In the middle of the movie with no warning, comes the most beautiful song in any Disney or Pixar movie. It has more plays in my iTunes than any other song.
Part nostalgia, part personal memories, this iconic scene from a pixar film is a masterpiece that beautifully conveys human emotions. Tom Hanks, a voice actor for the film, was reportedly crying at the scene.
Tom Hanks.... a voice actor for the film. You mean Woody, as in the Main Character, played by Tom Hanks......... as in Oscar winner Tom Hanks. Yeah, he's just some voice actor......
The animation with this music makes it twice as sad. When Jesse is riding in the car with an adult Emily, looking up at her with a euphoric smile and then closing her eyes in pure happiness, not realizing she's about to be abandoned... I'm a fifty year old man and I sob every time I see it.
This song is so compelling! I totally agree that it moves me to tears every time! I remember rediscovering it about three years ago when I was learning Disney songs for my repertoire. I used to pair it with “You’ve got a friend in me” during my solo set!
@Listening In - Amazing analysis (as usual). Would be interesting to do a corresponding analysis of Married Life from Pixar's Up where the song moves through the ups and downs of a happy life towards (spoiler alert) Ellie's death
@@nathansinclair9019 He already has made that analysis, but of the broader themes that song represents over the whole movie. It's among Barnaby's first video essays
"When somebody loved me everything was beautiful" is the closest you can get to an actual human truth. You don't want your music to cloud it, nor could you add anything meaningful. Say just that in words and melody and that's it. Oh Pixar, every damn time you do this and every damn time we come back just for that.
I lost my black cat suddenly as a kid. She was taken to vets while I was at high school, as a check up to her sneezing. She was put under anaesthesia to check her nose. It wasn’t worth waking her up again due to the cancer. That morning she crawled into my lap, looked up at me, and put her head down. It was unusual but I put her back down and headed off to school. She had said goodbye and I didn’t even know. Im 36 now and this song will always bring me to the strongest flowing tears. I lost my best friend that day. When she was happy, so was I.
Since the first time I've seen Toy Story 2, this had always been sad. But as I age and the more I understand the meaning of the song, the more it hurts.
When I sing this I can get through the beginning and middle and when I get into the end I start getting all choked up and have to stop singing and I never understood why. The “lonely and forgotten” part is what always gets me
This song's discordant notes feels like when you start to speak, but choke on your words. It feels like when your words broke as you became too filled with emotion to speak properly. This song is essentially the musical emotions of Jessie telling Woody about Emily, and the use of discordant notes is so brilliant that it makes me cry. Simplicity is never a bad thing.
What moves me in this scene (and what already moved me as a child) is that the child grows up irremediably but the toy does not. The toy, which does not evolve, does not understand why the child evolves and watches helplessly the child leaving childhood forever. I don't think it's a sad scene for the toy but for the child who loses, forgets his childhood and his ability to bring the toy to life. I think this is the main theme of the Toy Story films.
Wow. This is absolutely captivating and really really well done. I occasionally (not often, but occasionally) cry when listening to really good music, maybe because it's really sad and I'm feeling down, or maybe it's just the tears of joy when listening to a piece of music and not being able to understand how something can just simply be that good, or how something abstract and not visible can make me feel something so strong. That's all about listening to music, though. I never cry whilst watching videos about music, but this is the fourth musical analysis video of yours that I've cried at the end of (after Interstellar, Inception, and Home Is). I don't know what it is about these videos, and I'm not generally a very emotive person, so it strikes me as quite surprising that a video talking about music can have such a great emotional effect on me and likely others as well. Thank you for all that you do, your videos are amazing and you are awesome. Keep up the stupendous work
Jason - this is such a lovely comment. This is why I create these videos - for people like you. I find that certain music, like this, like Vaughan Williams, Symphony 5, just make me cry, and it's usually because I associate them with moments in my life. I just want to share how strongly I feel about all of this music, and I'm so glad it's able to reach so many people.
I only cry to music that I find captivating, and I believe that reaction comes from how beautiful a piece is to me. The experience is overwhelming, and causes the reaction of so many emotions coming over. I'm so happy that we have art, and how personal the experience of art is to everyone of us.
I'm finding myself surprised at my emotional response to a video talking about emotional music too. I wonder if it's something to do with someone telling you it's okay to feel emotional for these scores and films, affirming that what you feel is what the song was trying to convey, and as such you let yourself 'feel' more openly? Either way, I love these videos. I've just finished watching the 3 part series on the lord of the rings analysis.
Don't even get me started about the first five minutes of Up, or the bit at the end of Inside Out where the two lead emotions work things out....I'm a mess every time!
When I first heard this song in the movie, I was a kid and didn't understand much about the song except for what it is on the surface. Now as an adult, listening to it again moved me to tears. This piece is one of my favourite soundtracks from Disney's.
I deeply miss when Pixar was about telling moving and brilliant stories. We all lost something when they decided to leave that behind for other priorities...
I’m like you sir, have had this song stuck in my head. This song still makes me emotional, and I’m a grown man. In fact, I’m almost crying typing this comment.
