"Tarzan Boy" is the title of a song recorded by Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

-based act Baltimora

Baltimora

Baltimora were an Italian New Wave dance outfit active in the mid to late 1980s. The group comprised Jimmy McShane , Maurizio Bassi , Giorgio Cocilovo , Claudio Bazzari , Pier Michelatti and Gabriele Melotti...

. It was the group's debut single, released in April 1985, from its first album Living in the Background, on which it features as first track. The song was re-recorded in 1993 and was covered by several artists throughout the years.

Music, releases and uses in the media

The refrain

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

 uses Tarzan

Tarzan

Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

's cry

Tarzan yell

The Tarzan yell is the distinctive, ululating yell of the character Tarzan, as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man...

 as a melodic line. The song is rhythmical, with an electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 melody and simple English lyrics.

The song is best known in the United States for the use of its refrain in early 1990s commercials for Cool Mint Listerine.

The song was re-recorded in the 90s for two films: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a 1993 American live-action film, the second sequel of the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. It was produced by Clearwater Holdings Ltd. and Golden Harvest. This was the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film released by New Line Cinema and...

and Beverly Hills Ninja

Beverly Hills Ninja

Beverly Hills Ninja is a 1997 action comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff, and starring Chris Farley. The main plot revolves around Haru , who was found by a clan of ninjas as an infant in an abandoned treasure chest and was raised by them...

.

The song featured in the story-line of an episode of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 detective series New Tricks entitled "A Face for Radio."

The song is occasionally played on the Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

 radio program as bumper music

Bumper music

Bumper music, or a bump, is a term used in the radio broadcasting industry to refer to short clips of signature or theme music used to buffer transitions between programming elements. Bumper music is commonly employed when a syndicated program takes a break for local station identification or...

.

The guitar riff from the James Bond Theme

James Bond Theme

The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....

 is adapted for the song.

YTMND

YTMND

YTMND, an initialism for "You're the Man Now, Dog", is an online community centered on the creation of hosted web pages featuring a juxtaposition of an image centered or tiled along with optional large zooming text and a looping sound file...

 has many pages using an excerpt of this song to boost humor.

PBS airs commercials for their animated series Curious George

Curious George (TV series)

Curious George is an animated television series based on the Curious George children's book series, which features Jeff Bennett as the voice of The Man with the Yellow Hat. Frank Welker, who voiced George in the 2006 feature film, returns here as the voice of Curious George. The stories of Season...

 with the chorus playing in the background.

Chart performances

"Tarzan Boy", released in the summer of 1985, was a huge success, debuting in the top 5 of the Italian charts and performing well in many other European countries, including Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands. "Tarzan Boy" found its great success in France, where it topped the chart for five consecutive weeks. In the United Kingdom, it reached number three in August 1985. The single had similar success in the United States (where it was released on EMI), with the single remaining on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six months and ultimately peaking at number 13 in the early spring of 1986. Baltimora performed on the American TV show Solid Gold

Solid Gold (TV series)

Solid Gold is an American syndicated music television series that debuted on September 13, 1980. Like many other shows of its genre, such as American Bandstand, Solid Gold featured musical performances and various other elements such as music videos...

, which helped further their success in America.

Cover versions

"Tarzan Boy" was covered by UK band Modern Romance

Modern Romance (band)

Modern Romance were a British pop music band that found popularity in the early 1980s. Formed in 1980 by previous members of an earlier punk rock band, The Leyton Buzzards, the band enjoyed a string of UK chart hits before they broke up in 1985...

 in 1985 and was released as a 7-inch single and 12-inch single

12-inch single

The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...

 by Carrere Records. Produced by Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer

Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...

, it was also released in Brazil, France and Greece
In 2006, the song was covered by Bango, and achieved a minor success, peaking at number 37 in France. A cover by Bad Influence featuring Dyce reached number nine in Sweden.

Lawrence Hayward

Lawrence Hayward

Lawrence Hayward , known simply as Lawrence, his surname never used in credits or press, is best known as the singer, songwriter and guitarist of British indie band Felt.-Felt:...

 has also covered the song.

