Editing Baby Elephant Walk

{{short description|1961 song by Henry Mancini and Hal David}}
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{{Infobox song
| name       = Baby Elephant Walk
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| type       = song
| artist     = [[Henry Mancini|Henry Mancini and his Orchestra]]
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| released   = 1962
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| writer     = [[Henry Mancini]] (music), [[Hal David]] (lyrics)
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"'''Baby Elephant Walk'''" is a song composed in 1961 by [[Henry Mancini]] for the 1962 film ''[[Hatari!]]''<ref name=pc23>{{cite AV media
 | first1=John |last1=Gilliland |first2=Henry |last2=Mancini 
 | author-link1=John Gilliland |author-link2=Henry Mancini
 | date = February 1969
 | title = Show 23 - Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream. [Part 2]
 | chapter = Chapter 11 - Track 4 - Henry Mancini
 | chapter-url = https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19778/m1/
 | medium = Radio broadcast
 | language = en-US
 | url = https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19778/
 | work = John Gilliland’s "The Pop Chronicles"
 | access-date = 24 March 2020
 | time = 8
 | location = [[Denton, Texas]]
 | publisher = [[KRLA]]
 | quote = I've found I like to think past the obvious when I get a scene to do, if the scene will take it. Now the typical example is the Baby Elephant walk.
 }}</ref> Lyrics by [[Hal David]] were not used in the film version. The instrumental earned Mancini a [[Grammy Award]] for Best Instrumental Arrangement in {{grammy|1963}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/5th-annual-grammy-awards-1962|title=5th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1962)|date=2017-11-28|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en|access-date=24 March 2020|publisher=[[The Recording Academy|National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]]|quote=Best Instrumental Arrangement: ''Winner'', Henry Mancini, Baby Elephant Walk.  Henry Mancini, arranger (Henry Mancini)}}</ref>

==Background==
The tune was written for an impromptu scene in ''Hatari!'' in which  Dallas ([[Elsa Martinelli]]) led three baby elephants to a waterhole to bathe.  The catchy simplicity has made it one of Mancini's most popular works, appearing on many compilation albums. [[Hal David]] composed lyrics for it, which were not used for the film but appear in the printed sheet music. [[Pat Boone]] used the lyrics in his recording released by [[Dot Records]] in 1965. Mancini's version was not released as a single.

[[Brass instrument]]s (including repeated blasts from the [[tuba]]) and [[woodwind instrument|woodwind]] elements are combined to convey a large and plodding elephant toddler that is filled with the exuberance of youth.  Mancini uses a [[calliope (music)|calliope]] introduction to suggest the sound of a circus.  A cheeky melody is then played over this on a clarinet, and the song concludes with the calliope playing the old four-note phrase known as ''"Good Evening, Friends".'' <ref>{{YouTube|id=g40-fFR1ZHU|title="Good Evening Friends"}}</ref>

The overall style is as that of [[boogie-woogie]], as Mancini explained: {{blockquote|I looked at the scene several times [and] I thought, 'Yeah, they're walking eight to the bar', and that brought something to mind, an old [[Will Bradley]] boogie-woogie number called '[[Down the Road a Piece]]' ... Those little elephants were definitely walking boogie-woogie, eight to the bar.  I wrote 'Baby Elephant Walk' as a result.<ref>{{citation |last=Mancini |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Mancini |title=Did They Mention the Music?: The Autobiography of Henry Mancini |year=2001 |publisher=Cooper Square Press |isbn=978-0-8154-11758 |page=109}}</ref><ref>{{citation |page=88 |title=Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music |first=John |last=Caps |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-2520-93845}}</ref>}}

The cheerful tone, like that of Mancini's "[[The Pink Panther Theme]]", presents a stark contrast to more melancholy Mancini standards such as "[[Moon River]]". Due to its "goofy" sound, it is often used in a humorous context.   As the [[allmusic.com]] album review states, "if ''Hatari!'' is memorable for anything, it's for the incredibly goofy 'Baby Elephant Walk,' which has gone on to be musical shorthand for kookiness of any stripe. Get this tune in your head and it sticks."<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r67340}}</ref>

==Chart history==
"Baby Elephant Walk" performed by Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra peaked at #48 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the summer of 1962 as well as #10 on the [[Easy Listening]] chart.<ref>{{cite book|first= Joel |last= Whitburn |author-link= Joel Whitburn |year= 1993 |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 |publisher= Record Research |page=254}}</ref>

