Days in the Sun

File:Alan Menken 2013 (cropped).jpg (pictured in 2013) developed "Days in the Sun" with Tim Rice when discussing the possibility of a Beauty and the Beast live-action adaptation.|alt=An image of Alan Menkin speaking into a microphone.]]

In 2007, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Tim Rice developed the concept for "Days in the Sun" during early discussions about a possible live-action adaptation of Disney's 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. They wrote it during a meeting in London where Menken attended the West End opening for his musical Sister Act. Menken described the song as a lullaby that explores Belle, Beast, and his servants' memories of earlier parts of their lives; Rice approved of the idea as a way of expanding the characters' backgrounds and emphasizing their emotional connection with the audience. When describing his creative process, Menken said he prefers to conduct collaborations in-person; he said: "I prefer to write face to face in the room, I want the feedback, where’s the title, the exposition, the architecture of the song."{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7728552/alan-menken-new-music-beauty-and-the-beast-movie-interview|title=Composer Alan Menken Talks Creating New Music for 'Beauty And The Beast' and Coaching Stars Emma Watson and Dan Stevens|last=Newman|first=Melinda|date=March 17, 2017|magazine=Billboard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517202029/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7728552/alan-menken-new-music-beauty-and-the-beast-movie-interview|archive-date=May 17, 2017|url-status=live}} Menken produced the song while collaborating with Rice on the songwriting.{{cite web|url=https://www.sheetmusicdirect.us/sheetmusic/song/1000272732/days-in-the-sun?redirect=1|title=Days In The Sun|publisher=Sheet Music Direct|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031215503/https://www.sheetmusicdirect.us/sheetmusic/song/1000272732/days-in-the-sun?redirect=1|archive-date=October 31, 2017|url-status=live}}

"Days in the Sun" is one of four songs introduced in the 2017 live-action adaptation Beauty and the Beast; the others are "Evermore", "Aria", and "How Does a Moment Last Forever".{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-beauty-and-the-beast-review-20170313-column.html|title='Beauty and the Beast' review: Animated Disney musical's charms lost in translation|last=Phillips|first=Michael|date=March 14, 2017|work=Chicago Tribune|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170910202954/http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-beauty-and-the-beast-review-20170313-column.html|archive-date=September 10, 2017|url-status=live}} Menken said he only wanted to create more material for the remake if "it fe[lt] organic to the medium".{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/beauty-beast-new-songs-composer-alan-menken-lost-lyrics-gay-character-985602|title='Beauty and the Beast' Composer Alan Menken on Rediscovering Lost Lyrics and Why He's "Shutting Up" About That Gay Character|last=Lee|first=Ashley|date=March 14, 2017|work=The Hollywood Reporter|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170910111145/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/beauty-beast-new-songs-composer-alan-menken-lost-lyrics-gay-character-985602|archive-date=September 10, 2017|url-status=live}} David Hoberman, who produced the 2017 film, thought "Days in the Sun" would earn Menken his ninth Academy Award for Best Original Song.{{cite magazine|url=http://ew.com/article/2016/11/07/beauty-and-beast-songs-alan-menken/|title=An exclusive guide to the new songs in Disney's Beauty and the Beast|last=Collis|first=Clark|date=November 7, 2016|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318190834/http://ew.com/article/2016/11/07/beauty-and-beast-songs-alan-menken/|archive-date=March 18, 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/disney-beauty-and-the-beast-three-new-songs-live-action-remake-emma-watson-a7405016.html|title=Beauty and the Beast live-action remake will feature three new songs|last=Loughrey|first=Clarisse|date=November 8, 2016|work=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204170230/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/disney-beauty-and-the-beast-three-new-songs-live-action-remake-emma-watson-a7405016.html|archive-date=February 4, 2017|url-status=live}}