In addition to all that has been about this song from an emotional perspective, it is worth noting how brilliantly composed it is. Not only secondary dominants but also chromatically moving basslines in that bridge section. I feel as though any songwriter can benefit from studying this song and working out how those chord changes work over what is ostensibly very simple lyrics.
This is the rare chance when I'm early enough to see an empty comment section- thanks for another video! I really enjoy your analyses, and as a big Toy Story fan, this one is just extra special x
How does this channel not have 1 million subscribers? How does this video have fewer than 6,000 views? Please don’t stop making such beautiful, well-crafted and thoughtful content.
Unfortunately, it may be due to a) people think Pixar movies (or they Toy Story series) are just for kids, and b) they leave the video before the wonderful commentary, as it gets pretty heavy into music theory - too heavy for most.
I'm in my 50's and every time we play this movie and this song comes on I am driven to tears every time. It's one of the most human truth telling songs ever.
This was one of the songs that still gives me a sense of comfort but also give so much heart and emotion in anything I've seen in a Pixar movie. I'll still sing it to myself even as an adult and I still tear up.
I blub every time. I think for me it mostly comes from the emotion most people have about mourning the loss of childhood. 😭 and theres something in the pacing of the music and the pauses that’s heartbreaking.
This was beautiful. Why did even a musical breakdown of the song make me cry? The way you presented it was like a personal journey, so full of emotion. Thank you.
When I first heard this song as a child, I couldn't quite understand how Jesse felt, but as the years went by and I lost my mother and my fiancé, I began to truly understand this song, and I like to believe that randy Newman wrote the song feeling similar emotions.
You always thank us for watching, no sir, thank YOU for posting. You really are a beautiful human being inside and out. Don't lose that. Don't ever lose that. Shalom.
I hadn’t seen the movie in a long time but recently watched it with my 2.5 year old son. He’s not old enough to really understand what’s happening but during the song and montage, he started sniffling and asked if she’s ok. It affected me too but it’s the first time he’s really had an emotional response like that. I’m sure it was the music, more than anything that made him feel sad and empathy for the character.
God, Barnaby- I just love your work! This video had me choked up from start to finish. Randy does that a lot. In particular, the songs “She Chose Me” and “Losing You” always make me cry.
this guy is talking about cherishing every moment while im here watching most of my youtube at 2x speed because there isn't time enough between work and other crap. that almost made me cry.
After that explanation at the end, I cried. I haven't cried that hard in years. It wasn't a sad or happy cry, just a release of emotions I felt like I had been holding in for YEARS. Thank you for that. 😭❤️
It has no words but for some reason "Beverly" from IT chapter 1 makes me feel so full of emotion. It honestly makes me feel like similar to the film that its like the final sunset of the Summer of Childhood before life speeds up and there never again is that moment nor will be again. Also I'm probably more emotional right now due to grief, my Grandmother passed only two weeks ago now. But tbh I've always felt this way for certain musical pieces.
I enjoy the seemingly simple, evocative music of Randy Newman, and was doing just fine through the video until your VoiceOver at the end made me cry. You have a knack not only for explaining music in a way that a non-music major understands, but also for speaking the words that I feel when I hear that evocative music. Now I'm off to get a tissue...
Just hearing the piano in the background in the opening gave me goosebumps. I haven't heard this song in such a long time, I had no idea it would make me feel so emotional.
That was a beautiful video. Not just because of the music, but everything. Especially how you ended it was wonderful. Every bit of the song you explained made me appreciate the piece even better. Thank you :)
Strange at it may seem 'When she loved me' evokes a familiar counterpoint to those feelings evoked by 'Clair de Lune'. The latter, loss for love I have never known. The former, the pain of realisation that a love was never real. It also makes me cry... ...which makes this a devil to sing, but one of my better performances when I keep it together.
The power of Randy Newman, to be so apparently simple yet to express the deepest and most poignant emotion. Also the genius of Pixar to understand the fit between the story, the songwriter and the song. So moving.
Newman was a perfect choice by Pixar to lend that humanness & conenction to this new way of making movies. Not only the perfect choice as composer and lyricist but hands down the king! Always been a fan of Newman, I still say his score for the movie Ragtime is one of my most favorite of his.The range he had to dabble in with that movie.....what a challenge and so well done.
I'm nearly 50 but part of me still thinks my toys all come alive at night. I have nearly all my childhood soft toys, I will never let them go. Seeing a much loved toy discarded like that always makes me cry and this song had me in bits. I see so many worn and well loved teddies in charity shops and just want to rescue them all 😭😭
That was my mentality as a kid. To “rescue” them. When I outgrew them, that transitioned to helping kids in volunteer centers. Now as an adult, I recherished my childhood toys but swore to myself that I can never “adopt” more. My heart can only take so much. I had to throw away some childhood toys due to mold leakage. It was saying goodbye to memories-like-no-other forever and it was a grieving process. Less is more has been my approach since. I’m glad for these toys. It taught me how to treat and not abandon others but I have a limited emotional capacity for that.
