Just Around the Riverbend
"Just Around the Riverbend" is a song from the 1995 Disney animated film Pocahontas.
"Just Around the Riverbend" | |
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Song by Judy Kuhn | |
from the album Pocahontas: An Original Disney Records Soundtrack | |
Released | May 30, 1995 |
Genre | Film score |
Length | 2:28 |
Label | Walt Disney Records |
Composer(s) | Alan Menken |
Lyricist(s) | Stephen Schwartz |
Producer(s) | Alan Menken |
Synopsis
In the film, "Just Around the Riverbend" serves as Pocahontas' "I want" song, where she decides if she will follow tradition and the safe choice, or whether she will explore the unknown and have new adventures. This is illustrated with the metaphor of two paths in the river: one straight and calm, and the other coursing "just around the riverbend". She marvels at how the river can change its course so effortlessly, twisting and turning, and ending up somewhere new and exciting.[1]
Development
One of the main problems with the story from a song concept perspective was how to "start Pocahontas' story musically". Stephen Schwartz reasoned that as Pocahontas doesn't really want anything until John Smith shows up, there isn't much for her to sing about. His wife Carole decided that Pocahontas would have a dream that something was about to happen (due to dreams being a large part of Native American culture). As Pocahontas was a reinterpretation of the Romeo and Juliet story, and the first song sung by Tony in the Romeo and Juliet based musical West Side Story is "Something's Coming", Schwartz explains that "Just Around the Riverbend" is essentially "the Native American version of Something's Coming".[2] The subtext is that she wants more than just a husband, and wants to instead break free and do her own thing.[1]
The song wasn't immediately liked by the studio executives at Disney. Though he and his writing partner Alan Menken wrote another song to fit into that section of the movie, they requested the heads relisten to a tweaked version of their song. This time it was accepted.
International versions
On its theater release in 1995, the movie numbered 28 dubbings worldwide, to which 9 more were added in the following years, raising the number of official versions to 37.[3]
Alexandra Wilcke's German performance of "Just Around the Riverbend", together with the whole German version of the movie, was awarded best foreign dubbing worldwide by Disney.[4]
"Just Around the Riverbend" worldwide | |||
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Language | Performer[3] | Title | Translation |
Arabic | جيهان الناصر (Gihan Elnaser) | "في مفترق النهر" ("Fî muftaraqi-n nahri") | "Just around the river bend" |
Bulgarian | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Cantonese | 李蕙敏 (Amanda Lee) | N/A | N/A |
Croatian | Gordana Marković | TBA | TBA |
Czech | Jana Durczaková | "Tam kam pádí řeky proud" | "There where the river flow rushes to" |
Danish | Susanne Elmark | "Der hvor floden bugter sig" | "Where the river bends" |
Dutch | Pia Douwes | "Om de kromming van de stroom" | "Around the bend of the stream" |
English | Judy Kuhn | "Just around the riverbend" | |
Finnish | Arja Koriseva | "Virta minne veneen vie" | "Where will the stream take the boat" |
French (Canada) | Stéphanie Martin | "Au-delà de la rivière" | "Beyond the river" |
French (Europe) | Laura Mayne | "Au détour de la rivière" | "By the riverbend" |
German | Alexandra Wilcke | "Was das nächste Ufer bringt" | "What the next riverbank will bring" |
Greek | Φιόνα Τζαβάρα (Fióna Tzavára) | "Τι θα φέρει ο ποταμός" ("Ti tha ferei o patamos") | "What is the river going to bring" |
Hebrew | ריטה (Rita) | "מעבר לנהר" ("Me'ever lanahar") | "Across the river" |
Hindi | मैरियन डी'क्रूज़ (Marianne D'Cruz Aiman) | N/A | N/A |
Hungarian | Anna Udvarias | "Messze hív a nagyfolyó" | "The big river calls me far away" |
Icelandic | Valgerður Guðnadóttir | N/A | N/A |
Indonesian | Beatrix Renita Purwiastanti | "Tentang kelokan sungai" | Unknown |
Italian | Manuela Villa | "Dopo il fiume cosa c'è?" | "What's beyond the river?" |
Japanese | 土居裕子 (Yuko Doi) | "川の向こうで" ("Kawa no mukō de") | "At the river" |
Korean | 신동희 (Shin Dong-Hee) | "강을 따라 가보면" ("Gangeul ddala gabomyeon") | "If I tried and follow the river" |
Malaysian | Juwita Suwito | N/A | N/A |
Mandarin Chinese | 辛曉琪 (Winnie Hsin) | "滾滾河水兩岸拍" ("Gǔngǔn héshuǐ liǎng'àn pāi") | Unknown |
Norwegian | Anita Skorgan | "Rundt neste sving" | "Round the next turn" |
Polish | Edyta Górniak | "Ten za łukiem rzeki świat" | "This world behind the riverbend" |
Portuguese (Brazil) | Kika Tristão | "Lá na curva o que é que vem" | "What comes there, by the bend" |
Portuguese (Europe) | Susana Félix | "Depois do rio o que é que vem?" | "What comes after the river?" |
Romanian | Alina Eremia | "Oare ce-om găsi la mal?" | Unknown |
Russian | Теона Дольникова (Teona Dolnikova) | "За излучиной реки" ("Za izluchinoy reki") | Unknown |
Serbian | Јована Герман (Jovana German) | TBA | TBA |
Slovak | Soňa Norisová | N/A | N/A |
Spanish (Europe) | Gema Castaño | "Río abajo lo veré" | "I'll see it downstream" |
Spanish (Latin America) | Susana Zabaleta | "¿Qué será? ¡Quiero saber!" | "What can it be? I want to know!" |
Swedish | Heléne Lundström | "Floden har sin egen väg" | "The river has its own course" |
Thai | ธีรนัยน์ ณ หนองคาย (Teeranai Na Nongkai) | "ฝากไว้กับสายชล" ("?") | Unknown |
Turkish | Tuğba Önal | "Kıvrımlar neler saklar" | "What the riverbends hide" |
Ukrainian | Валентина Лонська (Valentyna Lonska) | "Річки плин" ("Richky plyn") | "The river flows" |
Analysis
Contemporary Media Culture and the Remnants of a Colonial Past argues that this song is equivalent to Belle's desire of wanting "more than this provincial life" in Beauty and the Beast, and that she seeks to become emancipated from the Native American patriarchy by an external force (which turns out to be the colonists, though she does not know it at the time). It also says that Pocahontas has an "'innate feminine' desire to find true bourgeois romance 'just around the riverbend'".[5]
Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film describes Pocahontas' persona at the point when she sings this song as "youthful irresponsibility", contrasting this to her "mature self-knowledge through courage and love" which she adopts throughout the course of the movie.[6]
References
- Ward, Annalee R. Mouse Morality: The Rhetoric of Disney Animated Film. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292773936.
- Giere, Carol de (September 1, 2008). Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 326–. ISBN 9781458414168.
- "Pocahontas". CHARGUIGOU (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-08.
- "Alexandra Wilcke". CHARGUIGOU (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-08.
- Ono, Kent A. (2009). Contemporary Media Culture and the Remnants of a Colonial Past. Peter Lang. pp. 108–. ISBN 9780820479392.
- Rollins, Peter C.; O'Connor, John E. (September 29, 2010). Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813137957.