DJ BoBo

DJ Bobo

Peter René Cipiriano Baumann , better known as DJ BoBo, is a Swiss singer, songwriter, dancer and music producer. He has sold 14 million records worldwide and has released 10 studio albums as well as a few compilation albums which have included his previous hits in a reworked format...

 covered the song on his 2010 album Fantasy in reggaeton-style. Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...

 sampled the song on the remix version of "Nasty Girl

Nasty Girl (Destiny's Child song)

"Nasty Girl" is a performed song by American girl group Destiny's Child. It was written by Maurizio Bassi, Naimy Hackett, and producers Beyoncé Knowles and Anthony Dent for the band's third studio album Survivor , and features a distinct vocal interpolation of Salt-n-Pepa's 1987 song "Push It" and...

".

Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 band The New Cities

The New Cities

The New Cities is a Juno Award and ADISQ Award nominated band originating from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada and currently based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The current members of The New Cities are David Brown, Christian Bergeron, Nicolas Denis, Francis Fugere, Philippe Lachance, and Julien...

 featured the signature Tarzan call from the song in their 2011 single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Heatwave".

Original version

7" single

1. "Tarzan Boy" — 3:48
2. "Tarzan Boy" (DJ version) — 3:36

12" single

1. "Tarzan Boy" (extended version) — 6:15
2. "Tarzan Boy" (DJ version) — 5:09

12" maxi

1. "Tarzan Boy" (extended dance version) — 6:16
2. "Tarzan Boy" (single version) — 3:49
3. "Tarzan Boy" (extended dub version) — 5:10

12" maxi - Summer version

1. "Tarzan Boy" (summer version) — 6:40
2. "Tarzan Boy" (reprise) — 6:00

1993 version

CD single

1. "Tarzan Boy" (original version) — 3:49
2. "Tarzan Boy" (1993 remix) — 3:49

12" single

1. "Tarzan Boy" (original version) — 3:49
2. "Tarzan Boy" (U.K. swing mix) — 3:18
3. "Tarzan Boy" (extended dub) — 5:10

CD maxi

1. "Tarzan Boy" (1993 remix) — 3:49
2. "Tarzan Boy" (extended 1993 remix) — 5:33
3. "Tarzan Boy" (extended dub mix) — 5:10

Cassette

1. "Tarzan Boy" (original version) — 3:49
2. "Tarzan Boy" (1993 remix) — 3:49
3. "Tarzan Boy" (original version) — 3:49
4. "Tarzan Boy" (1993 remix) — 3:49

CD maxi - Promo

1. "Tarzan Boy" (original version) — 3:45
2. "Tarzan Boy" (1993 remix) — 3:46
3. "Tarzan Boy" (extended 1993 remix) — 5:35
4. "Tarzan Boy" (U.K. swing mix) — 3:21
5. "Tarzan Boy" (extended dub) — 5:01

Personnel

Original version

• Mixing by Jurgen Coppers
• Recording by Paolo Mescoli
• Composed by Maurizio Bassi and Naimy Hackett
• Produced and arranged by Maurizio Bassi
• Recorded at Il Cortile, Milano
• Mixed at Paradise Studios, Monaco
  Monaco
  Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
  
  
• Cover artwork by EMI Creative Services
• Illustration by Michele Bernardi

1993 version

• Mixed by Daniel Abraham
• Produced and arranged by Maurizio Bassi

Peak positions

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	16
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....	1
Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	1
French SNEP Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	3
Irish IRMA Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:...  Singles Chart	2
Italian Singles Chart	6
Norwegian Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	4
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	13
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...	6
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales	12
Chart (1993)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	51

Year-end charts

Chart (1985)	Position
Austrian Singles Chart	18
Dutch Top 40	17
Swiss Singles Chart	2

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
Canada	Gold	January 22, 1986	50,000
France	Gold	1985	500,000
UK	Silver	September 1, 1985	200,000