I saw a picture with a caption that said “No matter how good you are, you can always be replaced” It had an image of a giant teddy bear inside a car as a gift and the second picture was of the same teddy in the back of a dump truck, aged and worn out. Its eyes even look incredibly sad. It makes me sad as well because even though toys aren’t alive, they still carry memories. Memories that can only be accessed by a single touch of a hand. Giving toys away without handing them down to the next owner with love and kindness and instead just dumping them as if they were unloved and unwanted things always made me cry. I’m 21 years old and I still have my vast collection of Transformers dating back to 2009. As time went on and I got older I either lost a few figures or had to replace them. As strange as it may seem my collection is going to be part of me forever and I just can’t stomach the thought of giving my toys away as if I never loved them. My plan for them is to hand them down to the next generation. Perhaps when one of my nephews is old enough, he’ll inherit my collection and love and appreciate it as I have.
When I saw an AMV with that song that featured a cat and her owner, of which it screened at a convention, it made me shed tears that I was trying to fight back because I had lost my cat to death years ago and I didn't want other people to see me shed tears. I voted for the video, and to my bittersweet joy, it won.
It makes me cry, because I know the details of my birth and early life. My mother was admitted to hospital septic and dying. It was apparent that I would also die, so an emergency cesarean delivery ushered me into the world. My mother fought for her life, and didn't see me for 2 weeks. As it turned out, my father hadn't visited either of us. He had no desire to visit a dying wife. I was not important enough to visit. The nursery nurses rocked me to sleep. I hoped that they sang to me, but I don't know that they did. I hope that they were kind. I was a soul in limbo. If my mother didn't survive, I'd have no home. She lived. The damage was done, though. My dad never accepted me. Life was really hard. My mother loved me so much. I loved her. When she passed, my heart was shattered. Dad had 3 children from 3 wives. One is developmentally disabled. One has overwhelming family responsibilities. I didn't move away. I stayed local to help. I cared for my mother when she was dying. My sisters live far away. My dad resisted assistance. Then one day, he realized that someone might have to help him. He hired a lawyer to draw up papers. It turned out that the unwanted daughter, who endured abuse (from him) for the majority of his life, was the one he needed the most. He told my oldest son, "I didn't feel related to your mother until she was an adult." My son asked me, "How the FUCK did you turn out normal?" I had no answer. I wasn't normal. I had no one to turn to when I suffered a sexual assault at age 9. I found the whole "daddy's girl" thing confusing. My dad made fucking clear that I wasn't special or loved. I withdrew from life at a young age, and buried myself in books. I applied to college on my own. I worked two and three jobs to pay tuition. I completed two paid internships while carrying a full load at university. I graduated with honors, even though I was working two jobs. My dad pooh poohed that shit. He minimized it. He told my niece that I had flunked out of high school. I graduated from high school with honors. He told lies to family to make me look bad. He grew old. The daughter he exalted didn't visit. Another daughter moved away. I stayed behind. My career took me a facility that needed an excellent OR nurse. I flourished. Dad felt good that he had appointed me POA. It isn't lost on me that the daughter he wanted the least is the same daughter who he trusts the most. Sometimes that happens. #lovethebabies
Well that wrecked me this morning as I miss the person who left me behind. It's funny how the very greatest works of music can convey emotion without words. Even a piece like this written in song form, just the melody and harmony, along with your beautiful essay, have moved me to tears. Sincere thanks, Barnaby. Outstanding work.
Everything about this is like a breakup. It’s amazing and it’s showing you can get through things even when you’re hurt you can find someone who fixes it. And the final verses where she says she holds her and loves her like she USED to do is true.
It was truly a miracle that I stumbled onto this video when I did, at the beginning of this year. I had been driving with my father to a get together with some family friends we hadn't seen in a few years do to the pandemic and on the way I was playing another one of your videos I had so luckily discovered. I thought that since my father and I both love music and share a deep connection because of it, he would enjoy your analysis as much as I had and it would be something to enjoy together while on the long drive. Little did I know that the next video to be recommended would be this one and not only is it my father's absolute favorite Pixar song... and being in the emotional state that this song puts us in... neither of us were expecting the words you spoke at 8:47. I say it's a miracle I found this video when I did, because on November 7, 2022, I lost my mother to cancer... and my father lost his wife, his soulmate of almost 33 years... we just... couldn't believe what we had heard, and simply wept as memories played behind our eyes. The love that this song invokes, make me truly believe in the words of Robin Williams's character 'Wizard' from my favorite movie 'August Rush'. "Music is harmonic connection between all living beings." I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for sharing yet another one, of those beautiful harmonic connections between all of us.
And so this incredibly moving piece of music has once again reduced me to tears, but this time it's so deeply personal, as I remember just a month ago seeing my son cuddling his much love koala toy as he lay in the funeral home. All that boyish beauty and simple love in that ragged little toy. And Randy Newman so simply expressed all this grief I cannot contain.
