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Mr Tembo

"Mr Tembo"
Mr. Tembo single cover art.jpg
Single by Damon Albarn featuring The Leytonstone City Mission Choir
from the album Everyday Robots
Released 16 April 2014
Format Music download
Recorded 2013
Studio 13
(West London)
Genre
Length 3:43
Label Parlophone, Warner. Bros., XL
Songwriter(s)
  • Damon Albarn
Producer(s)
Damon Albarn singles chronology
"Hollow Ponds"
(2014)
"Mr Tembo"
(2014)
"Heavy Seas of Love"
(2014)
The Leytonstone City Mission Choir singles chronology
"Mr Tembo"
(2014)
"Heavy Seas of Love"
(2014)
Everyday Robots track listing

"Mr Tembo" is the fourth single released by English recording artist, songwriter and Blur/Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn, from his debut solo studio album Everyday Robots. Its release as a single was limited to the United States. The track features The Leytonstone City Mission Choir and contains a sample of "Lions", from the 1959 album Way Out Humor as written and performed by Richard Buckley. The track is produced by both Albarn and Richard Russell, whom Albarn had previously worked with on Bobby Womack's comeback album The Bravest Man in the Universe and on the DRC Music album, Kinshasa One Two.

"Mr Tembo" was recorded for a baby elephant that Albarn met in a national park in Mkomazi, Tanzania. He said in an interview for Rolling Stone: "It was recently orphaned and walked onto this aerodrome; the people I know took it in and called it Mr. Tembo. I was there, and I met this little elephant, and he was very sweet. I sang it to him." "Tembo" in Swahili means "elephant".

On 17 February 2014, Albarn was the subject of an episode of The Culture Show, in which he talked about the album, and his own personal experiences from his earlier life and how they had a profound effect on his songwriting. Albarn spoke about "Mr Tembo", and said that the eponymous elephant had grown up around gospel music, as his owners were fans, so Albarn decided to incorporate The Leytonstone City Mission Choir, to offer a more gospel element to the track, saying in the programme: "If the elephant does hear the finished track, hopefully he'll like it..."


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Wikipedia

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