Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waiting for me
My lover stands on golden sands
And watches the ships that go sailing

Somewhere beyond the sea
She’s there watching for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms I’d go sailing

~Robbie Williams performing “Beyond the Sea”, Finding Nemo (2003)

For the film, Finding Nemo Andrew Stanton pitched his idea to Pixar’s head, John Lasseter. The pitch lasted an hour with the use of visual aids and character voices to create the biggest impact possible. When asked what he thought of the idea, Lasseter simply replied, “You had me at ‘fish.'”

Finding Nemo’s Soundtrack

When I chose to write about Finding Nemo, I had no idea what song to choose. Mainly because Finding Nemo wasn’t a movie with a prominent soundtrack. What I mean is that the quotes are what you think of first not the music. This is probably because most of the soundtrack is simply musical scores, not lyrical music. In fact, there are only three lyrical songs in the whole film; “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” by Darla played by LuLu Ebeling, “Just Keep Swimming” by Dory played by Ellen DeGeneres, and finally “Beyond the Sea” performed by Robbie Williams.

Despite not being used for a lot of Disney karaoke events, Thomas Newman has composed a beautiful score loved by fans. The score of the film received a nomination for the 76th Academy Awards for Best Original Score losing against  Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I can’t argue with that choice as it’s a film series I eventually will be covering (Yes, pun intended). 

The music we’ll look at is one of the few lyrical songs in the film; “Beyond the Sea” which is used in the ending credits. This song was originally by Jack Lawrence, with music taken from the song “La Mer” by Charles Trenet. From there countless musicians have covered the original song including Django Reinhardt, James Melton, The Sandpipers, and of course Bobby Darin, who became the best-known artist for this song as his version top numerous charts in the ’60s. These include No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 15 on the US R&B Chart, and No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart. 

In 2001, Robbie Williams released his version of “Beyond the Sea” on his album Swing When You’re Winning. Two years later and this version is used in the film “Finding Nemo”.

 

Finding Nemo Cover Songs

Without further ado, here are our highlighted Disney covers for your listening entertainment.

As the film itself is mostly scores that add to the film without lyrics, an instrumental cover seems fitting. Together Kezia Karran and her friend Felicia Janice provide a beautifully energetic cover.

With an impressive amount of instruments, Riz Ramadhan performs “Beyond the Sea” with his violin, viola, cello, and harp. Together, they blend beautifully into this instrumental cover.

This cover of “Beyond the Sea” by Kina Grannis is lullaby soft and endlessly beautiful. Her vocals complement the subtle instrumental perfectly in this cover.

With a Ukelele in his hands and a tune on his tongue, Josef Pitura-Riley has produced a warm and energetic cover of “Beyond the Sea”. This swing style ukelele cover is a fantastic tribute. Not to mention, the background shows a beautiful ocean scape. Some may even say Josef is just beyond the sea (That pun was painfully intended).

Bringing an electric big band style to the Disney outro song is Electra Music. Their sound is hopping, making you want to get up and dance!

Let me know what you think of these Fishy Tunes.

And remember Just Keep Swimming!