Gosh dang it, I watched this because it was stuck in my head and I thought "Oh, well an ANALYSIS of it should help me get it out of my head, but it won't make me C R Y or anything..." I was wrong. 😭 This was beautiful. And made me cry. Hope you're happy! 😆 No for real... Hope you're living your absolute best life. Thank you for such insightful and beautiful content I have subscribed for sure. 🥰
I loved the song from the instant I heard it. As a composer myself, I understand the emotion that chord progressions can evoke. A simple playing of a C chord followed by an Eminor leaves any sensitive person feeling 'lost in space' or 'wistful'. From a music theory view, there are two things that stand out for me. The first is root movement by semitones. Most of the song moves along folling these root movements. The melody merely flows on top of the root foundation. This is not to say the melody is trivial. It moves mostly by steps, with the occasional large skip. The second thing I enjoy is the 'bridge' where Newman struts his musical chops. He throws caution to the winds and modulates with surprising frequency. To a listener, it feels like a slap in the face. It fits with how Jesse's world was torn asunder. The mood shifts The melody becomes erratic and unpredictable. The final melodic skip to the highest note in the song (which is in the great tradition of songwriting) really works. The main takeaway from this composition is that if you write a song and hope to win an award, make sure Randy Newman has not written one that year. That's my analysis.
Yo this was so much more than a music theory analysis. Love this song. I was always blown away by that 3rd verse as it goes from simple nursery rhyme harmony to absolute musical heartbreak!
Toy Story movies were genius in there ability to capture and engage the entire family. This is scene and the accompanying song serves to cleverly hit the hearts of the kids and adults alike even though it may be for completely different reasons. For the kids this is a moment of sadness that helps us relate to Jesse. For any adult who has ever experienced the pain of being abandoned by someone they love, it hits much deeper and harder. What I remember most about watching this scene with my daughter was how she would come dry my tears when she saw me crying. To her, I was crying about Jesse, and she didn’t want me to be sad. But, of course it was much deeper than that.
This song is also clearly great at telling a story through it's music. I didn't grow up watching many films so I've never watched Toy Story and this is the first time I've heard this song. And I didn't need the lyrics to feel what it was trying to say (and I also ended up sobbing for the last two minutes of the video).
Few songs nowadays follow a clear and affecting narrative with perfectly matched music, as was common in years gone by. This is a rare, near-perfect example.
Sometimes I randomly start singing the chorus of this song. It seemingly comes out of nowhere. And I can never remember the rest of the words or even the melody. Making it almost fitting for the moment I'm in and more sad at the same. I was just thinking of this song again when I saw this video on my recommended. Love it.
Your heartfelt musical analysis and the amazing production of your videos is outstanding! I always look forward to what piece of music you decide to break down next. Thanks for the 2 for 1 deal with a wonderful lesson with a side of ugly cry from Randy Newman’s playing, Sarah MacLaughlin’s voice, and going to watch the full scene from the movie after😭
In the middle of the movie with no warning, comes the most beautiful song in any Disney or Pixar movie. It has more plays in my iTunes than any other song.
Didn't watch the analysis -- it doesn't matter. The song is everything.
Part nostalgia, part personal memories, this iconic scene from a pixar film is a masterpiece that beautifully conveys human emotions. Tom Hanks, a voice actor for the film, was reportedly crying at the scene.
As well as Tim Allen
Tom Hanks.... a voice actor for the film.
You mean Woody, as in the Main Character, played by Tom Hanks......... as in Oscar winner Tom Hanks.
Yeah, he's just some voice actor......
@@danielgoodrow2852 He shared that detail in a video and Tim Allen also said it happened
A lot of Pixar movies did this.. they also taught kids life lessons in the movies then.. Now the Disney Pixar movies are trash.
Really?? I didn't know that.
The animation with this music makes it twice as sad. When Jesse is riding in the car with an adult Emily, looking up at her with a euphoric smile and then closing her eyes in pure happiness, not realizing she's about to be abandoned... I'm a fifty year old man and I sob every time I see it.
Who is chopping onions in here, no YOU are crying!
"I'm saturated." This is the most apt description of this song that I've ever heard.
I used to skip the scene when I was a kid because I was so ashamed of crying, but nowadays, I always watch this scene and I always shed a tear.
This song is so compelling! I totally agree that it moves me to tears every time! I remember rediscovering it about three years ago when I was learning Disney songs for my repertoire. I used to pair it with “You’ve got a friend in me” during my solo set!
It is - you should definitely do an analysis of something like ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ on your channel. I’d love to hear your breakdown.
Listening In interesting idea! I’ll added it to the list!
@Listening In - Amazing analysis (as usual). Would be interesting to do a corresponding analysis of Married Life from Pixar's Up where the song moves through the ups and downs of a happy life towards (spoiler alert) Ellie's death
@@nathansinclair9019 He already has made that analysis, but of the broader themes that song represents over the whole movie. It's among Barnaby's first video essays
It's pixar, actually, but their themes are more memorable, imho
"When somebody loved me everything was beautiful" is the closest you can get to an actual human truth. You don't want your music to cloud it, nor could you add anything meaningful. Say just that in words and melody and that's it.
Oh Pixar, every damn time you do this and every damn time we come back just for that.
4:20
It's not clean, it's not perfect, it's just the right amount of imperfection.
How everyone should want to be on this planet.
I came here to learn something about music.. I left crying like a little kid who lost his puppy ... unreal! This isn’t fair!
