We’re still recovering from the epic season finale of It: Welcome to Derry, which saw the 1962 defeat of Pennywise. And one of the most twisted parts found Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise singing a sadistic song to terrified students of Derry High School, called “Everytime We Say Goodbye.” But did you know the singing voice of Disney’s Aladdin wrote that creeptastic song? Not only that, Brad Caleb Kane, who voiced Aladdin in the 1992 animated classic, is also Welcome to Derry’s co-showrunner. Who knew?! Kane really went from Agrabah all the way to Derry. Hollywood career paths sure can be weird.
The little ditty comes at the start of the episode, in a moment that recalls another Stephen King classic, Carrie. The Carrie similarities happen when Pennywise traps the Derry High School students in the gym, as they scream to get out. This is after Pennywise murders their principal and uses his corpse as a flesh puppet. He then goes on stage and sings “When I close my eyes, and I dream of you/I see your pretty faces, and I taste them too/But my-oh-my, how I wish to cry/every time we say goodbye.”
A screaming Pennywise then unleashes the Deadlights on the petrified kids, and as they float upwards. He then hitches them all to his carnival wagon from hell, taking them into the now fog-covered town of Derry.
In the official It: Welcome to Derry podcast, creators Andy and Barbara Muschietti reveal that the song was their idea. Andy Muschietti knew that co-showrunner Brad Kane had a musical background. So he gave him the words “Every time we say goodbye,” asking him to write a song containing that phrase. Muschietti said he came back in ten minutes with the song, which he found perfect.
He said the final recording became creepier when the show’s composer created a “decomposing orchestra” sound for the music. It’s one of the show’s most disturbing moments, and it’s wild that it came from the sweet voice that once sang “A Whole New World.” It’s so sinister, in fact, we can’t help but wonder if Aladdin has just a wee bit of Jafar in him.
All of season one of It: Welcome to Derry is now streaming on HBO Max.