"I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)" is a song sung by King Louie, Baloo and Mowgli from Walt Disney's 1967 film, The Jungle Book. The song was sung by Louis Prima and written by songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman.
King Louie performs the number in an attempt to share his plight with Mowgli, while simultaneously convincing the man-cub to help him become a man. At one point of the song, Baloo performs a scat duet with Louie. The scat lyrics, as said by Richard Sherman, are meaningless, having been completely ad-libbed by Prima and Harris; albeit during separate recording sessions.
Lyrics[]
King Louie: Now I'm the king of the swingers rule
The jungle VIP
I've reached the top and had to stop
And that's what botherin' me
I wanna be a man, mancub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men
I'm tired of monkeyin' around!
Oh, ooh-bee-doo, (Oop-dee-wee)
I wanna be like you-hu-hu (Hop-dee-doo-bee-do-bow)
I wanna walk like you (Cheep)
Talk like you (Cheep)
To-o-oo! (Wee-bee-dee-bee-dee-boo)
You'll see it's tru-u-ue (Shoo-be-dee-doo)
An ape like me-e-e (Scooby-doo-bee-doo-bee)
Can learn to be
Hu-u-uman
To-o-oo!
(Instrumental Bridge)
Now don't try to kid me, mancub
I made a deal with you
What I desire is man's red fire
To make my dream come true!
Now give me the secret, mancub
Come on, clue me what to do
Give me the power of man's red flower
So I can be like you!
(Instrumental Bridge)
Baloo: HEY!
De-zop-ba-ronie
Hap-da-dee-ba-lat
Da-dat-dat-non
Hey, a-baby-dot-doo
Zaba-doo-doo-day-doo-bop
Doo-boo-doo-day, ze-bonz
Za-bop-bop-bobby
King Louie: Za-bah-doo-dee!
Baloo: Well, a-ree-bah-naza
King Louie: He-beh-do-beh-doy
Baloo: Well, a-lah-bah-zini
King Louie: Wadahlabat-boodalabat
Baloo: Seebahlalat-dodie
King Louie: Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Baloo: Well, a-ha ha ha ha
King Louie: Rrrrahr-rrrahr!
Baloo: Gettin' mad, baby!
Monkey: Hall-owallo-a-la la
Baloo: Mahata alottado
Monkey: Hodolata-deetle-do
Baloo: Do-zootle-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot
King Louie Gingle do doot do do do doot
Baloo: Zeep-i-doo-da hab a daah
King Louie:
You hoo hoo! (Oop-dee-wee)
I wanna be like you-u-u! (Hop-dee-doo-bee-do-bow)
All: I wanna walk like you! (Cheep)
Talk like you (Cheep)
To-o-oo! (Wee-bee-dee-bee-dee-boo)
You'll see it's tru-u-ue! (Shoo-be-dee-doo)
All: Someone like me-e-e (Scooby-doo-bee-doo-bee)
Flunkey:
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like me
Louie and Baloo (variously):
(Take me home, daddy!)
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like you
(One more time!)
Baloo: Yeah!
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like me-e!
Cee-de-do-bop-bop
Bada-doodle
Dot-andot-andot-andot-andot...
(Man...)
King Louie: I'll ape your mannerisms
We'll be a set of twins
No one can tell where a mancub ends
And an orangutan begins
And when I eat bananas
I won't peel 'em with my feet
'cuz I'll become a man, mancub
And get some ettiquette!
Oh, ooh-bee-doo, (Oop-dee-wee)
I wanna be like you-hu-hu (Hop-dee-doo-bee-do-bow)
I wanna walk like you (Cheep)
Talk like you (Cheep)
To-o-oo! (Wee-bee-dee-bee-dee-boo)
You'll see it's tru-u-ue (Shoo-be-dee-doo)
An ape like me-e-e (Scooby-doo-bee-doo-bee)
Can learn to be
Hu-u-uman
To-o-oo!
I wanna go to the jungle
I wanna get out of town
And dance to that crazy rhythm
'Til the sun goes down
(Yeah!)
