"Topsy Turvy" is a song from

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

animated feature These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...

''. The song is 5:37 minutes long and is performed by

Clopin Clopin Trouillefou (, literally "Lame Fear-Fool") is a fictional character first created in the 1831 novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' by French author Victor Hugo, and subsequently adapted. In the novel In the story, Clopin disrupts Pierre ...

Synopsis

The song is sung by the film's gypsy narrator Clopin. It is performed as he introduces the

Feast of Fools Feast of Fools The Feast of Fools or Festival of Fools (Latin: ''festum fatuorum, festum stultorum'') was a feast day on January 1 celebrated by the clergy in Europe during the Middle Ages, initially in Southern France, but later more widely. Du ...

, and continues up until they crown

Quasimodo Quasimodo (from Quasimodo Sunday) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the novel ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster, but h ...

as the King of Fools. Christian Answers recounts the scene thus: "During the celebration, he is crowned 'King of the Fools' and finds himself falling instantly in love with the gypsy dancer Esmeralda. Joy turns quickly to sorrow as the crowd cruelly mocks and rejects him for his misshapen appearance, failing to see the charm which lies below his odd looks."

Composition and context

This song and " A Guy Like You" use "the Broadway line-dancing technique of stopping the song and then progressing its bloated performance from a standstill to proper tempo."

Critical reception

BBC.com wrote "Alongside the demonic is some nicely hammy comedy. 'Topsy Turvy' is a big showtime number with a slapstick MC and a swelling chorus." ChristianAnswers wrote "the song for the celebration, describes very well the rest of the story as Quasimodo’s world turns upside down."

Filmtracks 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 gypsy song 'Topsy Turvy' is a carnival-like, French-styled piece for the Feast of Fools; the static pounding of the title lyric is extremely irritating." Spoonful wrote "'Topsy Turvy' is a sight to see-and dance along with."

References

{{Authority control Songs from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film) 1996 songs Disney Renaissance songs Songs written by Stephen Schwartz (composer) Songs with music by Alan Menken Song recordings produced by Alan Menken Songs about parties