Jungle Boogie
"Jungle Boogie" is a funk song recorded by Kool & the Gang for their 1973 album Wild and Peaceful.[1] It reached number four as a single and became very popular in nightclubs.[2] Billboard ranked it as the number 12 song for 1974, despite there being as many as 36 #1 singles that year.
"Jungle Boogie" | |
---|---|
7" Japan vinyl | |
Single by Kool & the Gang | |
from the album Wild and Peaceful | |
B-side | "North, South, East, West" |
Released | November 24, 1973 |
Recorded | 1973 |
Genre | Funk |
Length | 3:08 |
Label | Mercury |
Songwriter(s) | Robert Earl Bell, Ronald Nathan Bell, Donald Boyce, George Melvin Brown, Robert Spike Mickens, Claydes Charles Smith, Clifford Adams and Dennis Thomas |
The song's spoken main vocal was performed by the band's roadie Don Boyce. An instrumental version of the tune with an overdubbed flute part and additional percussion instruments titled "Jungle Jazz" appeared on the album Spirit of the Boogie. The song is noted for the Tarzan yell heard at the song's end and the grunting, panting and scatting heard throughout.
Track listing
De-Lite Records - DE-559:[3]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Jungle Boogie" (from the album Wild and Peaceful) | Kool & the Gang and Ronald Bell | 3:08 |
2. | "North, East, South, West" (from the album Good Times) | Rick West | 3:36 |
In popular culture
The song was used by ECW wrestler 2 Cold Scorpio as his entrance music, and ECW used it as layover music for their local show ads. Today he still uses it at wrestling shows.
"Jungle Boogie" and "Jungle Jazz" have been repeatedly sampled in subsequent popular music. For example, samples are used in EPMD's 1988 album Strictly Business, Beastie Boys' 1989 release "Hey Ladies", Madonna's 1992 top ten success "Erotica", TLC's 1991 hit "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg", Janet Jackson's 1994 top ten single "You Want This" and M/A/R/R/S' "Pump Up the Volume" in 1987.
The song was featured in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film, Pulp Fiction.[4] It is featured in the video games Dance Central, Rock Band Blitz, Just Dance 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party, and Donkey Konga 2. It was also found in the audio files of Just Dance.
24-7 Spyz covered this song on their first album, Harder Than You.
The "get down, get down" sample from the song's intro was featured in the American Dad! episode, "A Jones for a Smith". It plays whenever Stan Smith sees an object that he can use to score more crack cocaine (which he initially mistook for cold medicine). The song is featured in the 2004 animated film The Lion King 1½ and the 2006 comedy film Beerfest.
During The 20/20 Experience World Tour, Justin Timberlake covered this song alongside his song "Murder" and Bell Biv DeVoe's Poison.
Neil Cicierega used the song for the mashup "Rollercoaster" for his 2014 album, Mouth Silence.
In 2015, The Muppets released an online short where the song was performed by The Electric Mayhem and Sam the Eagle.
In 2015, Nathaniel Willemse released a version of the song, promoting the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australia season 2).
It is played at Cincinnati Bengals home games because Paul Brown Stadium is often referred to as "The Jungle".
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States (RIAA)[5] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
*sales figures based on certification alone |
References
- Hamilton, Andrew. "Wild and Peaceful - Kool & the Gang". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
- Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 287. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
- "Jungle Boogie/North, East, South, West". Discogs. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- "Surf Music and Seventies Soul: The Songs of 'Pulp Fiction'". Rolling Stone magazine. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- "American single certifications – Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH.