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[miko2]

Today's Song: Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo) by Danny Kaye and the Andrew Sisters

This one requires a bit of explanation. When I was growing up, we had a record of songs from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. This was one of my favorite albums (and of my two sisters as well). In fact, as a family we used to perform the song The Bare Necessities at church or camping trips, with my dad playing guitar (we also regularly performed The Unicorn Song).

Now, the funny thing is I don't remember actually seeing the movie itself when I was young, although I must have. In any case it wasn't until years later that I realized that the old album that I was so familiar with from hundreds (or thousands) of listens was not, in fact, the actual Jungle Book soundtrack. Instead it was one of those Disney repackage things, new recordings of "songs from and inspired by the Jungle Book" sort of thing.

Because there are actually not that many songs from the movie itself, it was filled out with several other songs. At least, I remember one song that wasn't an actual soundtrack song, and this was Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo), sung by Baloo the bear (or at least, the person voicing Baloo for the album).

I only remembered that song this morning, when it popped into my head. Instantly I realized it was a song I associated with the Jungle Book but that wasn't really on the sountrack -- so I didn't own a copy of it. (I'd placed a bunch of Jungle Book songs on my iPod earlier in the week.) But what was the name of the song?

It took me a while to solve this riddle. The song was apparently a hit in 1947 - 1948, for up to 5 different singers/groups. The biggest hit version was by Danny Kaye and the Andrew Sisters, which you can download from iTunes (or from eMusic if you look under Danny Kaye). The song is about someone who would rather live in the jungle than in civilized society -- which applies well to Baloo, I suppose, but specifically the song mentions the Congo, and while it's sort of making fun of our hectic modern life, it's also a tad patronizing to the Congolese, in that "noble savage who gets to fish all day and doesn't have to deal with commuting or a 9-5 job" sort of way. It does work better as a song about animals not wanting to be civilized -- something that the makers of the Rootie Kazootie tv show also realized (see below).

Disney's album was made in the very late sixties or early seventies and is probably long out of print -- I couldn't find any info about it. But apparently they took the 5 or so songs from the Jungle Book and filled the album out with other songs that seemed to fit. If they were doing it today, they might include a kiddie version of the Time's Jungle Love or Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses, I suppose. Something like that.

The only version of this song to be found on Youtube is from a weird old kid's show:

Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo) performed by Rootie Kazootie