Now, obviously that opening song is deplorable on many levels - but it's terrific. The performer, Lincoln Chase, was a New Yorker, the son of West Indian immigrants. He was better known as a songwriter, whose credits include "Jim Dandy", "Such a Night", "The Name Game" and "The Clapping Song". Respect!
I found the delightful "Miss Orangatang (sic)" while desultorily searching for songs with a jungly theme (no, I have no idea why). There are probably thousands of them across a variety of musical genres, and a surprising number are excellent (or just strange), so I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you, including a few I heard for the first time today. The next one, which came out in 1960, isn't that great, but it took my fancy. I know nothing about Ernie George or his quartet, and this appears to have been their only release:
The next song is mad, and the only vaguely "jungle" association is the fact that the performers - Elias and his Zig Zag Jive Flutes (no, really) were African, from the Alexandra Township outside Johannesburg, which probably isn't near any jungles. The song "Tom Hark" (possibly a mishearing of tomahawk?) reached to No.2 in the UK charts in 1958, sold three million copies worldwide, was used as the theme tune to a TV series, The Killing Stones, and is now chanted by English football fans. A jive flute is another name for a penny whstle:
I have a hopelessly scratched copy of "African Waltz" by the British singer Lynn Cornell, made after she left the Vernon Girls. Unfortunately, no one has posted it on YouTube, so I've chosen the original, purely instrumental version by Cannonball Adderley:
"Stranded in the Jungle" was doo-wop group The Cadets' slightly livelier cover of the original by The Jawhawks. They were both released in 1956, and both got into the US top twenty:
"Similau" is by Martin Denny, who released the instrumental albums Exotica and Exotica Volume II in the late '50s, which leant their name to a whole musical genre:
Fred Prentiss's "Jungle Queen" was recorded at Sun Records in Memphis, but never released - which you won't find particularly surprising once you've listened to it. One of the oddest rock and roll records I've ever heard:
There's no overt jungle or African references in Duke Ellington's "The Mooche" from 1928...
...but I think the reason it's here is that the sound reminded me vaguely of contemporary Australian-American artist, C.W. Stoneking's utterly splendid "Jungle Blues":
About Ronnie Savoy, I know next to nothing - but I love this:
Dave Bartholomew was an immensely distinguished New Orleans bandleader, songwriter, producer - you name it. He worked with Fats Domino (and many others) and co-wrote "Ain't That a Shame", "I'm in Love Again" "Blue Monday" and "I'm Walkin'". "The Monkey", released in 1957, is a chugging classic:
I'll finish with one of Sun's finest moments - the great Warren Smith and the wonderful "Ubangi Stomp":
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