Elton John Wouldn't Let Timon & Pumbaa Sing 'Lion King' Love Song, Star Says

Elton John didn't feel "Hakuna Matata" while working on the "Lion King" ... 'cause one of the movie's stars says he had serious gripes about some of the flick's original choices.

Nathan Lane -- the Broadway star and voice of Timon in the hit 1994 flick -- spoke with Entertainment Weekly for an interview published Friday ... where he revealed the Academy Award-winning song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" was originally supposed to be sung entirely by his character and Ernie Sabella's Pumbaa.

The way Lane explains it ... when Elton found out he voiced his displeasure, saying he wrote the song because he wanted to have an epic Disney love ballad under his belt -- and "didn't want it to be sung by the rat and the pig."

Clearly, Elton's vision prevailed ... 'cause producers cut down Lane and Sabella's parts to just opening and closing the track -- but, not before the duo recorded the entire song.

Looking back on it ... NL says Elton had it totally right -- 'cause he and Ernie were performing cartoony voices, making it real hard to sound romantic.

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" became a massive hit of course ... winning Best Original Song at the '95 Oscars while also earning John a Grammy Award and a Golden Globe.

BTW ... Lane's been doing a lot of press recently in the run-up to his appearance at the Hollywood Bowl's "The Lion King" live concert event -- where Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter North just made her singing debut.