Jungle Animal

Album: released as a single (2010)
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Songfacts®:

  • The Pomplamoose duo of Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte teamed with the artist-songwriter-musician Allee Willis for "Jungle Animal," a song that draws parallels between nighttime in civilized society and the law of the jungle.

    Willis, who died in 2019, wrote many hit songs, including "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. Pomplamoose formed in 2008 and used YouTube as their medium, releasing songs with videos showing them making every sound. In 2009 they covered "September," which got Willis' attention. She sought out the duo and they collaborated on "Jungle Animal."

    Having a songwriter of Willis' stature team with them showed that Pomplamoose was really on to something and not just a passing fad. Willis was very forward thinking and at that stage of her career was far more interested in interactive multimedia projects than in traditional songwriting, so it was a great fit. Pomplamoose kept at it and got even more prolific - by 2017 they were releasing a video every week on YouTube.
  • Those are Allee Willis' marching band drums Jack Conte plays on the track. She brought them to the session as part of a collection of percussion implements she used to help the creative process.
  • Willis created the artwork for the single and also the animations that were used in the video. She also made an interactive game out of the song that she posted on her website.
  • Pomplamoose posted "Jungle Animal" to their YouTube channel on September 21, 2010. The date is significant because it's mentioned in the first line of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September":

    Do you remember the 21st night of September?

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