Heidi Mollenhauer, God Help the Outcasts | Music Lifts 🎶 🏋

In the 16^th edition of Lit Music That Lifts, we’re uplifted by Heidi Mollenhauer performing, “God Help the Outcasts.”

Welcome to Lit Music That Lifts (LMTL), or Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 for short! Like its predecessor, Music Lifts seeks to highlight songs that encourage, inspire, and uplift the spirit; songs that exude fortitude, positivity, and resolve, even in the face of adversity.  Featured songs aren’t genre-specific; songs may or may not be faith-based. The goal is for these songs to make you feel better – be LIFTED to new heights!  So, for the 16^th edition of Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 (2022), we highlight 🎵 “God Help the Outcasts”  as performed by 🎙 Heidi Mollenhauer.

“I don’t know if you can hear me / Or if you’re even there / I don’t know if you would listen to a gypsy’s prayer…” When it comes to 💿 The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack, the crown jewel, arguably, is 🎵 “Heaven’s Light / Hellfire”.  Still, on one of Disney’s best soundtracks in my opinion, one of the most moving and powerful songs not named “Hellfire” is 🎵 “God Help the Outcasts”.  In the animated film, when “God Help The Outcasts” arrives, Esmerelda (🎙 Heidi Mollenhauer) claims sanctuary in the cathedral and petitions God on behalf of the outcasts and many people who have no one who seems to care about them or their lot. “Yes, I know I’m just an outcast,” she sings, later speculating, “Were you once an outcast too.”

Esmerelda’s prayer is absolutely beautiful and sincere to the n^th degree:

“God help the outcasts

Hungry from birth

Show them the mercy

They don’t find on Earth

God help my people

We look to you still

God help the outcasts

Or nobody will.”

People pray to God for various reasons.  Some thank him for all that he’s done for them, while others seek him to help solve their problems.  In this case, Esmerelda wants to see all the downtrodden raised up.  Even if she’s an outcast, she makes a point that so many people, beyond an animated film miss when they look down upon others and fail to help: “I thought we all were children of God.” That’s the way it’s supposed to be, at least.  Worth noting, 🎙 Bette Midler delivers a fabulous version on the soundtrack too. Still, the moment, within the film, is incredibly moving.

🎙 Various Artists • 💿 The Hunchback of Notre Dame • 🏷 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  • 📅 1996

Heidi Mollenhauer, “God Help the Outcasts: Music Lifts 🎶 🏋 No. 16 (2022) [📷: Arek Socha, Benjamin Balazs, Brent Faulkner, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Curb, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Ketut Subiyanto, The Musical Hype, Pexels, Pixabay, Word Entertainment]