Wow, there certainly are a LOT of songs in this film, but we’ve come at last to the final one, Kaa’s immortal song “Trust in Me.”

Mowgli is feeling pretty down at this point in the story. He’s just run away from Baloo after finding out his “papa bear” wants to take him to the Man-Village as well (never mind that it’s for his own safety). He runs off and ends up straight in the coils of Kaa, the incredibly long python with bad sinuses (and brought to life by Sterling Holloway, aka Winnie the Pooh).

This isn’t the first time Mowgli and Kaa have met. Their first encounter comes just after Bagheera announces that he’s taking the man-cub away. It almost doesn’t end well for Mowgli then and there, but thankfully Bagheera stepped in. Now though, it’s just Kaa and Mowgli. The latter rightfully doesn’t trust Kaa, which seemingly hurts the snake’s feelings. He says that if Mowgli would only trust him, then he could stay in the jungle forever. Of course it’s all a trick to get Mowgli hypnotized so he can be Kaa’s afternoon snack.

 

Trust in me
Just in me
Shut your eyes
and trust in me

You can sleep
Safe and sound
Knowing I
Am around

Slip into silent slumber
Sail on a silver mist
Slowly and surely your senses
Will cease to resist

Trust in me
And just in me
Shut your eyes
And trust in me…

The entire song is full of double meanings. While on the surface it sounds like a friend reassuring another friend of his trustworthiness, it also has a deeper meaning of “all this will be true because I’ll have eaten you.”

For example “You can sleep, safe and sound, knowing I am around.” Yeah, Mowgli will sleep alright, he’ll sleep eternally. Mowgli is oblivious to this for pretty much the entire song and is blissfully sleepwalking in and around Kaa’s neverending coils.

The Jungle Book “Trust in Me”

Kaa assumes a wide variety of shapes throughout the song

Once again though, Kaa is foiled. Just as he has Mowgli right where he wants him, who should come by but Shere Khan!! I absolutely love how the tiger pulls on Kaa’s tail like it’s a doorbell (brilliant!) If Kaa hadn’t wasted all that time playing with his “food” he might have gotten away with it.

I had to share this last picture by the way, those claws and the look on Kaa’s face!!

Now I haven’t seen the new version of this film yet, and I’m sure Scarlett Johansson did a great job, but for me, Kaa will always be Sterling Holloway. And that’s The Jungle Book! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

*all images are the property of Walt Disney Studios

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For earlier entries in The Jungle Book, see:

The Jungle Book “Colonel Hathi’s March”

The Jungle Book “The Bear Necessities”

The Jungle Book “I Wanna Be Like You”

The Jungle Book “My Own Home”

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

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

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