[Author's note: today is a slight departure from misunderheard lyrics. It is more a personal analysis.]
Disney has come out with some good ones recently (and when I say recently, I mean back like to 2000). What would a Disney movie be without the songs? Everybody still knows “Hi Ho” from Snow White, which was Disney’s first feature-length animated film. How can anyone forget “Let it Go” from Frozen? Idena Menzel sure cannot.
One thing that Disney started doing at least back since the animated Beauty and the Beast in the late 1990s is having a radio version of one or more of the songs in the movie. My daughter (who LOVES Beauty and the Beast) still cringes whenever I play the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version of the titular song. There was a bit of hype after Frozen 2 came out because Panic! At the Disco recorded a radio version of “Into the Unknown.” It was argued that a male band shouldn’t have sung a song clearly about women empowerment—or something like that. I shall make no comment in that regard.
Speaking of Frozen 2, I have been pondering “Lost in the Woods.” As I mentioned elsewhere, when I saw the movie in the theater, I could barely contain my laughter at the “Lost in the Woods” scene which was so very, very 1980s power ballad. It really was well-done with so many 1980s music video references, down to a nod to Queen. The radio version of “Lost in the Woods” is not nearly as humorous. There is nothing wrong with Weezer’s version; in fact, it is precisely their version which drives home the poignancy of the song.
In the movie (spoiler alert), Kristoff, who is trying to propose to Anna the whole way through the movie, finds himself abandoned by Elsa and Anna, who have gone off to find that which they are seeking. Kristoff sings of how he is literally lost in the woods because she left him there. He shows his insecure side, singing of how Anna is his “true north” and all, and that he’s lost in the woods until she returns. Along with the visuals, Johnathon Goff’s version has more the sound of Air Supply or Chicago, which adds to the humor of the power ballad.
Disconnected from the story and visuals, as well as the literal being lost in the woods, the song becomes far more melancholy. Taken at face value, this is a song of one who feels the loneliness of abandonment by the one they loved. The singer assumed that his love would always be there for him, but now he is not so sure. There is a real sense of fear that the relationship may fall apart, and who knows what the effect may be. Being lost in a literal woods is frightening: being lost in a figurative woods is downright terrifying. Without her, he feels as though he has no sense of direction anymore.
With their remakes of “Africa” and “Take on Me”, Weezer has shown their chops at 1980s music. “Lost in the Woods” being in the style of the 1980s, gives Weezer another chance to shine at this genre; and they succeed. They put their own stylistic stamp on it: rather than sounding like Air Supply, the lead singer sings more with a pathos reminiscent of Billy Joel. The interplay between romantic dreamer and realist is apparent from the beginning. One can hear the longing when he tells he has been left behind. There is still a spark of hope at the end, but he resigns himself to knowing it comes down to her.
Whether or not you like Disney songs, Weezer’s version of “Lost in the Woods” is not to be missed. It stands on its own as a powerful song apart from its movie context.
