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 "comic bliss". Linda Cook of the "Quad-City Times" penned that the song was "belted out wonderfully by Murphy and makes the purchase of the soundtrack worthwhile". Marjorie Baumgarten of "The Austin Chronicle" opined, "Murphy brings stage showmanship to her musical interludes as Mother Gothel, which drip with sarcasm and biting wit." "Slant Magazine"s Christian Blauvelt, who felt that the film's songs lacked as a result of Moore's "pop-star vocals", happened to very much enjoy Gothel's performances, writing, "when Broadway vet Murphy takes to scaling Menken's octave-climbing melodies like a vocal escalator, it's a different story". Calling Gothel "one of the