What is the name of the first song in the film?

The first song in Beauty and the Beast is “Belle.”

“Belle” is the film’s opening musical number after the brief enchanted-castle prologue. Belle walks through her provincial French village while townspeople comment on her unusual reading habits and independent personality. The sequence introduces Belle’s longing for a larger life and establishes her conflict with Gaston.

Written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, the song uses an operetta-like structure with several interlocking vocal parts. Its bustling ensemble arrangement makes the village feel busy and repetitive, while Belle’s lines show that she feels out of place there.

“Belle” is often confused with “Beauty and the Beast,” the title song performed later by Mrs. Potts, or “Be Our Guest,” the spectacular dinner number at the castle. “Gaston” also occurs later, after Gaston’s failed proposal and Belle’s rejection. The opening number was significant enough to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song alongside “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast.”