Nellie the Elephant

Nellie the Elephant
"Nellie the Elephant"
Single by Mandy Miller
B-side It's Time To Dream
Released October 1956
Format 7"
Recorded London, 1956
Length 2:32
Label Parlophone R4219
Writer(s) Ralph Butler, Peter Hart
Producer George Martin

Nellie the Elephant is a song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional intelligent elephant of the same name.[1]

Contents

Original version

The original version, released on Parlophone R 4219 in October 1956,[2] was recorded by English child actress Mandy Miller, with orchestra conducted by Phil Cardew.[3] It was arranged by Ron Goodwin and produced by George Martin. Although never a hit single, it was played countless times on BBC national radio in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly on "Children's Favourites".

The chorus of the song goes:

Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump

Children's author Jacqueline Wilson chose the song as one of her Desert Island Discs in October 2005.

Later versions

The punk rock band Toy Dolls did a cover of this song in 1982 which was later released on the 1983 album Dig That Groove Baby. Issued as a single, it reached # 4 on the UK singles chart in late 1984.[4]

In turn, the Toy Dolls' version was covered by WC Experience as the Dutch language version "Fritske d'n Olifant"[5]

Rhythm

The rhythm and tempo of this song is often used to teach people the rhythm of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The recommended rate for CPR is 100 chest compressions per minute. A study at Coventry University compared the effectiveness of this song in maintaining this rhythm with an alternative of That's the Way (I Like It) and no song at all. The version used for the study was by Little Bear which was found to have a tempo of 105 beats per minute. Singing the chorus of the song twice, with a compression on each beat, results in exactly 30 compressions, which is the international standard for CPR.[6]

The use of Nellie resulted in correct timing for 42 out of 130 cases, as compared with 15 for no music and just 12 for That's the Way. However, the depth of compression was found to be inadequate in most of those cases and the use of Nellie was found to increase this slightly, as compared with the use of no music (56% too shallow with Nellie and 47% without).[6]

References

  1. ^ Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library, Popular Songs List
  2. ^ Popmusicinfo
  3. ^ Brother of potter Michael Cardew and uncle of composer Cornelius Cardew - [1]
  4. ^ Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 793. ISBN 0-00-717931-6. 
  5. ^ "DISCOGRAFIE WC EXPERIENCE [WC Experience Discography]" (in Dutch). http://www.wcexperience.nl/paginas/discografie.html. Retrieved 2011-06-06. 
  6. ^ a b L Rawlins, M Woollard, J Williams, P Hallam (13 December 2009), "Effect of listening to Nellie the Elephant during CPR training on performance of chest compressions by lay people", British Medical Journal, http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/dec11_2/b4707 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nellie the Elephant — (Nellie, el elefante) es una canción de 1956 escrita por Ralph Butler y Peter Hart sobre un ficticio e inteligente elefante de mismo nombre.[1] Tema original La versión original se grabó en octubre de 1956 en la discográfica Parlophone R 4219,[2] …   Wikipedia Español

  • Nellie the Elephant (TV series) — Nellie the Elephant was a short lived cartoon series created by Terry Ward on behalf of Film Fair in the United Kingdom that ran between 1989 and 1990. The series featured Lulu as the voice of Nellie with Tony Robinson as narrator. A comic book… …   Wikipedia

  • The Toy Dolls — The Toy Dolls …   Википедия

  • The toy dolls — Годы с 1979 по сегодня …   Википедия

  • The Toy Dolls — Le guitariste Olga à Wiesbaden en 2005. The Toy Dolls est un groupe punk britannique. Formé en 1979, ils ont joué leur tout premier concert au Millview Social Club de Sunderland le 20 octobre de cette même année. Sommaire …   Wikipédia en Français

  • nellie — I. nelly n British 1. an ineffectual, weak, effete or senti mental person. Often given more empha sis by phrases like big soft nellie or great wet nellie . Nellie was used until the late 1940s in the USA and Britain as a humorous or contemptuous… …   Contemporary slang

  • The Threepenny Opera — For the 1931 film, see The Threepenny Opera (1931 film). For the 1990 film, see Mack the Knife (film). The Threepenny Opera Original German poster from Berlin, 1928. Music Kurt Weill …   Wikipedia

  • List of performances on Top of the Pops — NOTOC Contents 1960s: 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 1970s: 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 1979 1980s: 1980 | 1981 1982 | 1983 | 1984 1985 | 1986 | 1987 1988 | 1989 1990s: 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 1994 |… …   Wikipedia

  • Cultural depictions of Victoria of the United Kingdom — Victoria of the United Kingdom has been portrayed or referenced many times.LiteratureIn 1937 Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Cromer ruled that no British sovereign may be portrayed on the British stage until 100 years after his or her accession. For …   Wikipedia

  • Keep the Aspidistra Flying —   …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”