"Baby Elephant Walk" is a song written in 1961 by Henry Mancini for the 1962 filmHatari! In, the song earned Mancini a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement. The tune was written for an impromptu scene in Hatari! in which 'Dallas' led three baby elephants to a waterhole 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 were later recorded by Pat Boone, released by Dot Records in 1965. Mancini's version was not released as a single. Brass instruments and woodwind elements are combined to convey a large and plodding elephant toddler that is filled with the exuberance of youth. Mancini uses a calliope introduction to suggest the sound of a circus. A cheeky melody is then played over this on a clarinet, and the song concludes with the calliope playing the old four-note phrase known as "Good Evening, Friends". The overall style is as that of boogie-woogie, as Mancini explained: 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."
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 both reached the Billboard Top 100 the same week in 1962. Quincy Jones includes it on his 1964 album Quincy Jones Explores the Music of Henry Mancini. 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 achieved #14 on the 1963 Brazil radio charts. 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 Simpsonsseason 2 episode 5: "Dancin' Homer", in which a drunk Homer dances to the song which inspires the Springfield Isotopesbaseball team to win. In 1994 Willi One Blood sampled the melody of "Baby Elephant Walk" for the chorus of the song "Whiney Whiney " as featured on the soundtrack for the film Dumb and Dumber. In 2016, the song was used in a Land RoverTV ad.
