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From 1908, the popular singing duo Collins and Harlan perform Down in Jungle Town.

Down in Jungle Town

 
Company Edison's National Phonograph Company
Cylinder # 9941
Category Duet
Title Down in Jungle Town
Performed by Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan
Circa September 1908
Announcement "Down in Jungle Town, sung by Collins & Harlan.  Edison record."
 

The great team of Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan deliver another popular recording of humorous material.  

In the first decade of the previous century there grew the curious fad of "jungle" songs (see the May 2002 Cylinder of the Month to hear an early entrant in the field).   The continuation of the fad prompted the editors of The Edison Phonograph Monthly, in April 1910, to report –

The number of "jungle" compositions, instead of decreasing, is constantly on the increase; which fact must be interpreted to mean that the public demands that particular type of song.
Note also the somewhat bemused tone of the editors in their write-up, below, for this recording.

To hear Down in Jungle Town  

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9941   Down in Jungle Town Collins and Harlan
    We were all ready and waiting for another Collins and Harlan Jungle Song ever since they gave us "In Monkey Land" (Record 9700 [released December 1907]).   It certainly had a "more" taste, and it might be added, its popularity shows no signs of waning.   "In Jungle Town" is by the same composers and they call it the legitimate successor to their earlier effort.   We wish to stamp our cordial O. K. on their opinion, but think Collins and Harlan deserve a world of credit for the splendid manner in which they have brought out all its good points.   The tune is fetching and the chorus goes with a double-swing, helped considerably by a xylophone accompaniment.   Orchestra accompaniment; music, Theodore Morse; words, Edward Madden; publishers, F. B. Haviland Publishing Co., New York.
— July 1908 Edison Phonograph Monthly [announcing the September records]

                                       


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