The Jungle Book

   So, this is apropos of nothing, but I was singing in the shower the other day, and I decided that Disney had missed a big opportunity when they made The Jungle Book. I really haven't seen the movie very many times, maybe once or twice when I was a kid, but we had the sound track on an LP. I listened to that a lot. Later on I found out that it was packed with famous jazz musicians and that they had worked very hard to make it as awesome as possible.
   Which is why, I suppose, that Shere Khan and Bagheera don't sing much. I understand the rationale, it's a kids movie, but still, I think I'd like to improve it a little by adding to the cheerful marches and thrilling scat solos a couple of interludes of Shere Kahn's gigantic, terrifying, sociopathic caterwauling that left everyone crying and covering their ears. Or perhaps a catchy little jungle ditty that Bagheera can join in on and completely ruin with his own feline OCD aesthetic. We had a cat once, and she was one of our best ever, who just couldn't stand it when Colleen would get out a flute or recorder, or especially the concertina, and would walk up to Colleen and then bite. Bagheera could have been like that: sure, sing if you want to, but I will find you and you will bleed.
   So those are my proposed improvements. I haven't seen it in a long time, and thought while singing that Shere Kahn doesn't sing at all. But he does have a basso profundo tag at the end of "That's What Friends Are For," and sadly, he hits all his notes perfectly and completes the song in a very traditional and tasteful way. The vultures are only disturbed by his presence, and not also by his singing. OK, I think I've made my point.

This is an Austin-Healy Sprite, circa 1960. I hope it makes up for the inadequacies of my arguments.