Les Poissons

"Les Poissons" (in French "les poissons" simply means "the fishes") is a song from the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, which is sung in the film and in The Little Mermaid Broadway show by the French character Chef Louis. Chef Louis is voiced by René Auberjonois in the film, and by John Treacy Egan in the Broadway show. The song was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman, and features Jacques Offenbach's "Can-Can".

"Les Poissons"
Song by René Auberjonois
from the album Disney's The Little Mermaid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Released	1989
Length	1:35
Label	Walt Disney Records
Composer(s)	Alan Menken
Lyricist(s)	Howard Ashman
Producer(s)	Menken Ashman Robert Kraft Ted Kryczko

Sebastian the crab (voiced by Samuel E. Wright) is trapped in a kitchen with Chef Louis who sings the song while preparing a seafood dinner for the newly human Ariel and Prince Eric. The song is on the Classic Disney Vol. 3: 60 Years of Musical Magic CD.

Both the song and character of Chef Louis do not appear in the 2023 live-action remake of the film due to the new approach given to the story to have the second half focus more on the developing romantic relationship between Ariel and Eric.^[1] Explaining its exclusion, director Rob Marshall stated: "It's literally a Saturday morning cartoon section. If we had filmed it – I don’t know how we would've filmed it –- it never would have played. It's also a vacation from the story and has nothing to do with the story, so you can't do that in a live-action film."^[2]

References

1. Perine, Aaron (2023-05-13). "The Little Mermaid: Alan Menken Explains Why "Daughters of Triton" Song Was Cut (Exclusive)". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
2. Davids, Brian (May 24, 2023). "'The Little Mermaid' Filmmakers Talk the Sea Creature Designs, Bypassing "Les Poissons" and Cutting Javier Bardem's New Song". The Hollywood Reporter.

External links

• Rene Auberjonois at IMDb
• Lyrics from StLyrics.com