Our third visit to the Elephant House brings another collection of interesting songs.
“Baby Elephant Walk” is a song composed in 1961 by Henry Mancini for the 1962 film Hatari. Lyrics by Hal David were not used in the film version. The instrumental earned Mancini a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement in 1963. 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.
“The Elephant Riders” is the title track of Clutch’s third album and was written by the band in a very old West Virginia house that was built in 1760. The song imagines a fictional elephants’ cavalry during the American Civil War. The imagery arose from an offer by the King of Siam to Abraham Lincoln to donate some war elephants to assist the Union. The President politely declined this offer pointing out in his reply that steam power had overtaken the need for heavy animal power of this kind. Vocalist/guitarist Neil Fallon says: “That part of West Virginia where we were living was close to Harper’s Ferry. I’d never really known much about the Civil War until that time. When I started reading about it I got very interested in it, and that particular part of the East Coast of the United States and those images infused themselves into that song and that record.”
“Walking with Elephants” is a song by Lithuanian producer Ten Walls. It was released as a digital download in April 2014 by German record label BOSO and later in April 2014 in the United Kingdom. The song peaked to number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and also charted in Belgium. It was one of the most popular songs in Ibiza in 2014. A music video to accompany the release of “Walking with Elephants” was first released onto YouTube in September 2014 at a total length of three minutes and two seconds.
“Elephant Talk” is a track by King Crimson taken from their 1981 album Discipline. This album was King Crimson’s first following a seven-year hiatus. Only band co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford remained from the previous incarnation. They were joined by two American musicians: guitarist, vocalist and lyricist Adrian Belew and bassist and backing vocalist Tony Levin. The album introduced a new sound for the band, influenced by new wave, post punk and world music, while retaining an experimental character, helping lay the groundwork for what would eventually be known as post-progressive rock.
“Elephants in Amsterdam” is a song which was originally going to be on their album “We Eat Ass Better Than You” but was later rejected. This unreleased song was given out as a prize for the winners of an online competition held by the Bliss Corporation in July 2002. Elephants in Amsterdam is a song about Jeffrey Jey having explosive diarrhoea.
