Day After Day #296: Jungle Boogie

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Jungle Boogie (1973)

This is the second song this week that was on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack years after it was originally released. While it's not an instrumental like Dick Dale's "Misirlou," Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" might as well have been. The lyrics are basically two phrases, but it's the FUNK that matters.

The band was formed as the Jazziacs in 1964 in Jersey City, NJ, by a bunch of high school friends led by Robert "Kool" Bell; they played instrumental soul and jazz covers. After a few name changes, the group settled on Kool & the Gang in 1969. They released a few instrumental albums before adding vocals and moving to a funk sound.

Kool & the Gang's fourth album, 1973's Wild and Peaceful, was their breakthrough. In an interview last year with Questlove, drummer George Brown said the band was feeling some pressure to write some hits. They came up with a song they originally called "Jungle Jim" before sax player Dennis Thomas said it should be called "Jungle Boogie" instead. 

Driven by the group's three-man horn section, the song featured roadie Don Boyce providing the super-deep backing vocals. As for the lyrics, they essentially consist of the admonition to "Get down, get down," followed by the band singing "Jungle boogie" and Boyce adding exclamations like "Get down with the boogie," "Get it on," "Get up with the boogie" and "Shake it around."

Meanwhile, the band is playing some of the tightest, hardest funk around. Boyce ends the song with a litany of instructions, followed by a Tarzan yell.

"Uh, get it/Feel the funk y'all/Let it flow/Get down with the boogie/I'm a-talkin' 'bout the jungle boogie/Get down, huh/Get down with the boogie say/Uh huh, get down/Say, ah, get down/Say, uh huh, get down/Say uh huh til you feel it, y'all/Ah huh, get down, y'all." 

There's also an instrumental version of the song, "Jungle Jazz," that was on the 1975 album Spirit of the Boogie. It features a flute solo and additional percussion.

"Jungle Boogie" was a big hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It was especially popular in dance clubs, as the disco scene was starting to take hold. Other hits from Wild and Peaceful included "Hollywood Swinging" and "Funky Stuff." 

In the years that followed, Kool & the Gang tried to jump on the disco craze but didn't have much success. In 1979, the group changed its sound by adding singer James "J.T." Taylor (no relation to the other JT) and working with Brazilian producer Eumir Deodato. The result was more commercial and smoother sounding, with Taylor bringing the ability to sing ballads to the band.''

This led to a string of hits in the late '70s and '80s, including "Too Hot," "Get Down On It," "Celebration," "Joanna," "Emergency," "Cherish" and "Fresh." The hits slowed down in the '90s, and the group had numerous lineup changes. But in 1994, "Jungle Boogie" played at the beginning of Pulp Fiction (right after the scene with "Misilou," when Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta are driving to a job and talking about "royales with cheese"). The Pulp Fiction soundtrack was a big hit thanks to its quirky song selections and selected audio selections from the movie, and "Jungle Boogie" found new life. 

Kool & the Gang has only released six albums since 1992, but a version of the band (all of the original members except one has died) still tours periodically. "Jungle Boogie" can still fill a dance floor, though.