Released 1962 (1962) Writer(s) Bert Kaempfert | Label Polydor, Decca "A Swingin' Safari"
(1962) "Afrikaan Beat"
(1962) | |
"Wonderland By Night"
(1961) "A Swingin' Safari"
(1962) | ||
"A Swingin' Safari" is an instrumental composed by Bert Kaempfert in 1962. It was recorded by Kaempfert on Polydor Records and released in the United States on Decca Records, but failed to chart. That same year, Billy Vaughn recorded it, and his cover reached number 13 on the Billboard charts that summer.
The song features a distinctive main theme played on the tin whistle and a trumpet solo by Manfred "Fred" Moch. Kaempfert's original version served as the original theme music to the television game show The Match Game, from 1962-1967. It is also featured as the main theme in the Swedish game show called Vi i femman, where two teams of fifth-graders compete against each other.
The song was the title track of an LP consisting of orchestrations of the South African kwela style of penny-whistle music popular in the 1950s.
The tune has been used in television advertisements for ING Direct in the UK, and as the rolling lap theme for the saloon stock car class in UK oval racing. It also featured in the films An Elephant Called Slowly (1969) and The Dish (2000). It is also used in a 2010-11 "Become an Ex" anti-smoking PSA for the Ad Council.
In 1971, the song was used as the theme music to the Blue Peter Royal Safari.