I had to mentally brace to watch this one
me too
i don’t really understand music theory, but still I very enjoy your analysis
I lost my black cat suddenly as a kid. She was taken to vets while I was at high school, as a check up to her sneezing. She was put under anaesthesia to check her nose. It wasn’t worth waking her up again due to the cancer.
That morning she crawled into my lap, looked up at me, and put her head down. It was unusual but I put her back down and headed off to school.
She had said goodbye and I didn’t even know.
Im 36 now and this song will always bring me to the strongest flowing tears.
I lost my best friend that day. When she was happy, so was I.
Since the first time I've seen Toy Story 2, this had always been sad. But as I age and the more I understand the meaning of the song, the more it hurts.
When I sing this I can get through the beginning and middle and when I get into the end I start getting all choked up and have to stop singing and I never understood why. The “lonely and forgotten” part is what always gets me
Randy Newman might be one of the most underrated songwriters of all time.
This song's discordant notes feels like when you start to speak, but choke on your words. It feels like when your words broke as you became too filled with emotion to speak properly. This song is essentially the musical emotions of Jessie telling Woody about Emily, and the use of discordant notes is so brilliant that it makes me cry. Simplicity is never a bad thing.
Beautiful and insightful comment.
Randy Newman is a song writing genius, underappreciated and misunderstood by many, he's a treasure that deserves more praise
Randy is literally weeping as he sings his own song, and you can hear it clearly. It is transcendent, even for the composer.
‘I Will Go Sailing No More’ from Toy Story makes me cry as well.
I've never cried in a video essay until now
What moves me in this scene (and what already moved me as a child) is that the child grows up irremediably but the toy does not. The toy, which does not evolve, does not understand why the child evolves and watches helplessly the child leaving childhood forever. I don't think it's a sad scene for the toy but for the child who loses, forgets his childhood and his ability to bring the toy to life.
I think this is the main theme of the Toy Story films.
Wow. This is absolutely captivating and really really well done. I occasionally (not often, but occasionally) cry when listening to really good music, maybe because it's really sad and I'm feeling down, or maybe it's just the tears of joy when listening to a piece of music and not being able to understand how something can just simply be that good, or how something abstract and not visible can make me feel something so strong. That's all about listening to music, though. I never cry whilst watching videos about music, but this is the fourth musical analysis video of yours that I've cried at the end of (after Interstellar, Inception, and Home Is). I don't know what it is about these videos, and I'm not generally a very emotive person, so it strikes me as quite surprising that a video talking about music can have such a great emotional effect on me and likely others as well. Thank you for all that you do, your videos are amazing and you are awesome. Keep up the stupendous work
Jason - this is such a lovely comment. This is why I create these videos - for people like you. I find that certain music, like this, like Vaughan Williams, Symphony 5, just make me cry, and it's usually because I associate them with moments in my life. I just want to share how strongly I feel about all of this music, and I'm so glad it's able to reach so many people.
Yep. I cried in the Pas de Deux one
@@ListeningIn Ever listened to Goodbye May Seem Forever from The Fox and the Hound? I think that you would love it. And analyze it very well also. 😊
I only cry to music that I find captivating, and I believe that reaction comes from how beautiful a piece is to me. The experience is overwhelming, and causes the reaction of so many emotions coming over.
I'm so happy that we have art, and how personal the experience of art is to everyone of us.
I'm finding myself surprised at my emotional response to a video talking about emotional music too. I wonder if it's something to do with someone telling you it's okay to feel emotional for these scores and films, affirming that what you feel is what the song was trying to convey, and as such you let yourself 'feel' more openly? Either way, I love these videos. I've just finished watching the 3 part series on the lord of the rings analysis.
Don't even get me started about the first five minutes of Up, or the bit at the end of Inside Out where the two lead emotions work things out....I'm a mess every time!
When I first heard this song in the movie, I was a kid and didn't understand much about the song except for what it is on the surface. Now as an adult, listening to it again moved me to tears. This piece is one of my favourite soundtracks from Disney's.
don’t ask me why but seeing jessie’s stuff get replaced used to give me a feeling in my stomach like when your nervous or something
I deeply miss when Pixar was about telling moving and brilliant stories. We all lost something when they decided to leave that behind for other priorities...
Who knew that a theory breakdown of chords could have me bawling my eyes out...
I’m like you sir, have had this song stuck in my head. This song still makes me emotional, and I’m a grown man. In fact, I’m almost crying typing this comment.
In addition to all that has been about this song from an emotional perspective, it is worth noting how brilliantly composed it is. Not only secondary dominants but also chromatically moving basslines in that bridge section. I feel as though any songwriter can benefit from studying this song and working out how those chord changes work over what is ostensibly very simple lyrics.
When I was 4 I cried because I felt sad for Jessie
At 27 I cry because I know exactly how she feels
This is the rare chance when I'm early enough to see an empty comment section- thanks for another video! I really enjoy your analyses, and as a big Toy Story fan, this one is just extra special x
How does this channel not have 1 million subscribers? How does this video have fewer than 6,000 views? Please don’t stop making such beautiful, well-crafted and thoughtful content.
