Beauty and the Beast (Disney song) author Jerry Griswold believes that the song's opening line "tale as old as time" alludes to the fact that Belle's story is an ancient, timeless one "deliberately situated within the context of other traditional tales;" hers is simply "the newest incarnation" of it. "The Translation of the Songs in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast": an example of Manipulation" author Lucía Loureiro Porto agrees that although the song "does not tell any story, it is made of phrases that imply that love is as old a feeling as mankind." According to Perry Seibert of AllMovie, "Beauty and the Beast" is "as
Beauty and the Beast (Disney song) ballad Disney's fifth greatest love song. Similarly, "Beauty and the Beast" is the fourth greatest Disney song according to "M". "Beauty and the Beast" finished 14th on GamesRadar's "30 best Disney songs in history" ranking. On the website's list of the "Top 25 Disney Songs", IGN ranked "Beauty and the Beast" 22nd. While Broadway.com ranked the song the second greatest Academy Award-winning Disney song, "Spin" placed "Beauty and the Beast" at number 30 on the magazine's ranking of "Every Oscar Winner for Best Original Song". On her list of the "11 Highest-Charting Songs From Disney Movies", author Nicole James of