Misplaced Pages

Nellie the Elephant

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Nellie the elephant) This article is about the song. For the TV series, see Nellie the Elefant (TV series).

1956 single by Mandy Miller
"Nellie the Elegant"
Single by Mandy Miller
B-side"It's Time to Dream"
ReleasedOctober 1956
Recorded1956
StudioLondon
GenreChildren's novelty
Length2:32
LabelParlophone R4219
Songwriter(s)Ralph Butler, Peter Hart
Producer(s)George Martin
Mandy Miller singles chronology
"Nellie the Elegant"
(1956) 		"Ja"
(Keine ahnung)

"Nellie the Elephant" is a children's song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional anthropomorphic elephant of that name.

Original version

The original version, released on Parlophone R 4219 in October 1956, was recorded by English child actress Mandy Miller with an orchestra conducted by Phil Cardew. 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 is as follows:

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

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 from a Little Acorns brand children's record, and 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.

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 (I Like It)". 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 inadequacy slightly, as compared with the use of no music (56% too shallow with "Nellie" and 47% without).

References

  1. Archived 9 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Popmusicinfo". Popmusicinfo. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  3. "jabw_vintage/78rpmdiscuss 2005". Jabw.demon.co.uk. 29 June 2005. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  4. "BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Jacqueline Wilson".
  5. Betts, Graham (2004). Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004 (1st ed.). London: Collins. p. 793. ISBN 0-00-717931-6.
  6. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 312. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ Rawlins, L.; Woollard, M.; Williams, J.; Hallam, P. (2009). "Effect of listening to Nellie the Elephant during CPR training on performance of chest compressions by lay people: Randomised crossover trial". BMJ. 339: b4707. doi:10.1136/bmj.b4707. PMC 2792674. PMID 20008376.
Lulu
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Selected singles
Related articles
Categories: