| A Swingin' Safari | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Bert Kaempfert |
| Album: | A Swingin' Safari |
| B-Side: | Black Beauty |
| Recorded: | December 1961 and March 1962[1] |
| Studio: | Polydor Studio, Hamburg-Rahlstedt |
| Label: | Polydor, Decca |
| Prev Title: | Wonderland by Night |
| Prev Year: | 1961 |
| Next Title: | Afrikaan Beat |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
| A Swingin' Safari | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra |
| Cover: | SwinginSafari.jpg |
| Caption: | Original album cover |
| Recorded: | 1962 |
| Label: | Polydor Records |
| Prev Title: | With a Sound in My Heart |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | That Happy Feeling |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
| A Swingin' Safari | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Billy Vaughn |
| Album: | A Swingin' Safari |
| B-Side: | Indian Love Call |
| Released: | June 1962 |
| Recorded: | 1962 |
| Genre: | Instrumental |
| Length: | 2:15 |
| Label: | Dot |
| Producer: | Randy Wood |
| Prev Title: | Continental Melody |
| Prev Year: | 1962 |
| Next Title: | Blue Flame |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
"A Swingin' Safari" is a 1962 instrumental composed by Bert Kaempfert,[2] using his alias, Bernd Bertie. It was recorded by Kaempfert on Polydor Records and released in the United States on Decca Records. The song features a distinctive main theme played on the piccolo as substitute for the traditional tin whistle, and a trumpet solo by Manfred "Fred" Moch.[3] The prominent bass line is by Ladi Geisler.[4] Kaempfert's recording of the song did not reach the charts, but a near-simultaneous cover by Billy Vaughn reached #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Easy Listening chart.[5]
"A Swingin' Safari" shares a number of compositional elements in common with The Tokens' 1961 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which itself was derived from several earlier arrangements of Solomon Linda's 1939 song "Mbube". In particular, "A Swingin' Safari" uses the chord changes, tempo, shuffle rhythm, and high soprano obbligato of the Tokens' hit, and the tin whistle theme that opens the arrangement rhythmically mimics the "wimoweh" vocal figure found in the Weavers' 1952 "Wimoweh" recording and the Tokens' version. Kaempfert's own recording of "Wimoweh" appears on the album, credited to "Paul Campbell" which is a pseudonym for the members of the Weavers.[6]
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 album was credited to "Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra".
This album was first released in the U.S. in August 1962 under the title That Happy Feeling and had climbed to Number 14 in the charts by September of that year. It was then released on the European market with the title A Swingin' Safari in autumn of the same year.[1]
The tracklist for the album was:
In 1962, the same year as the release of the original, Billy Vaughn recorded the song "A Swingin' Safari" as a cover; his version reached #13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Easy Listening chart that summer.[7] On Cash Box, the song peaked at No. 11.[8]