Down in the Jungle Boogie
A groovy jungle action song with a great big gorilla doing the laundry
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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Down in the jungle
Where nobody goes
There's a great big gorilla
Washing his clothes
With a rub-a-dub here
A rub-a-dub there
That's the way he washes his clothes
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
That's the way he washes his clothes
Down in the jungle
Where nobody goes
There's a slithery snake
Washing his clothes
With a rub-a-dub here
A rub-a-dub there
That's the way he washes his clothes
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
That's the way he washes his clothes
Down in the jungle
Where nobody goes
There's a great big crocodile
Washing his clothes
With a rub-a-dub here
A rub-a-dub there
That's the way he washes his clothes
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
That's the way he washes his clothes
Down in the jungle
Where nobody goes
There's a great big elephant
Washing his clothes
With a rub-a-dub here
A rub-a-dub there
That's the way he washes his clothes
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
Diddle-I-Dee, a boogie boogie woogie
That's the way he washes his clothes
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Down in the Jungle Boogie" is a modern action song that combines two of the most reliably effective elements in children's music: a dramatic, exotic setting (the jungle, full of great big gorillas) and a driving, infectious rhythm borrowed from the boogie-woogie tradition.
The song belongs to a category of children's music that uses the call-and-response structure common in African-American musical traditions — the "rub-a-dub here, rub-a-dub there" pattern echoes the verses of "Old MacDonald" and "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush." The image of a gorilla washing clothes is deliberately absurd, placing a very domestic activity in a very wild setting, which is exactly the kind of comic incongruity children find hilarious.
"Boogie woogie" as a musical style emerged from African-American piano music in the Southern United States in the late nineteenth century, characterised by its rolling, driving bass patterns. By the 1940s it had crossed into mainstream popular music, and its rhythmic energy has been borrowed and adapted for children's music ever since.
The "diddle-I-dee, a boogie boogie woogie" refrain is pure nonsense in the tradition of children's music that prioritises sound and rhythm over meaning — it is fun to say, fun to sing, and fun to dance to. The action song format, in which children mime the gorilla's washing movements, makes it ideal for playgroup and early years settings where physical engagement is central to learning.
Our recording captures the groove and the fun in equal measure, with a performance that will have everyone joining in from the first beat.
