"Baby Elephant Walk" is a song written in 1961, by Henry Mancini, for the 1962 released movie, Hatari!. In 1962, the song earned Mancini a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement. The tune was written for an impromptu scene in Hatari! in which 'Dallas' (Elsa Martinelli) led three baby elephants to a pool to bathe. The catchy simplicity has made it one of Mancini's most popular works, appearing on many compilation albums. Although not used for the film, Hal David composed lyrics to Mancini's tune, which appear in the printed sheet music and later recorded by Pat Boone, released by Dot Records in 1965. Mancini's version was not released as a single.
Brass instruments (including repeated blasts from the tuba) and woodwind elements are combined to convey a large and plodding elephant toddler that is filled with the exuberance of youth. Mancini used a calliope introduction to suggest the sound of a circus. A cheeky melody was then played over this on a clarinet, the song concluding with a solo clarinet playing the old four-note tune known as "Good Evening Friends".
The overall style is as that of boogie-woogie, as Mancini explained:
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.
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."
Cover versions
The song was recorded by a number of performers in the 1960s, including the Fabulous Echoes on their 1963 Diamond Records album Those Fabulous Echoes, and Bill Haley & His Comets who recorded a version for Orfeon Records in 1964. Singles by Lawrence Welk and by the Miniature Men reached the Billboard Top 100.
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 was a great hit in national radio performances in Brazil.
The Nickelodeon animated series The Angry Beavers features a sped-up version of "Baby Elephant Walk" for the show's end credits. For a period of time, it was used as the theme song to The Ramblin' Rod Show, a children's morning cartoon show.
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra recorded the song as "Tiny Elephant Parade" on their 1990 album Ska Para Toujou.
The song is featured in The Simpsons season 2 episode 5: "Dancin' Homer", where a drunk Homer dances to a reggae version of the song which causes 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.
It was the closing song at the end of Lemonwheel, the August 1998 music festival that ended the summer tour of jam band Phish.
In 2016, the song was used in a Land Rover TV ad.