"Journey to the Past" is a song written by lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty for the animated musical film Anastasia (1997). Originally recorded for the film by American actress and singer Liz Callaway in her title role as the singing voice of Anastasia – who is going by her nickname "Anya" at the time – the song expresses the character's desire to follow sparse clues about her past in the hopes of learning more about her family and who she is. The third song written and recorded for the film, Ahrens and Flaherty conceived "Journey to the Past" as a means of expressing the different emotions Anya feels while she prepares to venture out on her own for the first time. Accompanying a musical sequence during which Anya travels from her Russian orphanage to St. Petersburg, the song incorporates the film's central themes about home, love and family.
To market the film to a wider audience, President of Fox Music Robert Kraft recruited American singer Aaliyah to record a pop and R&B version of the song, which is played during the film's end credits. Produced by Guy Roche, some of the songs' lyrics and melody were adjusted to suit Aaliyah's vocal style. The cover was released as the second single from the film's soundtrack album. Upon release, both versions of "Journey to the Past" received generally positive reviews, although film and music critics preferred Callaway's original rendition over Aaliyah's. It became a moderately successful pop hit in the UK. The song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100; it only received minor adult contemporary airplay in the U.S. It stayed on the chart for only 4 weeks. The song was released on November 6, 1997 as the soundtrack's second single.
The song was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1998. Aaliyah performed her rendition of "Journey to the Past" live at the 70th Academy Awards. Actress Alexandra Shipp covered the song for the film Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, a biographical film based on the singer's life. "Journey to the Past" has also appeared in the stage musical adaptation of the film, performed by actress Christy Altomare for the original Broadway cast album.
Writing and recording "Journey to the Past" was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, with Ahrens writing the song's lyrics and Flaherty composing the music. Although the songwriters had originally written a different song for Anya, they began writing "Journey to the Past" late one evening because they understood that "in Hollywood, you always have to write three songs for every scene". The second song written for that particular scene, Ahrens and Flaherty conceived "Journey to the Past" as a way to express the excitement Anya feels as she prepares to "set out on the adventure to finding the truth about her family". At the same time, the songwriters also wanted the song to demonstrate the various emotions the character feels as she readies herself to venture out into the world on her own for the first time, such as nervousness, hope, fear and joy. Flaherty incorporated "a feeling of motion" into its melody to demonstrate the fact that Anya sings "Journey to the Past" while traveling. The opening "vamp" Flaherty composed for the song's introduction was written to resemble the character's heartbeat as it races excitedly while "giv[ing] the feeling of the fear and self-doubt that always goes with when you're on the cusp of the next thing" prior to ultimately "finding the strength within you to continue".
Originally, the song was entitled "Forward to the Past" and then "Journey Through the Past" until the songwriters were ultimately convinced to rename it "Journey to the Past" after having a "metaphysical discussion" with executives of Fox Animation Studios, who complained that "you can't go through the past, you have to go to it as a destination". Early versions of the song featured a different bridge, as well as a different melody where the line "Journey to the past" is sung. Ahrens and Flaherty were writing songs for Anastasia at the same time they were working on their stage musical Ragtime (1996) in Toronto, Ontario. Thus, Ahrens and Flaherty were often required to communicate with the filmmakers in Hollywood, California and Phoenix, Arizona via conference call when they were unable to attend production meetings in person. During one particular conference call, Fox Music head Robert Kraft suggested that the refrain would benefit from a larger, "more sweeping musical gesture", to which Flaherty responded by playing three different notes to accompany the phrase "to the past". Kraft approved of the adjustment, which ultimately changed the melody of the entire song going forward. Although Kraft enjoyed the general "shape" of the song's melody", particularly the way in which it "searches and goes to these various keys", he believed that the song required a more simple and "direct" bridge using whole notes. Although Ahrens was initially troubled by the prospect of writing a bridge using only whole notes because she realized that meant each word would have to be "huge ideas", she decided to apply this to the words "home, love, family", using two different notes for the last word "family", which became "faaaa-mily". Other than these revisions, there was virtually no objection to the song; Flaherty recalled that "Journey to the Past" "felt absolutely right". Ahrens recalled that "somehow that song just seemed to capture it and everybody knew it the minute we played it for the powers that be".
