2019’s live-action rendition of Aladdin only brought one new song to the movie — Jasmine’s power ballad “Speechless” — but a new deleted scene reveals that there was another original number in the works.
“Desert Moon” is a longing love song that our star-crossed lovers Aladdin and Jasmine sing to each other whilst apart and gazing up at the same moon. Part “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail, part “Start of Something New” from High School Musical, the cloying tune isn’t quite up to par with “A Whole New World,” but it does make excessive use of the desert imagery surrounding the movie.
While “Desert Moon” was recorded and filmed, there is no indication that the best missing song from Aladdin — “Proud of Your Boy” — was ever part of the live-action movie. “Proud of Your Boy” was one of the songs originally written by Howard Ashman for the 1992 animated original, before his untimely death at the beginning of production. Though it found its way onto the Broadway show, it remains absent from the live-action. But hey! We got “Speechless” and “Desert Moon”!
The full version of “Desert Moon” is available on the Aladdin Blu-ray and DVD, available Sept. 10. The digital version is out now.
