"That's What Friends are For (The Vulture Song)" is a song sung by Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy, and Dizzy, Mowgli, and briefly Shere Khan in the 1967 Disney animated feature film The Jungle Book.
This song was included on the VHS Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Friend Like Me.
Lyrics[]
The Vultures:
We're your friends
We're your friends
We're your friends to the bitter end (the bitter end)
When you're alone (when you're alone)
Who comes around (who comes around)
To pluck you up (To pluck you up)
When you are down (When you are down)
And when you're outside, looking in
Who's there to open the door
That's what friends are for
Who's always eager to extend
A friendly claw
That's what friends are for
And when you're lost in dire need
Who's at your side at lightning speed
We're friends of every creature
Comin' down the pike
In fact we never met an animal we didn't like
Mowgli/The Vultures
Didn't like
The Vultures
So you can see
We're friends in need
And friends in need
Are friends indeed
We'll keep you safe
In the jungle forevermore
Shere Khan:
That's what friends are for
The Vultures:
We're your friends
Rocky:
They're your friends
The Vultures:
We're your friends
Until the bitter end
When you're down-in
Who comes around
To pluck you up
When you are down?
When you're out
And the cover picks you
Up off the floor
The Vultures/Rocky:
Aha Aha Aha
That's what friends are for
The Vultures:
When you're lost
In dire need
Who's at your side
At lightning speed?
And when you're outside looking in,
Who's there to open the door?
Rocky:
That's what friends are for
The Vultures:
You know the zebra,
The hyena, and the kangaroo,
The cobra and the lion
All agree it's true
We're fond of every creature
Coming down the pike
Rocky:
In fact, they've never met an animal they didn't like
The Vultures:
To all that's near,
To all your chums,
You have it clear
When danger comes.
And so we're eager to extend
A friendly claw
Rocky:
That's what friends are for
The Vultures:
You know the armadillo,
Elephant, and wild boar
Rocky:
The cheetah and the anteater
They adore
The Vultures:
We even dined with the rhino
And his shiny spike
Rocky:
In fact they've never met an animal they didn't like
The Vultures:
So you can see
Rocky:
We're friends in need
The Vultures/Rocky:
And friends in need
Are friends indeed
The Vultures:
We'll keep you safe
In the jungle forevermore
The Vultures/Rocky:
That's what friends are for
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- When Richard Sherman presented a live demo version of the song, he was told by members of the staff to keep in mind the fact that Walt had a different dialect than the rest of the team, so any deviation in pronunciation would confuse him. It eventually got to the point where the vultures were to sing "And when you're lost/ who hovers near/ to fluff you up/ when you are down..." but Richard struggled with pronouncing "hover" since Walt pronounced it as "hoover". Everyone started to break-down laughing, including Walt, necessitating a lyric change, since Richard didn't want to tell Walt "I didn't want to say 'hover' because that's correct."
- It was initially envisioned that the Beatles would voice the Vultures. However, they declined, and it was ultimately decided this would be a barbershop quartet style song.
- In addition, the vultures would originally be accompanied by a comic rhinoceros named Rocky, who was to be voiced by radio comedian Frank Fontaine.