A preview of "Days in the Sun" was released on February 17, 2017, along with a portion of Emma Thompson's performance of the 1991 song "Beauty and the Beast".{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/FIRST-LISTEN-New-BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST-Song-Days-in-the-Sun-Emma-Thompson-Performs-Title-Song-20170217|title=First Listen: New Beauty and the Beast Song 'Days in the Sun' + Emma Thompson Performs Title Song|date=February 17, 2017|publisher=Broadwayworld.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226234835/http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/FIRST-LISTEN-New-BEAUTY-AND-THE-BEAST-Song-Days-in-the-Sun-Emma-Thompson-Performs-Title-Song-20170217|archive-date=February 26, 2017|url-status=live}} "Days in the Sun" was considered for release as a single but director Bill Condon did not feel it "len[t] itself to the process". A version of "Evermore" performed by Josh Groban was ultimately chosen as a single. Before the film's debut and the soundtrack's release, a series of nail polishes was released; a yellow nail polish was named after the song.{{cite web|url=https://www.glamour.com/story/beauty-and-the-beast-nail-polishes|title=A 'Beauty and the Beast' Nail Polish Line Is Here (and It's Really Good)|last=Prakash|first=Neha|date=January 10, 2017|work=Glamour|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216093757/http://www.glamour.com/story/beauty-and-the-beast-nail-polishes|archive-date=February 16, 2017|url-status=live}} "Days in the Sun" was released on March 10, 2017, as a track on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack; it was made available as an audio CD and a digital download.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/beauty-and-the-beast-2017-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0003013531/releases|title=Releases|publisher=AllMusic|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120124742/https://www.allmusic.com/album/beauty-and-the-beast-2017-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-mw0003013531/releases|archive-date=January 20, 2018}} It is performed by Adam Mitchell as the young Beast, Emma Watson as Belle, and Stanley Tucci, Ewan McGregor, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson, Audra McDonald, and Clive Rowe as the Beast's enchanted servants.{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/beauty-and-the-beast-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1200584674|title=Beauty and the Beast (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)|date=March 10, 2017|publisher=iTunes|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012824/https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beauty-and-the-beast-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/id1200584674|archive-date=November 7, 2017}}

"Days in the Sun" is played three times during the film. It is first heard performed by Audra McDonald as part of a debutante ball. Director Bill Condon identified it as a lullaby the Beast's mother sang for him and said the court had chosen its most celebrated diva to appeal to the Beast.{{cite web|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/420-disney-beauty-and-the-beast-bill-condon-emma-watson-musical-1201791591/|title='Beauty and the Beast': How Bill Condon Built Hollywood's Most Expensive Musical|last=Thompson|first=Anne|date=March 14, 2017|publisher=IndieWire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801050232/http://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/420-disney-beauty-and-the-beast-bill-condon-emma-watson-musical-1201791591/|archive-date=August 1, 2017|url-status=live}}

The song, which Menken called "a combination of a lullaby and a remembrance of happier days for everybody", is performed again by Belle and the servants as they go to bed. Its opening lyrics explores the Beast's childhood. In the scene, the young Prince—before he becomes the Beast—sings "Days in the Sun" for his dying mother. The lyrics include the lines: "Days in the sun / When my life has barely begun / Not until my whole life is done / Will I ever leave you". The song progresses to his servants discussing what they miss about their lives as humans,{{cite web|url=https://www.bustle.com/p/the-new-beauty-the-beast-songs-fit-right-in-thanks-to-disney-rock-star-alan-menken-43330|title=The New 'Beauty And The Beast' Songs Fit Right In, Thanks To Disney Rock Star Alan Menken|last=Truffaut-Wong|first=Olivia|date=March 13, 2017|work=Bustle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830102926/https://www.bustle.com/p/the-new-beauty-the-beast-songs-fit-right-in-thanks-to-disney-rock-star-alan-menken-43330|archive-date=August 30, 2017|url-status=live}} and their guilt for not preventing the Beast from being spoiled and eventually cursed.{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/i-love-the-new-beauty-and-the-beast-songs.html|title=Help, I Can't Stop Listening to the Cheesy New Beauty and the Beast Songs|last=Caldwell|first=Sarah|date=April 3, 2017|publisher=Vulture.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170614014624/http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/i-love-the-new-beauty-and-the-beast-songs.html|archive-date=June 14, 2017|url-status=live}} Watson's solo contains a reference to the song "A Change in Me", which was written for the stage adaptation of the original Disney film, and its related themes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hercampus.com/school/bryn-mawr/beauty-and-beast-2017-review|title=Beauty and the Beast (2017) Review|last=Dietz|first=Grace|date=March 21, 2017|publisher=Her Campus|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702175354/http://www.hercampus.com/school/bryn-mawr/beauty-and-beast-2017-review|archive-date=July 2, 2017|url-status=live}} "Days in the Sun" was also performed as part of a Disney Dream stage production.{{cite web|url=http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/curtain-rises-on-beauty-and-the-beast-production-aboard-disney-dream.html|title=Curtain rises on 'Beauty and the Beast' production aboard Disney Dream|last=Kalosh|first=Anne|date=November 10, 2017|work=Seatrade Cruise News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407225910/http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/curtain-rises-on-beauty-and-the-beast-production-aboard-disney-dream.html|archive-date=April 7, 2018}}

