My Own Home

"My Own Home" is a song from the widely popular Walt Disney film, The Jungle Book, from 1967. The song was sung by Darleen Carr playing the part of "Shanti, the human girl". The song was written by Disney staff songwriters, Robert and Richard Sherman. This song serves as the basis for the Sarah Brightman song "On The Nile."

Why Darleen Carr?

"The native girl sings "My Own Home" as Mowgli watches. Singer Darleen Carr was at the Disney Studio filming Monkeys, Go Home, and we asked her to record a demo of our new song. Walt (Disney) loved the demo, and many months later, when director Woolie Reitherman said 'We need to find a voice for the girl,' Walt, with his infallible memory, replied, 'You've already got her!'"^[1]

Composition

The Shermans were brought onto the film by Walt Disney due to his feeling that the film 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 to the score generally concern darker subject matter than the accompanying music would suggest. The song was described as a "siren song" with Indian overtones. Composer George Bruns also included cues of "My Own Home" in the soundtrack to foreshadow its appearance at the end of the film.^[2]

References

1. ^ Sherman, Robert B., Walt's Time: from before to beyond, Camphor Tree Publishers, Santa Clarita, California, 1998, p 84.
2. ^ Richard Sherman (2007). The Jungle Book audio commentary. The Jungle Book, Platinum Edition, Disc 1.