Mother Knows Best (song) Mother Knows Best (song) "Mother Knows Best" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater for Walt Disney Pictures' 50th animated feature film "Tangled" (2010). Included on the film's official soundtrack, "Mother Knows Best" is a musical theatre-inspired pop and jazz ballad performed by American actress and singer Donna Murphy in her animated role as Mother Gothel, the film's villain. Incorporating a series of passive-aggressive insults into its lyrics, the song serves as Gothel's attempt to frighten Rapunzel into remaining in their secluded tower despite her constant requests to see the floating lanterns so that she
Mother Gothel grow eager to leave the tower in order to view the mysterious "floating lights" secretly – lanterns released annually by the King and Queen in remembrance of their lost daughter – from up close. While Gothel, reprimanding Rapunzel when she asks, forbids this, she agrees to Rapunzel's request to take a three-day-long journey to retrieve art supplies for Rapunzel, giving her just enough time to escape the tower, aided by a wanted thief named Flynn Rider. However, not too far from the castle, Gothel is soon tipped off by Maximus, a guard horse who is searching for Flynn, that Rapunzel