CIVILIZATION (BONGO, BONGO, BONGO)
From the Broadway Musical "Angel In The Wings" (1947)
(Bob Hilliard / Carl Sigman)

Danny Kaye & The Andrews Sisters - 1947
Ray McKinley & His Orch. - 1947
Louis Prima & His Orch. - 1947
Jack Smith - 1947
Woody Herman & His Orch. - 1947


ANDREWS SISTERS:
Each morning a missionary advertise with neon sign 
He tells the native population that civilization is fine 
And three educated savages holler from a bongo tree 
That civilization is a thing for me to see

DANNY KAYE: 
So bongo, bongo, bongo I don't want to leave the Congo 
Oh no no no no no 
Bingle, bangle, bungle I'm so happy in the jungle I refuse to go 
Don't want no bright lights, false teeth, doorbells, landlords 
I make it clear 
AS: That no matter how they coax him 
DK: Yeeeah, I'll stay right here

DK: I looked through a magazine the missionary's wife concealed 
AS: Magazine? What happens? 
DK: I see how people who are civilized bang you with automobiles 
AS: You know you can get hurt that way Daniel 
DK: At the movies they have got to pay many coconuts to see 
AS: What do they see Danny?) 
DK: Uncivilized pictures that the newsreel takes of me

AS: So bongo, bongo, bongo, he don't want to leave the Congo 
Oh no no no no no 
Bingle, bangle, bungle he's so happy in the jungle he refuse to go 
DK: Don't want no penthouse, bathtub, streetcars, taxis 
Noise in my ear 
AS: So no matter how they coax him 
DK: Yeeeah, I'll stay right here

AS: They hurry like savages to get aboard an iron train 
And though it's smoky and it's crowded 
They're too civilized to complain 
DK: When they've got two weeks vacation 
They hurry to vacation ground 
AS: What do they do Danny? 
DK: They swim and they fish,
But that's what I do all year round 

ALL: So bongo, bongo, bongo I don't want to leave the congo 
Oh no no no no no 
Bingle, bangle, bungle I'm so happy in the jungle I refuse to go 
DK: Don't want no jailhouse, 
AS: Shotguns, 
DK: Fish hooks, 
AS: Golf clubs, 
DK: I got my spears 
AS: So no matter how they coax him 
DK: Yeeeah, I'll stay right here

AS: They have things like the atom bomb 
DK: So I think I'll stay where I a-a-m 
ALL: Civilization, I'll stay right here



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - October 2002)