Musical Montage: Sting “My Funny Friend and Me”
While it’s a beloved Disney cult classic today, The Emperor’s New Groove went through an extremely tumultuous production, especially when it came to its collaboration with music legend Sting. Sting signed on to the original version of the movie, Kingdom of the Sun, which was going to be more of a traditional Disney musical with several songs included throughout the film, most co-written by Sting with David Hartley. As the movie’s tone and plot shifted from more dramatic to the sarcastic, slapstick comedy that became The Emperor’s New Groove, most of the songs were cut from the film, with only “Perfect World” by Tom Jones and “My Funny Friend and Me” by Sting left in the movie. In a great indicator of how messy the production was, the movie abruptly cuts from a reprise of “Perfect World” and the movie’s light-hearted ending to “My Funny Friend and Me” for the credits, which is complete tonal whiplash. The song was released as a single and reached #24 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001 but lost to “Things Have Changed” by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys. Sting’s entire experience working on the movie was documented by Sting’s wife and documentarian Trudie Styler in a movie called The Sweatbox, which got an edited, Disney-approved version released on the Emperor’s New Groove DVD but has not received a true, unedited release. You can check out the music video for “My Funny Friend and Me” below.
The Emperor’s New Groove / Kronk’s New Groove (Three-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray / DVD]