Unfortunately, it may be due to a) people think Pixar movies (or they Toy Story series) are just for kids, and b) they leave the video before the wonderful commentary, as it gets pretty heavy into music theory - too heavy for most.
Indeed!
From the time I started following this channel it has already grown quite a lot. I am sure he will get to 1M subscribers in near future.
I'm in my 50's and every time we play this movie and this song comes on I am driven to tears every time. It's one of the most human truth telling songs ever.
This was one of the songs that still gives me a sense of comfort but also give so much heart and emotion in anything I've seen in a Pixar movie. I'll still sing it to myself even as an adult and I still tear up.
The reason is, because it's not really a song about a toy. It's a song about "when she loved me".
This scene wrecks me every time and I’m very glad to know I’m not the only one
This scene still effects me as a full-grown adult now. The feeling of always being replaceable by those you think to love the most..
the beautiful "blackbird" (beatles) by john batiste where he basically improvs on this exact base progression is so incredible.
I blub every time. I think for me it mostly comes from the emotion most people have about mourning the loss of childhood. 😭 and theres something in the pacing of the music and the pauses that’s heartbreaking.
I'm in tears throughout this video 🥲
Back when pixar made genuine heart-warming movies
My goodness that last monologue was one of the best I've heard in years.
Wow!! One after another, how is it that you are talking about things I have loved over the years? We would be very good friends.
I’ve been crying over this song at the fear of losing the most beautiful girl I’ve ever known! 😭
This was beautiful. Why did even a musical breakdown of the song make me cry? The way you presented it was like a personal journey, so full of emotion.
Thank you.
When I first heard this song as a child, I couldn't quite understand how Jesse felt, but as the years went by and I lost my mother and my fiancé, I began to truly understand this song, and I like to believe that randy Newman wrote the song feeling similar emotions.
You always thank us for watching, no sir, thank YOU for posting.
You really are a beautiful human being inside and out. Don't lose that. Don't ever lose that. Shalom.
I hadn’t seen the movie in a long time but recently watched it with my 2.5 year old son. He’s not old enough to really understand what’s happening but during the song and montage, he started sniffling and asked if she’s ok. It affected me too but it’s the first time he’s really had an emotional response like that. I’m sure it was the music, more than anything that made him feel sad and empathy for the character.
God, Barnaby- I just love your work! This video had me choked up from start to finish. Randy does that a lot. In particular, the songs “She Chose Me” and “Losing You” always make me cry.
Wow - thank you so much, Brian. I love Newman's songs. I even find the upbeat ones emotional. I love 'Losing You' so much...
this guy is talking about cherishing every moment while im here watching most of my youtube at 2x speed because there isn't time enough between work and other crap. that almost made me cry.
Told myself I wouldn't cry.... Too late I cried
After that explanation at the end, I cried. I haven't cried that hard in years. It wasn't a sad or happy cry, just a release of emotions I felt like I had been holding in for YEARS. Thank you for that. 😭❤️
“I’ll always be grateful” This was just perfect. Gracias.
Mahler's 5th, 4th movement is a clear influence.
"It's not perfect. It's the right amount of imperfection". This one got me, brother hahaha
This is million subscriber quality content without the million subs.
You’re going to blow up, I’m calling it now.
67.8k subs / 7.3k views / 4/26/21
It has no words but for some reason "Beverly" from IT chapter 1 makes me feel so full of emotion. It honestly makes me feel like similar to the film that its like the final sunset of the Summer of Childhood before life speeds up and there never again is that moment nor will be again. Also I'm probably more emotional right now due to grief, my Grandmother passed only two weeks ago now. But tbh I've always felt this way for certain musical pieces.
I enjoy the seemingly simple, evocative music of Randy Newman, and was doing just fine through the video until your VoiceOver at the end made me cry. You have a knack not only for explaining music in a way that a non-music major understands, but also for speaking the words that I feel when I hear that evocative music. Now I'm off to get a tissue...
Just hearing the piano in the background in the opening gave me goosebumps. I haven't heard this song in such a long time, I had no idea it would make me feel so emotional.
I just went to go listen to the original again. I can't believe it made me cry for real
Why is this video so hard to watch I keep feeling like crying
That was a beautiful video. Not just because of the music, but everything. Especially how you ended it was wonderful. Every bit of the song you explained made me appreciate the piece even better. Thank you :)
Strange at it may seem 'When she loved me' evokes a familiar counterpoint to those feelings evoked by 'Clair de Lune'. The latter, loss for love I have never known. The former, the pain of realisation that a love was never real. It also makes me cry...
...which makes this a devil to sing, but one of my better performances when I keep it together.
This song is pure musical and songwriting GENIUS!
Chills at 9:10 when the author goes deep. I really appreciate your thoughtful introspection of this wonderful song.
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And he's right. I didn't realise that's why we relive those moments in our memory...it's because they're so clear.
The power of Randy Newman, to be so apparently simple yet to express the deepest and most poignant emotion. Also the genius of Pixar to understand the fit between the story, the songwriter and the song. So moving.
I often sing this to my old rescue cat. Its our little lullaby....
Wow. That is the first time I have ever thought a RUclips video deserves an Oscar. Incredible, moving and accurate. Thank you so much.
