It’s 1944, so you know there’s trouble a-brewing. Disney continued their trek through South America, started in the previous movie, and again features a few different segments each with their own characters, story, and song. As you would expect, the music and lyrics are heavily influenced by South American culture.
‘The Three Caballeros‘ is your typical bombastic credits intro – if you’ve seen any movie from the 40s or 50s then you’ve heard something like this. Once the vocals come in it gains a touch of character, but the screeching choral voices will turn your ears inside out.
‘Aracuan‘ features some Woody Woodpecker type brigand bouncing around like he’s on pills. I imagine most people would hate this, but I think it’s amusing.
‘Baia‘ is more relaxed, a love song for the town of the title. It’s Samba-lite, an exotic ballad with only some annoying voices and brass.
‘Have You Been To Baia‘ is a faster affair with lots of spoken parts – Donald Duck and co experiencing the pleasures of the town.
‘Os Quindins De Yaya‘ is sung entirely in Portuguese and features Donald being a dirty bastard. I’ve no idea what it’s about, but it sounds filthy. There’s a brief interlude where some guy sings another song – it sounds quite lovely – then we flick back to the main track for some drum and horn madness. It’s a long one, but I like it.
‘Panchito Pistoles’ is fast and furious – lots of string based instruments racing around with some random singing in the background. We get some English vocals too as the singers sing about themselves. Good fun.
‘Mexico‘ opens with a touch of mystery before an interesting flute-like part. The vocals come in with laid-back stylings, the strings are a little too whiney, and all in all it doesn’t make me think of Mexico. It quickly descends into the sort of dreary ballad I dread while interspersed with the odd interesting moment – a trumpet blast here, or shift in tone there.
‘Jarabe Pateño’ feels more Mexican to me, lots of clapping and stamping and faster strings.
‘Lilongo‘ is more of the same, with added vocal ‘la la las’. Makes me think of holidays.
‘You Belong To My Heart‘ is a weepy ballad with more frightful strings. It’s sung well enough but there’s a disconnect between the rhythm, melody, and tone, like each is pulling in an opposing direction.
‘La Zandunga‘ has some interesting instruments and is another which has more than an air of mystery. It’s very short.
As to be expected, there isn’t much here to recommend. Like most of these package films, the music works fine in the movie but there is precious little you’d choose to listen to as a standalone. No major standouts, no classic Disney songs, but plenty of energy and Latin flavour.
Let us know in the comments what you think of this soundtrack!
The Spac Hole 