The story of the movie is simple: a young boy is brought up by animals in the jungle. The main character Mowgli goes through a series of adventures in the jungle before he finally arrives in the “man-village”. Throughout the movie, a number of delightful songs accompany the colourful scenes. The Bare Necessities is one of these wonderful songs that we will look at here.
About the song:
It is a song about ‘the good life’: a simple life philosophy that urges you to be content with basic needs, not work too hard, relax and enjoy yourself.
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That bring the bare necessities of life
Wherever I wander
Wherever I roam
I couldn't be fonder of my big home
The bees are buzzin' in the tree
To make some honey just for me
When you look under the rocks and plants
And take a glance at the fancy ants
Then maybe try a few
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you!
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
Now when you pick a pawpaw
Or a prickly pear
And you prick a raw paw
Well, next time beware
Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw
When you pick a pear
Try to use the claw
But you don't need to use the claw
When you pick a pair of the big pawpaw
Have I given you a clue?
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you!
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
With just the bare necessities of life
Yeah, man!
Lyrics transcribed by Disneyclips.com
Composed by Terry Gilkyson
Performed by Phil Harris and Bruce Reitherman
Some vocabulary to learn:
Bare means simple and necessities are the things you need, the minimum essentials, things you need to survive such as food, water and a home/shelter
Buzzin’ (buzzing): the sound that a bee makes
Claw: the sharp curved nail on an animal’s foot. Cats have claws.
Glance: to look quickly at something or someone
Mother Nature: the natural world, a personification of nature as a powerful and nurturing woman
Prickly pear: also called ‘cactus pear’, a type of cactus which has a fruit inside that tastes like pear
Rest at ease: to relax and be comfortable
Strife: anger or violence between two people or groups of people who disagree
Wander: to walk slowly around, without any particular sense of purpose or direction
Did you know?
- Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, The Jungle Book was the last film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production.
- The Bare Necessities was voted ‘the most uplifting Disney song’ in a survey done by Disney+ and RadioTimes. You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story) and Hakuna Matata (The Lion King) both came second.
- Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book has been adapted to 6 films, 2 TV series and 5 video games.
- There are major mispronunciations in the movie. According to a guide written by Kipling, the main character’s name is pronounced "Mowglee" (accent on the 'Mow,' which rhymes with 'cow'), not “Moe-glee,” which is how Disney chose to say it. In addition, Kaa the snake is supposed to be “Kar,” Baloo the Bear should have been “Barloo,” and Colonel Hathi is really “Huttee.”
- They wanted The Beatles to voice the vultures. The Sherman brothers wrote the vultures’ song “That’s What Friends Are For” with The Beatles in mind, even giving the characters similar accents. But the Fab Four turned them down. “John was running the show at the time, and he said [dismissively] ‘I don’t wanna do an animated film.’ Three years later they did Yellow Submarine, so you can see how things change,” Richard Sherman said.