I don't know how Sarah sang this song without crying
just spent the last 2 hours crying to your videos. Thank you.
Newman was a perfect choice by Pixar to lend that humanness & conenction to this new way of making movies. Not only the perfect choice as composer and lyricist but hands down the king!
Always been a fan of Newman, I still say his score for the movie Ragtime is one of my most favorite of his.The range he had to dabble in with that movie.....what a challenge and so well done.
I'm nearly 50 but part of me still thinks my toys all come alive at night. I have nearly all my childhood soft toys, I will never let them go. Seeing a much loved toy discarded like that always makes me cry and this song had me in bits. I see so many worn and well loved teddies in charity shops and just want to rescue them all 😭😭
That was my mentality as a kid. To “rescue” them. When I outgrew them, that transitioned to helping kids in volunteer centers. Now as an adult, I recherished my childhood toys but swore to myself that I can never “adopt” more. My heart can only take so much. I had to throw away some childhood toys due to mold leakage. It was saying goodbye to memories-like-no-other forever and it was a grieving process. Less is more has been my approach since. I’m glad for these toys. It taught me how to treat and not abandon others but I have a limited emotional capacity for that.
I saw a picture with a caption that said “No matter how good you are, you can always be replaced” It had an image of a giant teddy bear inside a car as a gift and the second picture was of the same teddy in the back of a dump truck, aged and worn out. Its eyes even look incredibly sad. It makes me sad as well because even though toys aren’t alive, they still carry memories. Memories that can only be accessed by a single touch of a hand. Giving toys away without handing them down to the next owner with love and kindness and instead just dumping them as if they were unloved and unwanted things always made me cry. I’m 21 years old and I still have my vast collection of Transformers dating back to 2009. As time went on and I got older I either lost a few figures or had to replace them. As strange as it may seem my collection is going to be part of me forever and I just can’t stomach the thought of giving my toys away as if I never loved them. My plan for them is to hand them down to the next generation. Perhaps when one of my nephews is old enough, he’ll inherit my collection and love and appreciate it as I have.
When I saw an AMV with that song that featured a cat and her owner, of which it screened at a convention, it made me shed tears that I was trying to fight back because I had lost my cat to death years ago and I didn't want other people to see me shed tears. I voted for the video, and to my bittersweet joy, it won.
It's been so long since I last watched this movie, and yet, wow, I didn't realize how much of that song I remembered. It definitely stuck with me.
this video need more viewers, it would definitely make millions of audiences moved
Before this, I only knew Randy Newman for writing the Monk theme. This gave me tears and a newfound respect for Newman :)
It makes me cry, because I know the details of my birth and early life. My mother was admitted to hospital septic and dying. It was apparent that I would also die, so an emergency cesarean delivery ushered me into the world. My mother fought for her life, and didn't see me for 2 weeks. As it turned out, my father hadn't visited either of us. He had no desire to visit a dying wife. I was not important enough to visit. The nursery nurses rocked me to sleep. I hoped that they sang to me, but I don't know that they did. I hope that they were kind. I was a soul in limbo. If my mother didn't survive, I'd have no home. She lived. The damage was done, though. My dad never accepted me. Life was really hard. My mother loved me so much. I loved her. When she passed, my heart was shattered. Dad had 3 children from 3 wives. One is developmentally disabled. One has overwhelming family responsibilities. I didn't move away. I stayed local to help. I cared for my mother when she was dying. My sisters live far away. My dad resisted assistance. Then one day, he realized that someone might have to help him. He hired a lawyer to draw up papers.
It turned out that the unwanted daughter, who endured abuse (from him) for the majority of his life, was the one he needed the most. He told my oldest son, "I didn't feel related to your mother until she was an adult." My son asked me, "How the FUCK did you turn out normal?"
I had no answer. I wasn't normal. I had no one to turn to when I suffered a sexual assault at age 9. I found the whole "daddy's girl" thing confusing. My dad made fucking clear that I wasn't special or loved. I withdrew from life at a young age, and buried myself in books. I applied to college on my own. I worked two and three jobs to pay tuition. I completed two paid internships while carrying a full load at university. I graduated with honors, even though I was working two jobs. My dad pooh poohed that shit. He minimized it. He told my niece that I had flunked out of high school. I graduated from high school with honors. He told lies to family to make me look bad.
He grew old. The daughter he exalted didn't visit. Another daughter moved away. I stayed behind. My career took me a facility that needed an excellent OR nurse. I flourished. Dad felt good that he had appointed me POA. It isn't lost on me that the daughter he wanted the least is the same daughter who he trusts the most.
Sometimes that happens. #lovethebabies
i can hear this guy holding tear while explaining..... i feel you bro
Somehow i am lucky enough to be a parent, and you are right, I am indeed saturated by every moment. Thank you.
Well that wrecked me this morning as I miss the person who left me behind. It's funny how the very greatest works of music can convey emotion without words. Even a piece like this written in song form, just the melody and harmony, along with your beautiful essay, have moved me to tears. Sincere thanks, Barnaby. Outstanding work.
glad i wasn’t the only thinking this song affected me this way, what a beautiful analysis!
