Child Of The 1980's

I distinctly remember Um Bongo being launched whilst I was still at primary school, as everybody would sing the TV advert jingle at the drop of a hat. Um Bongo the drink is a tasty tropical fruit blend containing 9 different types of fruit, and you can still buy it today. I must admit with the politically correct attitudes of today I’m surprised someone hasn’t found the name Um Bongo to be offensive and have it banned.

The TV advert itself featured a group of animated brightly coloured jungle animals creating and packaging the drink, and was accompanied by the most infuriating catchy jingle, which went like this:-

Way down deep in the middle of the Congo,
A Hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango,
He stuck them altogether and he danced a dainty tango,
The Rhino said, I know, we’ll call it Um Bongo.
Um Bongo, Um Bongo, they drink it in the Congo.

This link to the TV advert allows you to hear it in it’s proper glory, but it only has the first verse. I’m sure there was a second verse that, if memory serves, went like this:-

The Python picked the Passion Fruit,
The Marmoset the Mandarin,
The Parrot painted packets that the whole caboodle landed in,
So when you look for sun and fun and goodness from the jungle,
We all prefer the sunny, funny one they call Um Bongo!

Thanks to Marc for reminding me of Um Bongo on my post about Jacob’s Trio, and for more information, check out the official Um Bongo website.

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This entry is filed under Miscellaneous, TV - Adverts and was posted on August 30th, 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.