"The Bare Necessities" is a jazz song, written by Terry Gilkyson,[1] from Disney's 1967 animated feature film The Jungle Book, sung by Phil HarrisasBaloo and Bruce ReithermanasMowgli.[2] Bill Murray and Neel Sethi, in the same roles, performed the song in the 2016 remake.[3]
| "The Bare Necessities" | |
|---|---|
| SongbyPhil Harris and Bruce Reitherman | |
| from the album The Jungle Book | |
| B-side | "Trust in Me" (Sterling Holloway) |
| Released | 1967 (1967) |
| Recorded | 1966 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 4:51 |
| Label | Disneyland |
| Songwriter(s) | Terry Gilkyson |
Originally, it was written for an earlier draft of the film that was never produced.[4] The Sherman Brothers, who wrote the other songs of the film, kept this as the only song used from the previous version. A reprise of the song was sung by Sebastian CabotasBagheera and Phil Harris as Baloo at the end of the film. Van Dyke Parks worked on the arrangement.[5] The song was also sung by Louis Armstrong. In 1967, "The Bare Necessities" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle.[6]Ahip-hop version of the song performed by Lou Rawls was used as the theme song for Jungle Cubs.[7]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[8] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[9] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
That's meant doing "interesting casting" for the main titles and series theme songs: Lou Rawls singing Jungle Cubs' "The Bare Necessities"; rocker Eddie Money singing the Quack Pack main title; Jefferson Starship lead singer Mickey Thomas ...