In The Jungle Book, “Colonel” Hathi is one of those characters you can’t help but love because they’re so funny! For this version of the story, Hathi the elephant is transformed into an ex-military soldier obsessed with leading his brigade of elephants around the jungle in perfect formation. And as they march along, they sing a song, the “Colonel Hathi March.”

Of course the underlying joke here is that Colonel Hathi shouldn’t be leading at all, elephants are by nature a matriarchal society (the gag comes to a head when Winifred threatens to take over command and Hathi exclaims “WHAT! A female leading my herd???”)

Hup two three four
Keep it up, two three four
Hup two three four
Keep it up, two three four
Company, sound off!

Oh, the aim of our patrol
Is a question rather droll
For to march and drill
Over field and hill [all trumpet]
Is a military goal
Is a military goal

Hup two three four
Dress it up, two three four

By the ranks or single file
Over ev’ry jungle mile
Oh, we stamp and crush
Through the underbrush
In a military style
In a military style

As a by-the-by, the little elephant is voiced by a rather young Clint Howard (the brother to Ron Howard, the famous movie director).

This one is rather short, but then again there’s not a lot to say about this particular song. Tomorrow, the series concludes with “Trust in Me” and there will be a lot to say then.

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

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For more great Disney songs, check out the main page here: Disney A-Z

For more of The Jungle Book, see also:

The Jungle Book “The Bear Necessities”

The Jungle Book “I Wanna Be Like You” (1967)

The Jungle Book “Trust in Me” (1967)

The Jungle Book “That’s What Friends Are For/The Vulture Song”

The Jungle Book “My Own Home”

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