In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Mama was queen of the mambo
Papa was king of the Congo
Deep down in the jungle
I start bangin' my first bongo
Every monkey'd like to be
In my place instead of me
'Cause I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
I went to the big town
Where there is a lot of sound
From the jungle to the city
Looking for a bigger crown
So I play my boogie
For the people of big city
But they don't go crazy
When I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm the king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Nobody'd like to be in my place instead of me
'Cause nobody go crazy when I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm a king without a crown, hanging loose in a big town
But I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
They say that I'm a clown making too much dirty sound
They say there is no place for little monkey in this town
Nobody'd like to be in my place instead of me
'Cause nobody go crazy when I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm the king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Bangin' on my bongo, all that swing belongs to me
I'm so happy there's nobody in my place instead of me
I'm a king without a crown hanging loose in a big town
I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Mama was queen of the mambo
Papa was king of the Congo
Deep down in a jungle
I start bangin' my first bongo
Every monkey'd like to be
In my place instead of me
'Cause I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Hear me when I come, baby (king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong)
Hear me when I come
Papa was king of the Congo
Deep down in the jungle
I start bangin' my first bongo
Every monkey'd like to be
In my place instead of me
'Cause I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
I went to the big town
Where there is a lot of sound
From the jungle to the city
Looking for a bigger crown
So I play my boogie
For the people of big city
But they don't go crazy
When I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm the king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Nobody'd like to be in my place instead of me
'Cause nobody go crazy when I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm a king without a crown, hanging loose in a big town
But I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
They say that I'm a clown making too much dirty sound
They say there is no place for little monkey in this town
Nobody'd like to be in my place instead of me
'Cause nobody go crazy when I'm bangin' on my boogie
I'm the king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Bangin' on my bongo, all that swing belongs to me
I'm so happy there's nobody in my place instead of me
I'm a king without a crown hanging loose in a big town
I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come, baby
King of the bongo, king of the bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Mama was queen of the mambo
Papa was king of the Congo
Deep down in a jungle
I start bangin' my first bongo
Every monkey'd like to be
In my place instead of me
'Cause I'm the king of bongo, baby
I'm the king of bongo bong
Hear me when I come
Hear me when I come, baby (king of the bongo, king of the bongo bong)
Hear me when I come
Lyrics submitted by LunarCrevan
Bongo Bong Lyrics as written by Jose Manuel Chao
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i always thought this song was about donkey kong. i used to watch the show, which im sure no one remembers, and in it, he lived on kongo bongo island. papa was "king of the congo... deep down in the jungle i started bangin my first bongo." he jumped on barrels or something in the show, and now they have that donkey konga game where you play bongos to control him. "Bangin' on my bongo all that swing belongs to me...I'm a king without a crown" DK is the king of swing, and he doesnt have a crown. he has a tie. idk, its just my thoughts, but i think there are a lot of coincidences.
does anyone have the french part?
@skwerl it's all another song
Je ne t´aime plus mon amour Je ne t´aime plus tout le jour There ^
I just listened to the other part in french and it is parfois j'aimerais mourir tellement j'ai voulu croire parfois j'aimerais mourir pour ne plus rien avoir parfois j'aimerais mourir pour plus jamais te voir Parfois j'aimerais mourir tellement (il n')y a plus d'espoir Parfois j'aimerais mourir pour plus jamais te revoir parfois j'aimerais mourir pour ne plus rien savoir. I hope I helped. :)
what is translation of the french text?
i think the french part he says something about being hopless, and "wanting to die so i would never have to see you again. " or something like that. i'm not sure.
I don't love you anymore, my love, etc. And then he goes 'i would like to die so i don't have to see you again....' and so on.
one of the catchiest songs ever.
can you translate the frensh part? ^^ sry i dont speak this language
So acting on grrl's lead and having in passing recognized the first two lines of French as something on the order of,
"I do not love you any more my love I do not love you any more all the day",
I ran the rest of grrl's transcription thru the BabelFish language translator. So as grrl writes later on, we get
All of which makes perfect sense as-nestled in the midst of the cheery-cheery-senseless-fool madcap/madhouse lyric /anglais,/ with the broken heart bizness downright cleverly left out of the language for a certain amusingly-edited benefit to all but the [now these days known-torturing and -heartless, so why waste the lyric breath on 'em?] carpetbaggin' truthy-shallow /anglos./
Keep 'em guessing, leave 'em laughing, never put a pencil in one's hands, and live to see another day for so long as ever one can. I expect pretty much everyone in that classically broke-up po'boy's fled-to city was likely a fluent French speaker to begin with. (Also a stranger, and street-smart too...)
Exquisitely subtle sociocultural sabotage there is in those lyrics - wonderfully expressive to the fully world-literate. A man with a broken heart going crazy in the city where he is a stranger and keeping all the little he has left as best he can to his more compassionate countrymen. Ah, yes, and just another monkey-man in the streets (but this one with a bongo) to the blinkered, matrix-dwelling, big.money ugly-bizness American man in the Bermuda shorts, crossing the street at Five Corners amid a steady hail of senseless, madcap, inexplicable bongo-bong on his way to the consul's office or somesuch.
No P-Nackers were consulted in the composition of this opus, I daresay with some good confidence. This one r-o-c-k-s, world-class and classic.
So I hope this wee exercise in cyber-lookup helped too. Grrl, thank you for your well-tuned Francaise ear and nimble fingers! 0{:-)o
I think your pretty close - although the bit about him segregating the anglophones is off in my opinion. I think he's just using it for dramatic effect and expecting people to understand the basic level of french that he employs in the song. I really don't think it's his style to demonise the anglophones... although I could be wrong.