Length 3:10 Writer(s) Schneider, C.P. | Label Catchy Tunes | |
Released 13 October 2007 (2007-10-13) Format CD single, digital download, remixes EP Producer(s) Tonekind, Papabar, Rene Rennefeld | ||
"I'm a Gummy Bear (The Gummy Bear Song)" is a novelty dance song by Gummibär, in reference to the gummy bear, a type of bear-shaped candy originating in Germany. It was written by German composer Christian Schneider and released by its label Gummybear International. The song was first released in Hungary, where it spent eight months as number 1 atop the ringtones chart.
Contents
Subsequently it became global as an internet meme, in large part due to its corresponding videos on YouTube and MySpace. It has since been released in at least twenty five languages and has virally spread worldwide with more than 1 billion plays. The French Version (Funny Bear) was written by Peter Kitsch.
With the song ready-made for ringtone use, one critic commented "he's the ultimate cross-platform, cross-cultural phenomenon YouTube was designed to unleash." It is heard on his debut album I Am Your Gummy Bear released in 2007. Since the song's release, many songs, including a cover of "Blue (Da Ba Dee)", have been released by Gummibär.
Multiple languages
Versions have been released in many languages, originally in Hungarian and English.
*There are two Greek versions, the original one and another which produced for a commercial.
Music video
Videos corresponding to at least twenty five languages were posted, as well as a version featuring a "jolly and jiggly" lime green cartoon of a rubbery candy gummy bear in orange underwear basically bouncing around and breakdancing. "Oh I'm a yummy, tummy, funny, lucky gummy bear" and "I'm a movin', groovin', jammin', singing gummy bear" are the most common and mostly understood lyrics of this song.
Gummibär, the highly stylized green blue-eyed character is naked except for an orange underwear and sneakers. Gummibär also seems to be bitten with a small portion of the upper left ear missing, which may be because the song is about candy. The bear's muzzle or, allowing for anthropomorphism, his mustache and goatee, are sugar-crusted and he only has two small teeth spaced far apart on his lower jaw.
The music video has over 920 million views on YouTube as of March 2017.
The video, a 30-second CGI pop promo animated in Softimage XSI, was directed, designed and animated by Peter Dodd and produced through Wilfilm in Copenhagen for Ministry of Sound GmbH in Berlin.