SwingDJs

I've just bought a CD called

Swingin Safari/Safari Swings Again
by Bert Kaempfert

http://www2.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayPro ... sku=728966

The big hit from this CD is the first track:

1. A Swingin' Safari

Others that are good to dance to include:

6. Zambesi
7. Afrikaan Beat
8. Happy Trumpeter
23. Walking With Fips

I've never heard these played at a Lindy dance, but I think they'd go down well. It's modern big band music with an African-type swing feel. What do you think?

I think "A Swingin' Safari" has a novelty factor of about 30 seconds.
That’s not even close to the whole song, so I would never dream of spinning it.

Brian

I've played A Swingin' Safari for years with great effect. You have to be in a particularly silly mood to play it, of course, as it's pure cheese all the way down. But it swings, for sure.

Yes, I think I'd get a bit sick of the repeated 'da-dur-dur da-dur-dur da-dur-dur da-dur-dur' refrain in 'Swingin' Safari' if it was played too much, although it is a good swinging number.

I actually prefer 'Walking With Fips' and 'Tootie Flutie' from the same CD.

Unfortunately most jazz fans would rate Bert Kaempfert right up there with Guy Lombardo. As a dancer, I would hesitate to dance to it unless it were the right mood, and even then I think it would be a novelty song forever.

I like "Danke Schoen", "Wonderland By Night", and some of the songs you've listed, but I like them in the same way that I like Poison songs. They're a guilty pleasure because you can't freakin' stop humming them, and yet it annoys you to do so.

Categorization sucks, but I would put Bert under "lounge music" before "swing". That's just me.

If John Dyer ever plays Swingin Safari again, he knows I'll shove it up his Uncle Cracker.

Well, I don't think anyone would be trying to say that A Swingin' Safari was meant to be taken seriously as a jazz work, would they?

It's all cheese, and should be taken that way. It would only take about 3 plays a year to start annoying people.

julius wrote: Categorization sucks, but I would put Bert under "lounge music" before "swing". That's just me.

I think I found it the 'Easy Listening' section of the shop.

Zot wrote:It would only take about 3 plays a year to start annoying people.

Nope, just one.

I just recently aquired a Bert Kaempfert album called "Kaempfert by Touch", it was immediately put in my TO SELL pile.

In Sweden, Swining Safari is instantly recognizable as the theme from the game show "Vi i femman", at least if you're over 25.

The show is/was a quiz competition between fifth-graders.

So if you spun it here, people would probably start staring at you. Or laugh. Or maybe dance a little.

I have, and they did. Dance, that is.

For a couple of days, a version of Swingin Safari is available for download, the Billy Vaughn version.

Much of what this guy puts up is tounge in cheek.

check out this blog

http://recordrobot.blogspot.com/

Shanabanana wrote:If John Dyer ever plays Swingin Safari again, he knows I'll shove it up his Uncle Cracker.

For all you know I'm never playing it again. You just have to have faith that I won't play it when you're not at a venue. :p

Interestingly enough, the college swing club kids seem to like it if I play it for them from time to time. In that setting it always packs the floor. The same annoying Da-dur-da Da-dur-da has a relatively predictable beat for newbs.

Pure cheese all the way through, but try to get it out of your head once you start listening to it!