I wanna climb through the treetops
Swing myself back down
And then jump, hop, be-bop
I wanna monkey around
Ooh-ooh-ooh
I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too
You see it's true
Someone like me
Can learn to be like someone like you
(scat verse)
(Yeow! Come on!)
If you're an ape or a monkey
A chimp or a macaque
You got that crazy body language
Ooh, I wanna move like that
I can't explain the attraction
Mmm, but I guess it's true
The more you seem to be like me
The more I wanna be like you
Ooh-ooh-ooh
I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too
(Come on now!)
You see it's true
Someone like me
Can learn to be like someone like you
(Whoa-oh!)
Ooh-ooh-ooh
I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too
You see it's true
Someone like me
Can learn to be like someone like you
(Yeah, I wanna be like you!)
Can learn to be like someone like you
(Yes, I can)
Can learn to be (Learn to be)
Like someone
Someone like you!
I wanna be like you, you wanna be like me
You wanna be like me
(Yes I do!)
I wanna be like you, you wanna be like me
I wanna be like you (2x)
(Eee-yeow!)
Welcome to my jungle
I'm King Lou
You want to dance with me
Can you dance with me
Now, I'm the king of the swingers,
Oh, the jungle VIP,
I've reached the top and had to stop,
And that's what botherin' me.
I wanna be a man, mancub,
And stroll right into town,
And be just like the other men,
I'm tired of monkeyin' around!
Oh, oobee doo,
I wanna be like you,
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you, too!
You'll see it's true,
An ape like me,
Can learn to be human too.
Now don't try to kid me, mancub,
I made a deal with you.
What I desire is man's red fire,
To make my dream come true!
Now give me the secret, mancub,
Come on,
Clue me what to do,
Give me the power of man's red flower,
So I can be like you!
Oh, oobee doo,
I wanna be like you,
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you, too!
You'll see it's true,
An ape like me,
Can learn to be human too
Can you dance with me
Can You Walk like Me
Can You Talk like Me, ha ha
Can You Walk like Me
baby Can You Talk like Me, ow
Can You Walk like Me
Can You Talk like Me, ow
walk like, talk like
walk like, talk like me
Can you dance with me
Oh, oobee doo,
I wanna be like you,
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you, too!
You'll see it's true,
An ape like me,
Can learn to be human too
That's what I'm going do
Oh, oobee doo,
I wanna be like you,
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you, too!
You'll see it's true,
An ape like me,
Can learn to be human too
Human too. ow
Ahh Ahh
Oh Ya
Danno: Now you hip birdies swingers, top B-I-R-D's
Now this old room was full of gloom
The man that bothered me
The snoring, sleepy tikis were giving us the blues
But then you came and showed us how to wake up from the snooze
Oh, ooh!
We're gonna be like you!
We're gonna move like you, prove like you too!
Give us a clue: how to act like you
To make it learn to be ooh... Man too!
Now I'm the king of the swingers, whoa
The jungle VIP
I've reached the top and had to stop
And that's what botherin' me
I wanna be a man, mancub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men
I'm tired of monkeyin' around!
Oh, ooh-bee-doo,
I wanna be like you-hu-hu
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you
To-o-oo!
You'll see it's tru-u-ue
Someone like me-e-e
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like you-hu-hu!
Now don't try to kid me, mancub
I'll make a deal with you
What I desire is man's red fire
To make my dream come true!
Now give me the secret, mancub
Come on, clue me what to do
Give me the power of man's red flower
So I can be like you!
Oh, ooh-bee-doo,
I wanna be like you-hu-hu
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you
To-o-oo!
You'll see it's tru-u-ue
Someone like me-e-e
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like you-hu-hu!
Now you might think it ridiculous
That me, a Gigantopithecus
Would ever dream, I'd like to team
The likes of you, mancub
But together, we'd have powers
All the jungle's treasures ours
I got desire, you've got the fire
But the dream I dream takes two!
So, oooh,
I wanna be like you-hu-hu
I wanna use that flame
Just the same
You can do it, too
Oh, how magnifiecus it would be
A Gigantopithecus like me
Could learn to do
Like you humans do
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like you
Can learn to be
Like someone
Like me!
