His fifth feature collaboration with film director Jon Favreau,
John Debney's score for the 2016 retelling of
Rudyard Kipling's classic tale The Jungle Book incorporates songs from the 1967 Disney animated version. Leading off the soundtrack is Dr. John & the Night Trippers' celebratory New Orleans take on "The Bare Necessities." The same song is performed by
Bill Murray (as Baloo) and
Kermit Ruffins to close the recording. The songs "I Wan'na Be Like You" and "Trust in Me" also appear on the soundtrack, sung by Christopher Walken and
Scarlett Johansson, respectively. The rest of the soundtrack consists of
Debney's graceful, often exhilarating symphonic score, as during the dissonant brass and racing drums of "Shere Khan Attacks - Stampede" and the horn-, harp-, and choir-fortified "Cold Lair Chase." Trivia of note: the composer's father, Louis Debney, began working with Walt Disney in 1934 and went on to produce television series such as Zorro and Mickey Mouse Club, and Favreau plays the ukulele on "I Wan'na Be Like You." ~ Marcy Donelson