| "The Madness of King Scar" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Heather Headley, Geoff Hoyle, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Stanley Wayne Mathis, Kevin Cahoon and John Vickery | |
| from the album The Lion King: Original Broadway Cast Recording | |
| Released | 1 January 1997 |
| Length | 5:27 |
| Label | Walt Disney |
| Composer(s) | Elton John |
| Lyricist(s) | Tim Rice |
| Producer(s) |
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"The Madness of King Scar" is a song written by English musician Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, which premiered in the musical The Lion King, a stage adaptation of Disney's 1994 animated feature film of the same name. "The Madness of King Scar" had been added to the musical along with two other songs. It is one of two tracks that more prominently features vocals from the character Nala. The title is a reference to the 1994 film The Madness of King George.
Opening the musical's second act, "The Madness of King Scar" primarily consists of dialogue between Scar, Nala, Zazu, and the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed following Scar's rise to power due to his brother Mufasa's death. The lyrics revolve around Scar's paranoia, specifically his anxiety on the comparisons between himself and Mufasa, and his plan to produce an heir for his kingdom with Nala. Scholars had various interpretations of the song's lyrics and composition, who felt it used stream-of-consciousness to portray Scar as a Shakespearean character or interpreted the instrumental as a tango underscoring Scar's behaviour towards Nala. For later productions of the musical, "The Madness of King Scar" was made shorter in length, before it was removed completely. Despite this, the song was included on the cast album for the original production, with John Vickery portraying Scar. It was also put on the records for the Mexican and Madrid productions.
"The Madness of King Scar" primarily earned positive reviews from music critics, who believed it added more depth to the character of Scar. However, some commentators had more mixed to negative responses; some felt uncertain about the decision to add new material not found in the film to the musical, while others disagreed with the song's explicit content. In 2014, animator Eduardo Quintana created an animated sequence for the song for the 20th anniversary of the animated film. The video received positive reviews from media outlets, who found the animation quality to be on a professional level.