The Bare Necessities

"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. However, the arrangement heard in the film was not done by the Sherman Brothers but rather by Van Dyke Parks, in his first paid gig after moving to California. 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
Original version= 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
 * -|Jungle Cubs version=

Wherever I wander, wherever I roam Ya know I couldn't be fonder of my great big home Don't spend your time lookin' 'round For things 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 That's why a bear can rest at ease With just the bare necessities of life (Yeah, buddy) 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
 * -|Original demo version=

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

In other media
Due to the popularity of this song, it had been covered several times.
 * In 1969, recorded this song for their album .
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * In the 2016 film, the song is performed by Bill Murray and Kermit Ruffins. Dr. John also performed a version of it, shown during the end credits.