"Poor Unfortunate Souls" is a song from the Walt Disney Pictures animated film The Little Mermaid. Written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and performed by Pat Carroll, "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is sung to Princess Ariel by Ursula the Sea Witch. Ursula uses the song to seduce Ariel into trading her voice for the chance to temporarily become human.
The spell incantation at the end of the song is: :Come winds of the Caspian Sea :Et Max Laryngitis A short reprise of this song is featured later in the original Disney movie being sung by Vanessa (Jodi Benson). This reprise is sometimes referred to as "Vanessa's Song". It has never been included on a sound recording from Disney, nor has it ever received any sort of official acknowledgment from the company.
Two versions of a full reprise of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" were written for the Broadway adaptation. The first version, used for the demo workshop and performed by Emily Skinner, contains lyrics implying that it is meant to be sung before Ursula transforms herself into Vanessa, with the spell incantation: :Yea, winds of the tropics appear :Et qua manicurus mutato me here!
The above demo reprise was scrapped when Ursula's temporary transformation into Vanessa was removed from the storyline of the Broadway show. It was replaced with a different reprise, sung by Ursula to King Triton to force him into taking Ariel's place in the agreement.
Carroll's original rendition of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" was included on a 1995 compilation CD of songs performed by or about various Disney villains called Rascal Songs. The CD was released as part of a four-disc Disney song series as a McDonald's promotional item.
The Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" for the Little Mermaid two-disk special special edition of the soundtrack, released on October 3, 2006 to correspond with the two-disk The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD. The Special Edition Soundtrack includes a music video for the song, where the boys are singing around a public swimming pool. This song was rumored to be on their 2nd studio album (first with Hollywood Records).
The song is also featured on Disney's On the Record along with Part of Your World, Under the Sea and Kiss the Girl of songs from The Little Mermaid.
A portion of the song is performed twice in the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Halloween-themed fireworks show HalloWishes during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
