You'll Be in My Heart

"You'll Be in My Heart" is a song by English drummer and singer Phil Collins from the 1999 Disney animated feature Tarzan. It appeared on Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack as well as various other Disney compilations. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and became Collins' last US top-40 single, peaking at number 21. A demo version with Collins playing piano and singing is featured as a bonus on the 2-DVD Special Edition of Tarzan, along with "I Will Follow", "Celebration", "6/8 Demo" and "Rhythm Piece" which became "Strangers Like Me", "Son of Man" and "Trashin' the Camp". "6/8 Demo" was not featured in the movie. The music video for the song was directed by Kevin Godley. Phil Collins also recorded the song in French ("Toujours dans mon cœur"), German ("Dir gehört mein Herz"), Italian ("Sei dentro me") and Spanish ("En mi corazón vivirás") aside from his native English. A version of the single performed by him with Glenn Close also appears on the soundtrack. Production and context Phil Collins was originally hired by Disney in 1995 as a songwriter, but was chosen because he was a drummer at first and given his history as a drummer for the rock band Genesis, Collins appealed to the Disney production crew, who "wanted a strong jungle beat to accompany Tarzan's adventures". Early into production, directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck decided not to follow Disney's musical tradition by having the characters sing and instead, Phil Collins perform the songs in the film serving as the narrator. The choice of Collins, a popular and well established adult contemporary artist, led his ability to write and record the five original songs. This "ballad" is one of the original songs he wrote for the film, and he ended up also performing this song as well. The song, originally written for his daughter Lily, who was ten years old at the time, was called "Lullaby", is used in a scene when Tarzan's adoptive gorilla mother Kala sings that her baby should stop crying because she will protect him and keep him safe and warm. She says everything will be fine and she tells him that "you will be in my heart always". The song is about "how love is a bond that cannot be broken".