Everything about this is like a breakup. It’s amazing and it’s showing you can get through things even when you’re hurt you can find someone who fixes it. And the final verses where she says she holds her and loves her like she USED to do is true.
It was truly a miracle that I stumbled onto this video when I did, at the beginning of this year. I had been driving with my father to a get together with some family friends we hadn't seen in a few years do to the pandemic and on the way I was playing another one of your videos I had so luckily discovered. I thought that since my father and I both love music and share a deep connection because of it, he would enjoy your analysis as much as I had and it would be something to enjoy together while on the long drive.
Little did I know that the next video to be recommended would be this one and not only is it my father's absolute favorite Pixar song... and being in the emotional state that this song puts us in... neither of us were expecting the words you spoke at 8:47.
I say it's a miracle I found this video when I did, because on November 7, 2022, I lost my mother to cancer... and my father lost his wife, his soulmate of almost 33 years... we just... couldn't believe what we had heard, and simply wept as memories played behind our eyes.
The love that this song invokes, make me truly believe in the words of Robin Williams's character 'Wizard' from my favorite movie 'August Rush'. "Music is harmonic connection between all living beings." I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for sharing yet another one, of those beautiful harmonic connections between all of us.
And so this incredibly moving piece of music has once again reduced me to tears, but this time it's so deeply personal, as I remember just a month ago seeing my son cuddling his much love koala toy as he lay in the funeral home. All that boyish beauty and simple love in that ragged little toy. And Randy Newman so simply expressed all this grief I cannot contain.
Gosh dang it, I watched this because it was stuck in my head and I thought "Oh, well an ANALYSIS of it should help me get it out of my head, but it won't make me C R Y or anything..."
I was wrong. 😭 This was beautiful. And made me cry. Hope you're happy! 😆 No for real... Hope you're living your absolute best life. Thank you for such insightful and beautiful content I have subscribed for sure. 🥰
Subscribed. Been looking for analysis like yours. Thank you
I loved the song from the instant I heard it. As a composer myself, I understand the emotion that chord progressions can evoke. A simple playing of a C chord followed by an Eminor leaves any sensitive person feeling 'lost in space' or 'wistful'.
From a music theory view, there are two things that stand out for me. The first is root movement by semitones. Most of the song moves along folling these root movements. The melody merely flows on top of the root foundation. This is not to say the melody is trivial. It moves mostly by steps, with the occasional large skip.
The second thing I enjoy is the 'bridge' where Newman struts his musical chops. He throws caution to the winds and modulates with surprising frequency. To a listener, it feels like a slap in the face. It fits with how Jesse's world was torn asunder. The mood shifts The melody becomes erratic and unpredictable. The final melodic skip to the highest note in the song (which is in the great tradition of songwriting) really works.
The main takeaway from this composition is that if you write a song and hope to win an award, make sure Randy Newman has not written one that year.
That's my analysis.
I took time to play the piece and this is very true.
Yo this was so much more than a music theory analysis. Love this song. I was always blown away by that 3rd verse as it goes from simple nursery rhyme harmony to absolute musical heartbreak!
Toy Story movies were genius in there ability to capture and engage the entire family. This is scene and the accompanying song serves to cleverly hit the hearts of the kids and adults alike even though it may be for completely different reasons. For the kids this is a moment of sadness that helps us relate to Jesse. For any adult who has ever experienced the pain of being abandoned by someone they love, it hits much deeper and harder.
What I remember most about watching this scene with my daughter was how she would come dry my tears when she saw me crying. To her, I was crying about Jesse, and she didn’t want me to be sad. But, of course it was much deeper than that.
I immediately went away to listen to it in full after the video. Seen TS2 so many times, but never thought how perfect the music is until now.
OMG such a bombardment of strong emotions...
This song is also clearly great at telling a story through it's music. I didn't grow up watching many films so I've never watched Toy Story and this is the first time I've heard this song. And I didn't need the lyrics to feel what it was trying to say (and I also ended up sobbing for the last two minutes of the video).
Randy's Awakenings score always rips out my heart
This song relates to everyone in so many different ways
Few songs nowadays follow a clear and affecting narrative with perfectly matched music, as was common in years gone by. This is a rare, near-perfect example.
You made my cry. Hands down the best music related channel on RUclips. Just listening to you speak with such passion for the music is inspiring to me.
Found your channel through your Sondheim video. My man, you got me in tears.
Thank you.
This song never fails to make me cry
you made me cry
dude i always thought there were no words but you are finding them!!
Welp crying now thanks
Sometimes I randomly start singing the chorus of this song. It seemingly comes out of nowhere. And I can never remember the rest of the words or even the melody. Making it almost fitting for the moment I'm in and more sad at the same. I was just thinking of this song again when I saw this video on my recommended. Love it.
Your heartfelt musical analysis and the amazing production of your videos is outstanding! I always look forward to what piece of music you decide to break down next. Thanks for the 2 for 1 deal with a wonderful lesson with a side of ugly cry from Randy Newman’s playing, Sarah MacLaughlin’s voice, and going to watch the full scene from the movie after😭