"Days in the Sun" replaces the musical theatre version's song "Human Again", and various critics noted that the new addition was more melancholy in comparison. Santa Cruz Sentinel{{'}}s Bob Strauss called it "a melancholy remembrance of freer and/or more human past".{{cite web|url=http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20170316/FEATURES/170319830|title=How Disney added new songs to "Beauty and the Beast'|last=Strauss|first=Bob|date=March 16, 2017|work=Santa Cruz Sentinel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317005321/http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20170316/FEATURES/170319830|archive-date=March 17, 2017|url-status=live}} "Days in the Sun" is performed in common-time at a slow tempo of 110 beats per minute,{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajc9DgAAQBAJ&q=%22Days+in+the+Sun%22+%22Beauty+and+the+Beast%22&pg=PA12|title=Once Upon A Time… Aagin|last=Collis|first=Clark|date=2017|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|isbn=9781683307839|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031215503/https://books.google.com/books?id=ajc9DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=%22Days+in+the+Sun%22+%22Beauty+and+the+Beast%22&source=bl&ots=esmIwpy-Nw&sig=EWVM35VCs-im1p8Cf3_HvUCyv28&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpht_GjZrXAhVl3IMKHduwDAo4bhDoAQgyMAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Days%20in%20the%20Sun%22%20%22Beauty%20and%20the%20Beast%22&f=false|archive-date=October 31, 2017|url-status=live}} and composed in the key of B-flat major. Seven people perform the song, while its instrumental is provided by a guitar and a piano. One singer's vocal range spans from the low note of F₃ to the high note of G₅.{{cite web|url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0172909|title=Days in the Sun|date=17 March 2017|publisher=Musicnotes.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627081937/http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0172909|archive-date=June 27, 2017}}

{{external media

|video1= [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_2fhIJl9fI Beauty and the Beast Deleted Scene – "Days in the Sun" (2017)]
The original sequence for "Days in the Sun".}}

The Blu-ray release of the film includes another version of the song, in which the Beast's mother sings to him. In this version, a sequence showing the Beast's mother singing to her sick child would have been intercut with one of the young Beast singing to his dying mother.{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-and-the-beast-days-in-the-sun-alternate-version-2017-5?r=UK&IR=T|title=This scene from 'Beauty and the Beast' was changed because of a mistake the director made|last=Acuna|first=Kirsten|date=May 23, 2017|work=Business Insider|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031215502/http://www.businessinsider.com/beauty-and-the-beast-days-in-the-sun-alternate-version-2017-5?r=UK&IR=T|archive-date=October 31, 2017|url-status=live}} The scene and song were changed for the final version because a test audience confused the mother with Agathe.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/06/06/blu-ray-review-extras-beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-dan-stevens-disney-bill-condon-live-action/#547256d3335f|title=Blu-ray Review: 'Beauty And The Beast' Depends On Familiarity, And Its Extras Explain|last=Thompson|first=Luke Y.|date=June 6, 2017|work=Forbes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002085436/https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/06/06/blu-ray-review-extras-beauty-and-the-beast-emma-watson-dan-stevens-disney-bill-condon-live-action/#547256d3335f|archive-date=October 2, 2017|url-status=live}} In the original take, the mother was portrayed by Harriet Jones and Agathe by Hattie Morahan. Condon said the changes were a result of his "mistake". He said: "The actresses actually look very much alike, so, sadly when we did it again, even though it is once again Harriet, we had to put her in bed and with dark hair." Jones was retained in the film but Condon had the character portrayed as a brunette to avoid confusion. The actor portraying the young Beast was changed because Condon required the part to be sung.

