I'll Make A Man Out Of You
Encyclopedia
"I'll Make a Man Out of You" is a song composed by Matthew Wilder
, with lyrics by David Zippel
, sung in the Disney film Mulan by Donny Osmond
.
, whose efforts are sabotaged by her bullying comrades and is eventually told to return home. However, in one last effort, Mulan uses her ingenuity to successfully complete the challenge of climbing up a vertically mounted log with heavy weights attached to each arm by using the tethered objects as a strap around the pole to aid in climbing. In doing so, she impresses her comrades and is allowed to stay. Her feat marks the beginning of improvement in all of the recruits, as well as gaining a new-found camaraderie. From this point on in the song, the individual recruits are shown excelling at tasks that had previously proved daunting. The group as a whole also progresses, exhibiting unity and coordination, where before disorder and confusion reigned. At the end, all the recruits have improved dramatically and successfully complete their training.
The song's title and lyrics are deliberately ironic in light of the fact that Mulan is a woman disguised as a man. The irony is furthered in the film's climax where the song is reprised by an unseen choir when the male soldiers disguise themselves as concubines in order to fool the enemy Huns
.
features Jackie Chan
singing the song in Cantonese and Mandarin
.
The stage musical has this song with another one called "Lesson #1" from the second Mulan film attatched to it.
provided the singing voice for Captain Li Shang in the movie.
The song begins in the key
of E minor
and modulates
to F minor
for the third verse, is in 4/4 time
, and exhibits the AABCACC form
.
Yao (Harvey Fierstein
), Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), Ling (Matthew Wilder
), Mulan
(Lea Salonga
) and Mushu (Eddie Murphy
) all had their individual lines in the B section.
There are many fan made versions of this song in which the lyrics are dubbed into foreign languages on the internet. Some of these videos use only one language while others contain several including multiple dialects of the same language.
Jackie Chan
sang the Mandarin version of the song.
Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder is an American musician, composer and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
, with lyrics by David Zippel
David Zippel
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist.-Biography:Zippel was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he wrote a "bizarre political musical" called Rotunda...
, sung in the Disney film Mulan by Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
.
In the film
During the film, this song acts as a training montage. Trainees are shown failing at each drill or exercise — particularly MulanFa Mulan
Fa Mulan, later Li Mulan, better known simply as Mulan, is the main protagonist of Disney's thirty-sixth animated feature film Mulan and its direct-to-video sequel Mulan II. The character is inspired by the legendary Hua Mulan from the Chinese poem The Ballad of Mulan...
, whose efforts are sabotaged by her bullying comrades and is eventually told to return home. However, in one last effort, Mulan uses her ingenuity to successfully complete the challenge of climbing up a vertically mounted log with heavy weights attached to each arm by using the tethered objects as a strap around the pole to aid in climbing. In doing so, she impresses her comrades and is allowed to stay. Her feat marks the beginning of improvement in all of the recruits, as well as gaining a new-found camaraderie. From this point on in the song, the individual recruits are shown excelling at tasks that had previously proved daunting. The group as a whole also progresses, exhibiting unity and coordination, where before disorder and confusion reigned. At the end, all the recruits have improved dramatically and successfully complete their training.
The song's title and lyrics are deliberately ironic in light of the fact that Mulan is a woman disguised as a man. The irony is furthered in the film's climax where the song is reprised by an unseen choir when the male soldiers disguise themselves as concubines in order to fool the enemy Huns
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
.
Other editions
A bonus feature on the Mulan DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
features Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
singing the song in Cantonese and Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
.
The stage musical has this song with another one called "Lesson #1" from the second Mulan film attatched to it.
Voices
Donny OsmondDonny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
provided the singing voice for Captain Li Shang in the movie.
The song begins in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of E minor
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...
and modulates
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
to F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....
for the third verse, is in 4/4 time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, and exhibits the AABCACC form
Musical form
The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
.
Yao (Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is a U.S. actor and playwright, noted for the early distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing and originating the lead role in his long-running play Torch Song Trilogy, about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family, as well as writing the...
), Chien-Po (Jerry Tondo), Ling (Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder is an American musician, composer and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
), Mulan
Fa Mulan
Fa Mulan, later Li Mulan, better known simply as Mulan, is the main protagonist of Disney's thirty-sixth animated feature film Mulan and its direct-to-video sequel Mulan II. The character is inspired by the legendary Hua Mulan from the Chinese poem The Ballad of Mulan...
(Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga-Chien is a mezzo-soprano singer and actress from the Philippines well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards.She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and...
) and Mushu (Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
) all had their individual lines in the B section.
Trivia
After Mulan succeeds in climbing the pole and retrieving the arrow, the trainees are shown completing all of the previous tasks successfully except the task where the trainee has a bucket of water on their head and they must deflect rocks with a wooden pole without dropping the bucket.There are many fan made versions of this song in which the lyrics are dubbed into foreign languages on the internet. Some of these videos use only one language while others contain several including multiple dialects of the same language.
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
sang the Mandarin version of the song.