Nellie the Elephant
{{About|the song|the TV series|Nellie the Elephant (TV series)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Nellie The Elephant
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Mandy Miller
| album =
| B-side = It's Time to Dream
| released = October 1956
| recorded = 1956
| studio = London
| venue =
| genre = Children's novelty
| length = 2:32
| label = Parlophone R4219
| writer = Ralph Butler, Peter Hart
| producer = George Martin
| prev_title =
| prev_year = Nein
| next_title = Ja
| next_year = Keine ahnung
}}
"Nellie the Elephant" is a children's song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional anthropomorphic elephant of that name.{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/music/songs/popn.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050705002324/http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/music/songs/popn.html|archive-date=5 July 2005|work=University of Melbourne|title=Music Library, Popular Songs List}}
Original version
The original version, released on Parlophone R 4219 in October 1956,{{cite web|url=http://www.popmusicinfo.com/show_record.php?search_word=&radio_search=&record_id=20465|website=popmusicinfo.com|title=Nellie the Elephant/It's Time to Dream|access-date=17 May 2025}} was recorded by English child actress Mandy Miller with an orchestra conducted by Phil Cardew.{{cn|date=May 2025}} It was arranged by Ron Goodwin and produced by George Martin.{{cn|date=May 2025}} Although never a hit single, it was played countless times on BBC national radio in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly on Children's Favourites.
The chorus of the song is as follows:
:Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
:And said goodbye to the circus
:Off she went with a trumpety-trump
:Trump, trump, trump
Children's author Jacqueline Wilson chose the song as one of her Desert Island Discs in October 2005.{{cite episode|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00935by|station=BBC Radio 4|series=Desert Island Discs|title=Jacqueline Wilson|date=21 October 2005|access-date=17 May 2025}}
Later versions
- The punk rock band Toy Dolls did a cover version of this song, in 1982, which was later released on the 1983 album Dig That Groove Baby. Issued as a single, it reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart in 1984{{cite book| first= Graham| last= Betts| year=2004| title= Complete UK Hit Singles 1952-2004| edition= 1st|publisher= Collins| location= London| isbn= 0-00-717931-6| page=793}} and No. 97 in Australia.{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=312}}
Tempo
The tempo of this song is often used to teach people the correct speed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The recommended rate for CPR is 100 chest compressions per minute. A study at Coventry University compared the effectiveness of this song in maintaining this tempo with an alternative of "That's the Way (I Like It)" and no song at all. The version used for the study was from a Little Acorns brand children's record, and was found to have a tempo of 105 beats per minute. Singing the chorus of the song twice, with a compression on each beat, results in exactly 30 compressions, which is the international standard for CPR.{{Cite journal | last1 = Rawlins | first1 = L. | last2 = Woollard | first2 = M. | last3 = Williams | first3 = J. | last4 = Hallam | first4 = P. | title = Effect of listening to Nellie the Elephant during CPR training on performance of chest compressions by lay people: Randomised crossover trial | doi = 10.1136/bmj.b4707 | journal = BMJ | volume = 339 | pages = b4707 | year = 2009 | pmid = 20008376| pmc =2792674 }}
The use of "Nellie" resulted in correct timing for 42 out of 130 cases, as compared with 15 for no music and just 12 for "That's the Way (I Like It)". However, the depth of compression was found to be inadequate in most of those cases, and the use of "Nellie" was found to increase this inadequacy slightly, as compared with the use of no music (56% too shallow with "Nellie" and 47% without).
References
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Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:English children's songs
Category:Songs about elephants
Category:Songs about fictional female characters
Category:Song recordings produced by George Martin
Category:Songs with lyrics by Ralph Butler
Category:Animated series theme songs