JUKEBOX: “I Wanna Be Like You” by Louis Prima, Phil Harris, and Bruce Reitherman

King Louie and Mowgli dancing during the song "I Wanna Be Like You"

Hi everybody! It’s Kimberly here for my twenty-first post for the genre “Children’s Music.”

For today’s post, I’m taking it back to classic Disney. Disney’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book was originally released in 1967 and it has the honor of being the very last film that Walt Disney himself oversaw. Today, I’m going to review one of my favorite songs from The Jungle Book, “I Wanna Be Like You” otherwise known as “The Monkey Song.”

“I Wanna Be Like You” was one of the many songs written by the power duo of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, otherwise known as the Sherman Brothers. The Sherman Brothers are responsible for some classic Disney tunes that are easily recognizable. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of going to Disneyland, the Sherman Brothers are responsible for songs like “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room” and “It’s A Small World.” The Sherman Brothers also co-wrote songs from Mary Poppins like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman portrayed the Sherman Brothers in the 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks with Tom Hanks and Walt Disney.

In one of my earlier posts, I reviewed a song called “Strangers Like Me” from Tarzan. I would say that the idea behind both “Strangers Like Me” and “I Wanna Be Like You” are quite similar. “Strangers Like Me” is about Tarzan, a man raised by gorillas, striving to act like a human. “I Wanna Be Like You” is about King Louie, the leader of a group of monkeys, wanting to act like a human. King Louie seeks out the key to being human from Mowgli, who himself doesn’t know much about the subject. “I Wanna Be Like You” has a cool New Orleans-type feel. You get the sound of a trumpet, a catchy melody and a good amount of scatting/improvisation from King Louie and Baloo. It’s also fun hearing the back-up vocals from the vultures. The main driving force behind “I Wanna Be Like You” is the rhythmic and accentuated instrumentals and not the lyrics. The lyrics themselves are simple, but effective. The chorus especially “Ooh bee doo/I Wanna Be Like You” is sure to repeat over and over again in your head. The lack of lyrics allows the plot of The Jungle Book to progress through dialogue from characters like Baloo and Bagheera. I’m going to give “I Wanna Be Like You” 4 records because even though the lack of lyrics takes away what I’m going to call its “sing-along-ability” the melody and instrumentals are sure to take you back in time and have you wagging your finger to the beat.

I hope you enjoyed my review of “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book and please continue to check out JUKEBOX Music Reviews. Thank you. J

Here is a fun lyric video of “I Wanna Be Like You.”