food and prosperity to a legion of goose-stepping hyenas. (Seriously: watch it again. The hyenas goose-step.)
All in all, we can see with "Be Prepared" why Scar was probably going to succeed.
Most villainous lines: "The future is littered with prizes and, though I'm the main addressee, the point that I must emphasize is, you won't get a sniff without me!"
5. "The Virginia Company (Reprise)" - Pocahontas
This is a tricky one. Listening to the lyrics, everything about it seems villainous. A leader and his men are jovially singing about killing an unsuspecting individual (or maybe two or three) for no real reason other than that they are stalwart and British and they want some gold. The lyrics sound pretty bad and--as this reprise to "The Virginia Company" occurs early in the plot of Pocahontas (1995)--it seems as though it would serve as early character establishment for the bad guy of the film.
The only problem is that the leader doing the singing is John Smith, the romantic male lead, and a secondary protagonist. Even in the beginning as he happily mimes beheading Native Americans, he is portrayed as more ignorant than anything else. Still, the overall message of the song is clearly not the one that we are meant to be supporting, and the men doing John Smith's backup singing do engage in some unwarranted battling later in the film. "The Virginia Company (Reprise)" has some halfhearted villainy, but its message becomes incredibly relevant in later scenes (and songs).
Most villainous lines: "We'll kill ourselves an Injun, or maybe two or three! We're stalwart men and bold of the Virginia Company!"
4. "Savages (Part 1)" - Pocahontas
"Savages (Part 1)" is where everything in Pocahontas begins to fall apart for the characters. Following the death of Kokoum and John Smith's subsequent (and erroneous) capture for the murder, panic begins to spread among both the Englishmen and the Native Americans. Each believing themselves the wronged party and each seeing the other as the villain of the matter, the prejudices that were initially troubling but mostly nonviolent turn into a thirst for war. In a way, neither of the two groups are entire to blame for the looming bloodshed. They are both behaving off of what knowledge they possess.
The Englishmen are spurred on by the manipulative speechifying of the nefarious Governor Ratcliffe as he secretly plotted to eliminate the Native Americans (and John Smith) from the area so that the Virginia Company could continue their fruitless search for gold unimpeded. For their part, the Powhatan tribe is both seeking revenge for Kokoum and responding to the invasion and unprovoked attacks upon them by the Englishmen.
Most villainous lines: "What can you expect from filthy little heathens? Here's what you get when your races are diverse!.They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil. We must sound the drums of war!"
3. "Savages (Part 2)," Pocahontas
In "Savages, (Part 2)," the panic of "Savages, (Part 1)" becomes a frenzy as the Englishmen and Native Americans both prepare for battle at dawn. While the Native Americans lack the manufactured weaponry of the English, their knowledge of the land is far superior, and the battle is likely to be a massacre on both sides. Like "The Mob Song" from
Beauty and the Beast, "Savages (Part 2)"
have is incredibly explicit in the intended violence. With phrases like "we will see them dying in the dust," "now without a warning," and "now we leave them blood and bone and dust," the song is very clear that surrender is not exactly going to be an option in the coming conflict.
The only way in which this terrible battle might be averted depends upon Pocahontas racing to save John Smith and stop the exchange of mutual retaliation. Once again, the villains of the song are subjective. Neither party is particularly admirable, and where it had earlier been easy to condemn the English for their invasion and presumption while cheering for the Native Americans, now Chief Powhatan intends to execute our John Smith (by smashing in his head!) for a crime that he didn't actually commit.
At this point in the film, there's no clear side to support, and we have to hope that Pocahontas will arrive in time to stop both groups from engaging in battle. There are villains everywhere, and Pocahontas has to stop them all.
Most villainous lines: "It's them or us! They're just a bunch of filthy stinking savages! Savages! Evil! Devils! Kill them! Savages, savages, what are we waiting for? Destroy their evil race until there's not a trace left! We will sound the drums of war!"
2. "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
"Heaven's Light/Hellfire" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1998) is a legitimately scary song. Judge Claude Frollo's malevolently arrogant pleas and promises compared with Quasimodo's hopeful love melody give the starkest contrast between their characters as had yet been portrayed in the film as well as the fullest portrait of Frollo's.
Aside from not knowing that Disney could use a word like "hellfire," Frollo's half of the song displays for the first time the depths to which he is sinking into madness as he praises the righteousness and virtue of his soul while singing of his physical desire and need for the imprisoned gypsy Esmeralda, all to pious background singing in the Notre Dame cathedral.
Most villainous lines: "has mercy on her. God have mercy on me. But she will be mine or she will burn!"
1. "The Court Of Miracles" - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Like "Gaston (Reprise)," "The Court Of Miracles" is so catchy that it's almost easy overlook how incredibly sinister it is. Following a tip from Esmeralda--the object of both of their affections--Quasimodo and Phoebus descend through a secret passage below a cemetery in search of the secret gypsy assembly known as "The Court Of Miracles." Then, as if wandering through French catacombs in the middle of the night weren't creepy enough to make either of them wonder if Esmeralda was really worth the trouble, they are apprehended by gypsies in skeleton dress who bind them, gag them, and haul them up for a mock-trial before what is likely to become their unceremonious hanging.
Part of what makes this song so truly sinister is that it is sung by puppeteer Clopin, who had previously only appeared in the film as an amusing trickster with a knack for bursting into the occasional song. His appearance and eagerness to hang the two men for no reason beyond that they had located the Court of Miracles is more than a little bit jarring. Gagged, they had no opportunity to explain how they had managed their discovery, and only by a last-second appearance by Esmeralda are Quasimodo and Phoebus saved.
Gypsies are presented for the first time as having truly dangerous potential, and the fact that the song is less than two minutes long just makes the suddenness of the violence and Clopin's excitement all the more unsettling.
Most villainous lines: "We find you totally innocent, which is the worst crime of all. So you're going to hang!"
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