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Critics responded positively to "Days in the Sun" for its contributions to the character development for Belle and the Beast. Estelle Tang of Elle praised the song as a "tearjerker",{{cite web|url=http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a43534/beauty-and-the-beast-biggest-differences-original-spoilers/|title=21 of the Biggest Differences in the New Live-Action Beauty and the Beast|last=Tang|first=Estelle|date=March 3, 2017|work=Elle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317022332/http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a43534/beauty-and-the-beast-biggest-differences-original-spoilers/|archive-date=March 17, 2017|url-status=live}} and Refinery29's Arianna Davis called it "cute and bubbly".{{cite web|url=http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/143622/beauty-and-the-beast-2017-movie-reviews|title=Good News: The New Beauty & The Beast Is Just As Magical As The Original|last=Davis|first=Arianna|date=March 3, 2017|work=Refinery29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319094431/http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/143622/beauty-and-the-beast-2017-movie-reviews|archive-date=March 19, 2017|url-status=live}} Keisha Hatchett of The Mary Sue commended "Days in the Sun" for revealing the similarities of Belle's and the Beast's family backgrounds. Hatchett wrote that their shared understanding of "know[ing] what it’s like to lose a mother at a young age and feel[ing] like a freak among their peers" made the characters' romance more understandable for the audience.{{cite web|url=https://www.themarysue.com/beauty-and-the-beast-review/|title=Review: Beauty and the Beast Is a Delightful Nostalgia Trip With Enhanced Feminism But Not Much Else|last=Hatchett|first=Keisha|date=March 16, 2017|publisher=The Mary Sue|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702215618/https://www.themarysue.com/beauty-and-the-beast-review/|archive-date=July 2, 2017|url-status=live}} James Croot of Stuff.co.nz praised the track for "enhanc[ing] the story and allow[ing] the Beast a bit more voice in proceedings".{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/film-reviews/90704307/beauty-and-the-beast-review--why-therell-be-tears-before-bedtime|title=Beauty and the Beast Review: Why there'll be tears before bedtime|last=Croot|first=James|date=March 22, 2017|publisher=Stuff.co.nz|access-date=October 31, 2017}}

Several critics responded negatively to "Days in the Sun". Crystal Bell cited it as her least favorite of the new additions to the 2017 adaptation. Bell described it as Watson's best vocal performance in the film, but wrote that the idea of the actress harmonizing with McDonald as laughable. She also praised Mbatha-Raw's vocals and felt the singer deserved her own solo.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/2992826/beauty-and-the-beast-live-action-songs-ranked/|title=Ranking All 14 Songs from Disney's Live-Action Beauty and the Beast|last=Bell|first=Crystal|date=March 14, 2017|publisher=MTV|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715031220/http://www.mtv.com/news/2992826/beauty-and-the-beast-live-action-songs-ranked/|archive-date=July 15, 2017|url-status=dead}} Sarah Caldwell of Vulture.com said that "Days in the Sun" and "Aria" were created primarily as excuses to provide more material for McDonald. IGN's Eric Goldman criticized "Days in the Sun" and "Evermore" as "uninspired and hard to recall after the fact".{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/03/08/beauty-and-the-beast-review|title=Beauty and the Beast Review|last=Goldman|first=Eric|date=March 7, 2017|work=IGN|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170910201509/http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/03/08/beauty-and-the-beast-review|archive-date=September 10, 2017|url-status=live}}

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Category:2017 songs

Category:Songs from Beauty and the Beast (franchise)

Category:Songs with lyrics by Tim Rice

Category:Songs with music by Alan Menken

Category:Song recordings produced by Alan Menken