Perennial Uke caberet player C. Everett Uke opened the last show with a dead-on rendition of Manu Chao's "Bongo Bong", a song I myself had tried to prepare but gave up on due to the lyrical delivery demands. The next week, I brought the song in to the kids at The Intonation Music Workshop at Taylor Park to find all three classes giggling uncontrollably at the playful boasting of the song's narrator. They wanted to learn the song and did so in no time.



The track is the first solo single from Manu Chao's debut album Clandestino, released in 2000. Its a remake of Mano Negra's song, "King of Bongo" (1991), which has its roots from a 1939 recording of "King of the Bongo Bong" by the trumpeter, Roy Eldridge.

Play this one for your kids!

Bongo Bong