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 most potent schemers in the Disney canon", "Time"s Richard Corliss felt that Murphy's performance was worthy of a Tony Award for Best Actress, concluding, "no one can summon the malice in humor, and the fun in pain, like this prima Donna". In his review of the film's soundtrack, James Christopher Monger of AllMusic wrote that both "Moore and Murphy take on the lion's share of the work here, and both deliver the goods". IGN ranked Mother Gothel fourth on their list of "the 12 Disney Villainesses". In a list of the thirty-three greatest Disney villains conducted by E!, Mother Gothel