"The Bare Necessities" is a song featured in the Disney film The Jungle Book and its sequel written by Terry Gilkyson, and originally sung by Phil Harris as Baloo and Bruce Reitherman as Mowgli. It was written for an earlier, rejected, draft of the movie, and was, as the only song of that version, kept, on the request of the Sherman Brothers, who wrote the others of the film. A reprise of it was sung by Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera and Phil Harris as Baloo at the end of the film. In the sequel a reprise is sung as well with John Goodman (Baloo), Haley Joel Osment (Mowgli) and Mae Whitman (Shanti).
The song was notably later used as the theme song to Jungle Cubs, performed by the late Lou Rawls, albeit as a hip-hop rendition. Baloo, Louie, Bagheera, and Hathi later reprised it at the end of the series' final episode.
For Disneymania 3, Bowling for Soup performed a cover version of the song.
Lyrics
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 brings 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
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 pear of the big pawpaw
Have I given you a clue?
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you!
So just try and relax, yeah cool it
Fall apart in my backyard
'Cause let me tell you something little britches
If you act like that bee acts, uh uh
You're working too hard
And don't spend your time lookin' around
For something you want that can't be found
When you find out you can live without it
And go along not thinkin' about it
I'll tell you something true
The bare necessities of life will come to you
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 brings the bare necessities of life
Wherever I wander, wherever I roam
I couldn't be fonder of my big home
Don't spend your time lookin' 'round
For what you want that can't be found
When you find out you can live without it
You go along not thinkin' about it
Bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life
Now come along with me and take a ride
You'll see what Mother Nature can provide
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities
With fruits and nuts and other things beside
Then as we wonder over my backyard
We'll flip a rock just like it was a card
The beetles are selectable
In fact, they are delectable
So eat 'em up, it's really not too hard
Ba-doh-ba-dee-doh
It's all so easy
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh
No cares, no strife
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh-doh
No matter where we go
We'll find the bare necessities of life
It's nice to ponder as we slowly roam
While growing fonder of our jungle home
We'll watch the busy little bees
Who's making honey just for me
As I dip for the honey from the comb
Ouch!
I've learned to love the food that's by my side
There's hardly anything I can't abide
Now, ants are quite a tasty dish
Don't wait for me, eat all you wish
You'll like the way they tickle you inside
Doh-ba-dee-doh
It's all so easy
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh
No cares, no strife
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh-doh
No matter where we go
We'll find the bare necessities of life
(Piano break)
Ba-doh-ba-dee-doh
Ba-doh-ba-dee-doo
So if you learn to live a life of ease
The fruits and nuts will fall out of the trees
If you relax throughout the day
Your hunger simply melts away
From eating just the bare necessities
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh (Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh)
It's all so easy (So easy now)
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh (Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh)
No cares, no strife (No cares, no strife)
Doh-ba-dee-doh-doh-doh
No matter where we go
We'll find the bare necessities of life
We'll find the bare necessities of life
We'll find the bare necessities of life
Ah-doh-ba-dee-doh
Gallery
In other media
Due to the popularity of this song, it had been covered several times.
- In 1969, Alvin and the Chipmunks recorded this song for their album The Chipmunks Go to the Movies.
- In 1991, the song was covered by Harry Connick, Jr. for the Simply Mad About The Mouse an album and a TV Special.
- In 1991, The Bare Necessities Megamix, produced by Nigel Wright under the name of The UK Mixmasters reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart.[1]
- In 2005, Julie Andrews chose the song for her album "Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs".
- Tituss Burgess performed the song for the BBC radio special "BBC Radio 2 Celebrates The Music of Disney".
- Bowling for Soup recorded this song for Disneymania 3.
- In the 1994 live-action Disney film Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Dr. Julius Plumford exclaims "The bare necessities of life!" in the ballroom scene.
- On the 5th episode of the 10th season of ABC's Dancing With The Stars, American footballer Chad Ochocinco and professional partner Cheryl Burke danced a quickstep to the song.
- Eliza Gilkyson, the daughter of the song's composer, Terry Gilkyson, performed the song on her live 2007 album, Your Town Tonight.
- Brian Wilson covered it on his album In the Key of Disney, which was released on October 25, 2011.
- From September 2011, the song has been used in adverts for supermarket chain Sainsbury's promoting new slogan 'Live Well For Less'.
- Los Lobos covered this song in the album Los Lobos Goes Disney, released in 2009.
- The rap band That Handsome Devil covered this song and the entirety of The Jungle Book soundtrack on their free CD titled The Jungle Book
- On 13 June 2012, Hong Kong Disneyland opened Grizzly Gulch themed land, the gift stall in the land is called The Bear Necessities.[2]
References
