Bare Necessities with Baloo and Mowgli

This song, 'The Bare Necessities' is from the Musical Movie 'The Jungle Book' which takes place in India. It was written by Rudyard Kipling of the 'Just So Stories' in our Short Story Library.

Mowgli is found in a basket when he's a baby and he grows up in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh. Bagheera is a black panther and she finds the boy and takes him back home and to be reared by the wolf with her cubs.

Kipling describes Baloo as the sleepy brown bear. He is an easy going character that hates responsiblity and is a very popular character. Here he sings to Mowgli.

Now it's like this little britches..

All you gotta do is

Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities

forget about your worries and your strife

I mean the bare necessities or mother nature's recipes

that bring the bare necessities of life

Wherever I wander

Where ever I roam

I couldn't be found

out my big home

The bees are buzzing 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

You eat ants?

Ha ha. You better believe it

and you are gonna love the way they tickle.

The bare necessities of life will come to you

But when?

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

Thats why a bear can rest at ease

with just the bare necessities of life

Now when you pick a paw paw

or a prickly pear

and you prick a raw paw

well next time, beware !

Dont pick the prickly pear with the paw

when you pick a pear

try to use the claw

But you dont need to use the claw

when you pick a pear of the big paw paw

Have I given you a clue?

Golly ! Thanks Balloo

The bare necessities of life will come to you

They'll come to me

They'll come to you

How about scratching that old left shoulder

while your up there Mowgli?

Now just a hair lower. There, right there, thats it !

Oooh this is beautiful, thats good, we've got to get to a tree

this calls for some big scratching

(scratching scene)

Oh man this is really livin

So just try and relax, yeah

Cool it, fall apart in my back yard...

Because let me tell you something little britches

If you act like this here

Uh uh, you are working too hard

and dont spend your time looking around

for something you want

that can't be found

When you find out that you can live without it

and go along not thinking about it

I'll tell you something true

The bare necessities of life will come to you

Mowgli how about you sing?

Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities

forget about your worries and your strife

Yeah Man !

I mean the bare necessities

thats why a bear can rest at ease

with just the bare necessities of life

Yeah

with just the bare necessities of life

beautiful that's real jungle ha!

'Britches' here is derived from breeches which is an old fashioned word for knee length trousers which were commonly worn by men in the 17th and 18th centuries.

'Bare Necessities' is a phrase that describes the simple things of life, all that is necessary for survival. Combine this lesson with Jungle Book Characters

Listen to another version of this song Bare Necessities made immensely popular by Louis Armstrong.

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