I was recently dealing with a challenge (Life is full of them! 😉 ), and I randomly started singing “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King. 😀 It made me feel so much better! 🙂

I hadn’t thought about Disney’s 1994 The Lion King in ages. When I was a kid, I remember being so excited about the animated film because Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced Simba!

JTT was MY FIRST crush, thanks to the 1991–1999 TV show Home Improvement. 😉

I wanted to find a video of “Hakuna Matata” from the Lion King that I grew up with for this week’s post, but the only official Disney one on YouTube was from the The Lion King released in 2019. Here it is:

Lyrics:

Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata!
Ain’t no passing craze
It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!
Why, when he was a young warthog
When I was a young wart-hoooog!
Very nice!
Thanks!
He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal
He could clear the Savannah after every meal
I’m a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned
And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind
And oh, the shame
(He was ashamed!)
Thought of changin’ my name
(Oh, what’s in a name?)
And I got downhearted
(How did you feel?)
Every time that I-
Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids!
Oh… sorry
Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata!
Ain’t no passing craze
It means no worries
For the rest of your days
Yeah, sing it, kid!
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!
Hakuna Matata
Hakuna Matata
Hakuna Matata
Hakuna
It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata

When I watched this “Hakuna Matata” video for the first time, I was SO EXCITED to hear that Seth Rogen voiced Pumbaa! 😀 He ALWAYS makes me laugh, and I actually started watching The Lion King from 2019 for the first time this week because Seth Rogen is in it! 😉 So far, I have been laughing a lot thanks to John Oliver voicing Zazu and Keegan-Michael Key voicing Kamari (the hyena). ❤

I was curious about the language of origin of “Hakuna Matata.” When I put it into Google Translate, it told me it was Spanish for “Hakuna Matata.” 😀 I knew that was not correct.

Thanks to the NPR article “Swahili Speakers Debate Disney’s Trademark of ‘Hakuna Matata’ For T-Shirts,” I learned that “Hakuna Matata” is Swahili. The article is from 2018 and brings up a good point, should someone be able to trademark an expression in another language?

“Hakuna Matata” has been in my head all week—to that extent that I found guitar chords for it and started playing and singing the song! 😀

I love that “Hakuna Matata” is an upbeat song about not worrying and trusting that everything will be okay. ❤

I hope that this week’s song and video made you smile. 🙂

Wishing you well! ❤