"That's What Friends Are For (The Vulture Song)" is a song in the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

film ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'' from 1967. It was sung by a quartet of "

mop top The English rock band the Beatles are commonly regarded as the foremost and most influential band in popular music history. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they sparked the "Beatlemania" p ...

vultures A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and So ...

who are making friends with

Mowgli Mowgli () is a fictional character and the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book'' stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" (co ...

, the main character of the film. The song was written by Disney staff songwriters,

Robert and Richard Sherman The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...

, and sung primarily by

J. Pat O'Malley James Rudolph O'Malley (15 March 1904 – 27 February 1985) was an English character actor and singer who appeared in many American films and television programmes from the 1940s to 1982, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley. He also appeared on ...

Lord Tim Hudson George Timothy Hudson 'The Story of Lord Tim Hudson", ''LordTim.com''
Retrieved January 13 ...

Digby Wolfe James Digby Wolfe (4 June 19292 May 2012) was a British actor. After a successful career in the UK and Australia, his later career was based in the US. Early life James Digby Wolfe was born to a father who was an international banker and a m ...

, and

Chad Stuart David Stuart Chadwick (10 December 1941 – 20 December 2020) was an English musician and producer, best known as Chad Stuart of 1960's British Invasion duo Chad & Jeremy. Stuart has writing credits on four of the 11 Chad & Jeremy songs which en ...

Bruce Reitherman Bruce Reitherman (born September 15, 1955) is an American filmmaker and former child actor. He voiced Christopher Robin in ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' and Mowgli in ''The Jungle Book''. Life and work Born in Burbank, California, ...

and

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

both made cameo appearances in the song singing as

and

Shere Khan Shere Khan (Hindi- शेर खान/ English pronunciation) is a fictional Bengal tiger and the main antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book, Jungle Book'' and its adaptations. According to The Kipling Society, the word ''shere'' ...

the tiger, respectively, in different parts.

Sherman, Robert B. Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...

, '' Walt's Time: from before to beyond'', Camphor Tree Publishers,

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17th ...

, 1998, p 84., In the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

The Mellomen The Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. They recorded under a variety of names, including Big John and the Buzzards, the Crackerj ...

member Bill Lee replaced the unavailable Sanders. The Jungle Book, Platinum Edition, Disc 1

Composing

The Shermans were brought onto the film by

, who felt that the film in keeping with

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's book was too dark for family viewing. In a deliberate effort to keep the score light, this song as well as the Sherman Brothers' other contributions to the score generally concern darker subject matter than the accompanying music would suggest. In the case of "That's What Friends Are For", the vultures sing in the style of a

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

, making their song endearing to Mowgli - and that much more dangerous. The lyrics feature many

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

s regarding how the vultures eat other animals. The song was originally conceived as a rock and roll song, sung by the quartet of vultures. The vultures were even designed based on

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, with

moptop The English rock band the Beatles are commonly regarded as the foremost and most influential band in popular music history. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they sparked the " Beatlemania ...

haircuts and mock- Liverpool accents, and would be voiced by the band, which did not come into fruition due to problems with their schedule. During production Disney decided the 1960s style rock would cause the song to be considered dated later, leading "We're Your Friends" to be changed to the barbershop quartet that appears in the film."Lost Character: Rocky the Rhino", ''The Jungle Book'' Platinum Edition Disc 1

References

{{Authority control Songs about friendship 1967 songs Songs from The Jungle Book (1967 film) Songs written by the Sherman Brothers