==Cover versions==
The song was recorded by a number of performers in the 1960s, including: 
*[[Dalida]], who recorded ''Petit Éléphant Twist'' in 1962, with French lyrics.
*[[the Fabulous Echoes]] on their 1963 [[Diamond Records]] album ''Those Fabulous Echoes''
*[[Bill Haley & His Comets]] who recorded a version for [[Orfeon Records]] in 1964.   
*Singles by [[Lawrence Welk]] and by the Miniature Men both reached the Billboard Top 100 the same week in 1962.<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PP1|title=NEW ON THE HOT 100|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|volume=74|issue=23|page=1|accessdate=27 October 2018 |language=en |date=9 June 1962|quote=96. BABY ELEPHANT WALK . . . [[Lawrence Welk]], Dot 16364,... 98. BABY ELEPHANT WALK . . . Miniature Men, Dolton 57}}</ref>
*[[Quincy Jones]] includes it on his 1964 album ''[[Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020|url=https://www.discogs.com/Quincy-Jones-Quincy-Jones-Explores-The-Music-Of-Henry-Mancini/release/3380723|title=Quincy Jones - Quincy Jones Explores The Music Of Henry Mancini|publisher=[[Discogs]]|id=[[Mercury Records|Mercury]] – MG 20863|language=en|access-date=24 March 2020}}</ref>
*In 1963, Brazilian pre-[[Jovem Guarda]] group [[Trio Esperança]] recorded a vocal version of this song, titled "O Passo do Elefantinho", with lyrics written by Ruth Blanco. This version achieved #14 on the 1963 Brazil radio charts.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

==Popular culture==
*For a period of time, it was used as the theme song to ''[[Ramblin' Rod Anders|The Ramblin' Rod Show]]'', a children's morning cartoon show.<ref name="libby2002">{{Cite news|journal=[[Willamette Week]]|url=https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1023-requiem-for-ramblin-rod.html|url-status=live|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701232157/https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-1023-requiem-for-ramblin-rod.html|title=REQUIEM FOR RAMBLIN' ROD: Portland's favorite kiddie show host is dead, but not forgotten.|publisher=Mark Zusman|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-24|quote=To cheers from a bleacher full of tots, each morning Ramblin' Rod sailed into camera view on a ersatz tugboat made of fiberboard, while [[Henry Mancini]]'s "Baby Elephant Walk" played in the background. His uniform was always the same: polyester slacks and a cardigan sweater covered in pins that said things like "{{tooltip|2=I'm with Stupid is a jovial insult, best known as a popular slogan for novelty T-shirts.|I'm with Stupid}}" or "[[Gerald Ford#1976 presidential election|Ford in '76]]," all gifts from his pint-sized followers.|first=Brian|last=Libby|date=21 May 2002}}</ref>
*[[Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra]] recorded the song as "Tiny Elephant Parade" on their 1990 album ''Ska Para Toujou''.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}
* The first few seconds of the song were interpolated in the 1980 arcade game ''[[Crazy Climber]]'' as the 5-second intro tune to each building (level).
* In 1986, the song was featured in ''[[Cheers]]'' season 5 episode 10: "Everyone Imitates Art", in which Woody whistles the song.
* In 1990 the song was featured in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' season 2 episode 5: "[[Dancin' Homer]]", in which a drunk Homer dances to the song which inspires the Springfield Isotopes baseball team to win.
*In 1994 [[Willi One Blood]] sampled the melody of "Baby Elephant Walk" for the chorus of the song "Whiney Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy)" as featured on the soundtrack for the film ''[[Dumb and Dumber]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|editor-first=Larry|editor-last=Flick|title=Single Reviews : New & Noteworthy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59|via=Google Books|magazine=Billboard|date=21 January 1995|accessdate=15 July 2016|page=59|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|issn=0006-2510|quote=[[Willi One Blood]]: Whiney Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy) ...  Pop minded reggae artists aims to enjoy radio success à la [[Ini Kamoze]] with a maddeningly catchy ditty that melts sexy and silly rhymes over a jaunting groove that borrows heavily from [[Henry Mancini]]'s "Baby Elephant Walk" and "[[You Really Got Me]]" by [[the Kinks]].}}</ref>
*In 1996 the song was featured in ''[[Friends]]'' season 3 episode 7: "The One with the Race Car Bed". Joey hums the song during the episode's opening scene. 
*In 2016, the song was used in a [[Land Rover]] TV ad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.adbreakanthems.com/adverts/land-rover-evoque-city-safari/|title=Land Rover Evoque - City Safari UK TV Advert Song / Music|website=Adbreakanthems|access-date=24 March 2020|url-status=live|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221114806/https://www.adbreakanthems.com/adverts/land-rover-evoque-city-safari/|quote=This new Land Rover Evoque spot takes MOR maestro Henry Mancini’s 1961 hit Baby Elephant Tune out for a spin in today’s urban sprawl.}}</ref>

==Sources==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{youTube|nDuRgtWilv4|Baby Elephant Walk}}

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[[Category:Songs written for films]]
[[Category:1961 songs]]
[[Category:Bill Haley songs]]
[[Category:Compositions by Henry Mancini]]
[[Category:Songs with music by Henry Mancini]]
[[Category:Boogie-woogie songs]]
[[Category:Songs about elephants]]
[[Category:Film music compositions]]