See Jungle See Jungle

Speaking of Jungle poetry, I just found out that one of my favorite jungle songs, Jungle Boy [from the 1981 album “See Jungle See Jungle Go Join Your Gang Yeah City All Over Go Ape Crazy” by Bow Wow Wow] was plagiarized by Malcolm McLaren. I never found out until now that it was an English language cover of the 1973 song Umculo Kawupheli by the Mahotella Queens from South Africa. If you like Afro-pop it is interesting to listen to these two songs side by side. McLaren lifted other songs from this band as well – you can hear them on Duck Rock. I always liked the cartoony apocalyptic lyrics of Jungle Boy as Annabella Lwin sung them, but I have no idea what the words of the original version by Mahotella Queens mean.