Videos[]
Other versions[]
| Performer(s) | Title(s) | Translations(s) | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| عاطف الشرقاوي & سامي مغاوري (Sami Meghawri & Atef ِAl Sharqawi) (1999 version) | "نفسي أكون إنسان" | "I Wanna Be A Human" | Arabic |
| Booker Pittman & Alberto Perez (1968 version) Márcio Simões & Mauro Ramos (2014 version) |
"O Rei do Iê-Iê-Iê" | "The King of Yeah-Yeah-Yeah" | Brazilian Portuguese |
| Тодор Стефанов (Todor Stefanov) & Николай Петров (Nikolai Petrov) | Bulgarian | ||
| Cantonese | |||
| ? & Soběslav Sejk (1975 version) ? & Radan Rusev (1994 version) |
Czech | ||
| Svend Asmussen & Freddy Albeck | Danish | ||
| Willem Duyn & Coen Flink | Dutch | ||
| Esko Toivonen & Reino Bäckman (1968 version) Eeki Mantere & Pekka Lehtosaari (1993 version) |
Finnish | ||
| José Bartel & Jean Stout | "Être un homme comme vous" | "Being a Man Like You" | French |
| Klaus Havenstein & Edgar Ott | German | ||
| Greek | |||
| עמי מנדלמן (Ami Mendelman) & דני ליטני (Danny Litani) | Hebrew | ||
| Hindi | |||
| Gyula Bodrogi & László Csákányi | "Egy ilyen majom embernek való" | Hungarian | |
| Kristján Kristjánsson & Egill Ólafsson | Icelandic | ||
| Indonesian | |||
| Lorenzo Spadoni & Tony De Falco | "Voglio essere come te" | "I Want to be Like You" | Italian |
| ? & 千葉順二 (Junji Chiba) (1968 version) 石原慎一 (Shinichi Ishihara) & 鹿野由之 (Yoshiyuki Kano) (1994 version) |
"君のようになりたい" (Kimi no Yō ni Naritai) | "I'd like to be like you" | Japanese |
| Korean | |||
| Flavio Farfán & Germán "Tin Tin" Valdés | "Quiero Ser Como Tú" | "I Wanna Be Like You" | Latin American Spanish |
| ? & 雷威遠 (Lei Wei-Yuan) | Mandarin | ||
| Harald Heide-Steen Jr. & Paul Åge Johannessen | Norwegian | ||
|
Andrzej Arciszewski & Jan Prochyra (1968) Piotr Fronczewski (2016) |
"Człowiekiem chciałbym być" (1968) "Gdybym jak ty być mógł" (2016) |
"I would like to be a Man" (1968) "If I could be Like You" (2016) |
Polish |
| Pedro Malagueta & José Jorge Duarte | "Quero Ser Como Tu" | "I Wanna Be Like You" | Portuguese |
| Ioan Gyuri Pascu & Alexandru Arșinel | Romanian | ||
| Олег Анофриев (Oleg Anofriev) & Дмитрий Назаров (Dmitry Nazarov) | Russian | ||
| Marián Labuda st. & Oldo Hlaváček | Slovak | ||
| Leppe Sundevall & Rolf Bengtsson | Swedish | ||
| Tamil | |||
|
Telugu | |||
| ? & กฤษณะ ศฤงคารนนท์ (Kritsana Saringkhannon) | Thai | ||
| Turkish |
Trivia[]
- During the writing of the song, the Sherman Brothers originally wrote the back and forth scat between Baloo and Louie to be "answer-answer". Dick eventually told Phil Harris to make up his own answers to Louis Prima's phrases, leading to him saying "Gettin' mad, baby!" after Prima growled.
- It was parodied in House of Mouse as I Wanna Be Like M-O-You.
- The first few lines of the song are used in earlier Elaut claw machines when the machine is on but idle.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The article or pieces of the original article was at I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Disney Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
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es:I Wanna Be Like You fr:Être un homme comme vous nl:Ik Ben Net Als Jij ru:Как ты я стать хочу