"A Girl Worth Fighting For" is a song written by composer Matthew Wilder and lyricist David Zippel from the 1998

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film ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

''. It is performed by Harvey Fierstein,

Jerry Tondo Jerry Shigekazu Tondo (born October 10, 1950) is a Japanese-American actor and voice actor. He is known for providing the voice of the character "Chien-Po" in the animated film ''Mulan''. Other titles Tondo has contributed to include '' Gung Ho' ...

, and

James Hong James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...

, along with Wilder and

Lea Salonga Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga (; born February 22, 1971), known professionally as Lea Salonga, is a Filipino singer, actress, and columnist. Nicknamed "Pride of the Philippines," she is best known for her roles in musical theatre, for supplyin ...

, who provide the singing voices of Ling and Mulan, respectively.

Production

Lyricist David Zippel and composer Matthew Wilder were hired by Disney to write songs for ''Mulan'', based on the belief that the pair could "give kind of different sound to each of the songs". Based on its ironic lyrics, the song is described by Wilder as "a comedy song". "A Girl Worth Fighting For" ends suddenly when the military reinforcements discover an encampment burned to the ground. Zippel described the abrupt end of the song as "a really powerful moment"; Wilder noted that the song's ending "directly inspired and informed the narrative and how the animators would bring that moment to life". During the recording process, Wilder provided the singing voice for the character Ling, when Gedde Watanabe was not able to provide adequate vocals for the song. Wilder cites his experience being the stand-in vocalist as "just so much fun and so unexpected".

Synopsis

"A Girl Worth Fighting For" begins as the army of men march towards the battle. The song itself acts as a source of comic relief for the audience as the men sing about their dream girls and the roles they'll play in the family to distract for their fatigue and pain. It also builds on Mulan's inability to play the role of a stereotypical male, adding suspense to the later reveal.

Composition

"A Girl Worth Fighting For" is described as a "delightfully ironic comic number". It starts in the key of

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

, and is written in '' alla breve'' with the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of a "walking march".

Critical reception

Arthur Hu for Asian Focus (Seattle) wrote "A Girl Worth Fighting For" sounds a bit like ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

''s "

There is Nothing Like a Dame "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" (for 4 part male voices, 2 tenors and 2 basses) is one of the songs from the 1949 musical '' South Pacific''. The song was written by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is widely popular in the mu ...

" another hit musical comedy about war between Asian powers. Still, the songs stick with stereotypical gender themes, and they still promote the idea that guys have all the fun fighting and killing". Taestful Reviews wrote "A Girl Worth Fighting For" is as funny as Disney songs get, second to only "

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

Filmtracks.com Filmtracks.com is a modern film score review website created and maintained by its sole reviewer, Christian Clemmensen. Since the launch of Filmtracks in 1996, the website has reviewed nearly two-thousand soundtracks dating as far back as 1954, t ...

wrote "the comical piece performed by Harvey Fierstein ("A Girl Worth Fighting For") proves that people with annoying speaking voices don't sound any better when they sing".

References

Songs from Mulan (franchise) 1998 songs Disney Renaissance songs Comedy songs Songs with lyrics by David Zippel Songs written by Matthew Wilder {{1990s-song-stub