Trust in Me (The Python's Song)


"Trust in Me " is a song in the widely popular Walt Disney film, The Jungle Book, from 1967. The song was sung by Sterling Holloway playing the part of "Kaa, the snake". The song was written by Disney staff songwriters, Robert and Richard Sherman. In the song, Kaa quickly hypnotizes Mowgli into a calm, soothing, relaxing trance, sending Mowgli walking along his body until he finally coils himself around Mowgli just like he did before. As the song concludes, Kaa readies himself to devour the boy, only to be stopped by Shere Khan the tiger in his search for Mowgli.

Composition

The Shermans were brought onto the film by Walt Disney due to Disney's feeling that the interpretation was keeping too true to the Rudyard Kipling book. In a deliberate effort to keep the score "light", this song as well as the Sherman Brothers' other contributions generally concern darker subject matter than the accompanying music would suggest. "Trust in Me" originated from Disney's suggestion to add a song to Kaa's sequence, and was written by Shermans based on "The Land of Sand", a song they had composed for 1964's Mary Poppins but ended up not being used. Kaa speaks and sings with a subtle, lilting lisp giving the song a humorous dimension that it would not otherwise have.

Cover versions