"The Chimpanzoo" is a deleted song from the movie, Mary Poppins.
According to concept art and storyboards, this would have been a scene where Mary Poppins sang a song to the Banks children while at Uncle Albert's floating tea party, which would lead to a live-action/cartoon fantasy sequence where humans are kept in cages for animals to gawk at.
Production[]
When this song was written, Walt Disney felt the number was more than the sequence needed, and so the amusing and uplifting “I Love to Laugh” is the only song performed in the high tea scene. Taking a cue from story sketches in which the animals at the Chimpanzoo are musically talented, this recording employs those creatures for the vocals, rather than Mary Poppins or Bert. Also, when the animals play kazoos, Richard Sherman himself joins in.
Lyrics[]
In Timbuktu, there's a Chimpanzoo
That's run by a chimpanzee
It's an oddish place where the human race
Is under lock and key
And on their backs, they wear small plaques
For the animals to view
Which specify the reasons why
They're kept in the Chimpanzoo
If you're boisterous and bumptious,
you're grist for the Chimpanzoo!
If you're overly rambuctious,
you're whisked to Timbuktu
Laughs, laughs, nothing but laughs
But you know who's laughing at who?
It's the animals there who giggle and stare
at you in the Chimpanzoo!
(Kazoo break)
Now this chimpanzee's relations
Keep the cages looking posh
Tend the wickets, take the tickets
And purvey the lemon squash
Laughs, laughs, nothing but laughs
But you know who's laughing at who?
It's the animals there who giggle and stare
at you in the Chimpanzoo!
You might never play the musicals
In all your wildest dreams
But billow and blast in the Chimpanzoo
And the animals burst their seams
It takes a lot of talent and time
To become a West End attraction
But in this place, one rude grimace
Gets a marvelous reaction
Laughs, laughs, nothing but laughs
But you know who's laughing at who?
It's the animals there who giggle and stare
Gape with glee incredulously
At the boisterous bumptious rowdy crew
At you in the Chimpanzoo!
Gallery[]
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (1).png (516 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (2).png (358 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (3).png (335 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (4).png (303 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (5).png (379 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (6).png (332 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (7).png (554 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (8).png (332 KB)")
.png "Mary Poppins Chimpanzoo (9).png (337 KB)")
Trivia[]
- The tune of "The Chimpanzoo" would later be recycled by the Sherman Brothers into the soundtrack of the non-Disney film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland as the "Etiquette Song".
- The title is a reference to Chimpanzee.
