ALADDIN - ONE JUMP AHEAD

ONE JUMP AHEAD

ALADDIN(BRADE KATE)

SONGWRITER: DISNEY(ALAN MENKEN & TIM RICE)

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: ALADDIN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

LABEL: WALT DISNEY RECORDS

GENRE: SOUNDTRACK

YEAR: 1992

"One Jump Ahead" and its reprise are two songs from the 1992 Disney animated film Aladdin. They are both performed by Aladdin(Brad Kane in the film, and Adam Jacobs in the musical).

Aladdin had a lot of rewrites during production, and many songs were cut as characters were written out of the script or as the plot was altered. At one point, the song which showed Aladdin being at his lowest point and wanting to strive for more with his life was entitled "Proud of Your Boy", and was directed at his mother who was disappointed by his life choices. After being controversially cut, another attempt was 'Count On Me' a "low-key "I want" song" for Aladdin. Eventually the song 'One Jump Ahead' and its reprise were chosen.

"One Jump Ahead" and "A Whole New World" were written by Alan Menken and Tim Rice for Aladdin after Howard Ashman died in March 1991. Ashman and Menken had originally written a series of musical numbers, many of which were cut. The Cinema Scene explains "Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim [was] A jumpy tune that helped to inspire "One Jump Ahead" in the final film".

[Aladdin:] Gotta keep

One jump ahead of the breadline

One swing ahead of the sword

I steal only what I can't afford

(That's everything!)

One jump ahead of the lawmen

That's all, and that's no joke

These guys don't appreciate I'm broke

[Crowd:] Riffraff! Street rat! Soundrel! Take that!

[Aladdin:] Just a little snack, guys

[Crowd:] Rip him open, take it back, guys

[Aladdin:] I can take a hint, gotta face the facts

You're my only friend, Abu!

[Crowd:] Who?

Oh it's that Aladdin's hit the bottom.

He's become a one-man rise in crime

I'd blame parents except he hasn't got 'em

[Aladdin:] Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat

Tell you all about it when I got the time!

One jump ahead of the slowpokes

One skip ahead of my doom

Next time gonna use a nom de plume

One jump ahead of the hitmen

One hit ahead of the flock

I think I'll take a stroll around the block

[Crowd:] Stop, thief! Vandal! Outrage! Scandal!

[Aladdin:] Let's not be too hasty

[Lady:] Still I think he's rather tasty

[Aladdin:] Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat

Otherwise we'd get along

[Crowd:] Wrong!

[Aladdin:] One jump ahead of the hoofbeats

(Vandal!)

One hop ahead of the hump

(Street rat!)

One trick ahead of disaster

(Scoundrel!)

They're quick, but I'm much faster

(Take that!)

Here goes, better throw my hand in

Wish me happy landin'

All I gotta do is jump.