We did that in a beastly cartoon, it was a beauty

[minor muppetz]

During the "Life Hereafter" song in Muppets Haunted Mansion, at one point they make a reference to Beauty and the Beast.

One rat sings "we ain't rich and he can't groove" (and I kept having trouble understanding that line), and then another says "we did that in a beastly cartoon", to which the human lead says "it was a beauty".

Obviously, they are referencing Beauty and the Beast.... But what was it that led to this line? I can't really find anything there that would have to do with the movie (except maybe a floating candelabra).

 

[Oscarfan]

During the "Life Hereafter" song in Muppets Haunted Mansion, at one point they make a reference to Beauty and the Beast.

One rat sings "we ain't rich and he can't groove" (and I kept having trouble understanding that line), and then another says "we did that in a beastly cartoon", to which the human lead says "it was a beauty".

Obviously, they are referencing Beauty and the Beast.... But what was it that led to this line? I can't really find anything there that would have to do with the movie (except maybe a floating candelabra).

The line is referring to the floating candelabra - "But he ain't French and he can't croon."

 

[The Count]

Actually... The references start off from the line (s) sung by The Great McGuffin:
"If this is too macabre.
Just follow the floating candelabra."
(Which is a reference to the floating candelabra gag from Disney's The Haunted Mansion attraction).

Then the unnamed rat sings:
"But he ain't French, and he can't croon" as a give at Lumiere.
Then Yolanda says: "We did that in a beastly cartoon."
To which McGuffin replies with: "She was a beauty!"

Further references to Beauty and The Beast come later during the part where we have...
Fozzie: "I tell jokes."
Bobo: "I do tricks."
Crazy Harry: "With my deathly candlesticks" as a nod to the line "With my fellow candlesticks."

Hope this helps.

 

[minor muppetz]

I was reading on the wiki that the song was originally going to be called "be Our Ghost" and left in some references and I had trouble placing any.

Still, seriously? "We did that in a beastly cartoon?", as in rats did that in Beauty and the Beast?

Don't really know what a "croon" means.

 

[The Count]

Er...
Croon = to sing, you know, how like Floyd Pepper's Muppeticon here is exactly that.

No, rats didn't perform the act singing in a "beastly cartoon" as Yolanda says. It's a reference/euphemism as to how Walt Disney Pictures/Animated Studios already made a "cartoon" or animated feature film where they had a French singing candelabra, namely Lumiere from Beauty and The Beast.

Although there were rats who were the main characters in other Disney animated films who sang, particularly Professor Padreik Rattigan (Vincent Price) in The Great Mouse Detective, but Yolanda's quip regards Beauty and The Beast as stated above.