Ahrens and Flaherty completed writing the song in one day, during what the lyricist described as "a burst of energy". Originally, American actress and singer Liz Callaway, who was known for her work on Broadway at the time, had only been hired to record demo tapes for the film until she impressed studio executives and was ultimately cast as Anya's singing voice, in lieu of actress Meg Ryan who provides the character's speaking voice. After Flaherty played the new song for her and the producers, the songwriters had Callaway record a demo of it shortly following a lengthy recording session. "Journey to the Past" was recorded at The Hit Factory recording studio in New York City after they had just finished recording "A Rumor in St. Petersburg" and "Once Upon a December", making "Journey to the Past" the third song recorded for the film. Although tired from the previous recording session in addition to it having been quite late in the evening, Callaway recorded the demo in one take, for which Flaherty accompanied her on piano. Ahrens recalled that she, Flaherty and Callaway immediately knew the song would be included in the film. According to Flaherty, everyone instantly loved "Journey to the Past", and the producers immediately decided to designate it as their next recording session. Flaherty had not had enough time to notate the song properly apart from a rough lead sheet used to teach the singer. Orchestrator Bill Brohn was able to transcribe the song into full orchestration after hearing Flaherty record the song onto a tape recorder "note for note". Callaway recalled recording the song until 1:00 am, with no one leaving until it was finally completed. The length of final note was held unintentionally; Callaway had simply forgotten at what point she was supposed to release the note, for which she apologized profusely and asked to re-record. However, Flaherty was impressed by Callaway's ability to sustain the note and insisted that it remain in the song.
Context and use in Anastasia Identified as a character song, "Journey to the Past" is the first song Anya sings in Anastasia. In the film, 18 year-old orphan Anya grows up unaware that she is truly the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the lone surviving member of the immediate Romanov family who was murdered during the Russian Revolution 10 years earlier. Raised in an orphanage, the character suffers from amnesia which renders her incapable of remembering her childhood or family. However, a cryptic necklace she wears around her neck that bears the inscription "Together in Paris" serves as a clue and gives her reason to believe that some trace of her family lives in Paris. She eventually decides to leave the orphanage in favor of traveling to Saint Petersberg, from where she plans on journeying to Paris, France in search of her family as well as the life past life she has long forgotten. During "Journey to the Past", she sings about overcoming and facing her fears. The song is performed by Anya as she travels in the snow, beginning to search for her family. Visually, director Don Bluth requested a song that could travel alongside Anya as she journeys from her orphanage to Saint Petersberg. At one point, the filmmakers recruited actress and writer Carrie Fisher (uncredited) to rework the scene in order to provide Ahrens and Flaherty with some new ideas for its song. Flaherty wrote that Fisher was employed because "they really wanted to get into the psyche of Anya". Ahrens and Flaherty had originally written a different song for the scene in which Anya is depicted riding on a bicycle before it was discarded in favor of "Journey to the Past". The idea of Anya riding a bicycle was abandoned because the songwriters wanted to show that Anya had not yet begun her journey, but was merely "on the cusp of the journey" instead. The songwriters deliberately wrote "Journey to the Past" to make it easier for the animators.
Used to initiate the story in order to depict Anya "moving on" from the orphanage, Ahrens explained that "Journey to the Past" is intended to be "a traveling song that took her from that point all the way to this point. It worked beautifully with the animation, and really told the story of a young woman starting out on a journey". Anya sings about what she wants and hopes to find on her journey, including home, love, and family, "launch[ing] her on the road to discovering who she really is". During the scene, Anya also befriends and adopts a small dog named Pooka, whom she takes with her on her journey. Filmtracks.com observed that the sequence "wrap[s] the story together with the necessary positive spirit". According to the book Show Music, "'Journey to the Past' effectively states [Anya's] goal to find 'Home, love, family' while revealing a feisty spirit". Tim Brayton of Alternate Ending described "Journey to the Past" as a "Yearning Song", finding it to be "a somewhat unconventional version of the trope, in that the heroine is active, rather than passive". Entertainment Weekly's Maureen Lee Lenker identified "Journey to the Past" as "a traditional musical theater 'I Want' number in its laying out the goals of the protagonist". Drawing similarities between "Journey to the Past" and "I Want" songs used in Disney films, Michael Dequina of The Movie Report wrote that "Anya articulates her dream of having a family" while "prancing her way through the snow-covered forest and even capping her song by dramatically raising her arms into the air", observing its strong resemblance to a musical number from a stage musical. Orchestral arrangements of the song by composer David Newman are used and reprised several times throughout Anastasia, including a final "victorious" rendition at the end of the film.
Composition