Tarzan Boy by Baltimora

Album: Living In The Background (1985)

Charted: 3 13

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Songfacts®:

This is the only hit song was know of with a chorus that is simply a Tarzan-like jungle cry. It's about being free and doing what you want. No hustle and bustle of the city, just the freedom of the jungle.
Baltimora, named after a 1978 album by Nina Simone, is the Italian pop producer Maurizio Bassi, although for the music video and TV appearances, Jimmy McShane from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, lip-synched the song and served as the face of the group. According to McShane, he started as a dancer, then moved to England where he studied acting and music. Moving to Italy, he met Bassi, who wrote "Tarzan Boy" with the lyricist Naimy Hackett. McShane donned leopard skins to perform the song, which was a hit in 1985, first in Europe, then in America. Baltimora put together a six-song album called Living In The Background that included the song. The title track was the follow-up single, and it stiffed, reaching just #87 in the US. Baltimora released another album in 1987, but few noticed. McShane died of AIDS in 1995 at age 37.
"Tarzan Boy" was re-released in 1993 after it was featured in a commercial for Listerine mouthwash that featured the jungle chorus of the song under an animated bottle of Listerine swinging from vines. This time, it hit #51 in the US.

That same year, it was featured in the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3; in 1996, it showed up in Beverly Hills Ninja. In 2022, it appeared in an episode of the '80s-set TV series Stranger Things, "Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse."
The AEW wrestler Jungle Boy uses this as his theme song.

Comments: 16

Ju5t1n from LaBaltimora wasn't named for a Nina Simone album. Maurizio Bassi and Jimmy McShane were hanging out one night not long after meeting each other, and almost immediately deciding that they should form a music group. But they couldn't figure out what to call themselves. They knew that in order earn a decent wage as a professional music group. They needed to appeal to American music fans. Because the sheer size and spending power of the American market and its position as the dominant force in the music industry. So, McShane took a map of the United States, closed his eyes and happened to place his finger on Baltimore. They changed the final letter to an 'a' to make the name more in keeping with the act's Italian roots. And that's how the musical group Baltimora came to be.
Jd from United StatesAnother song ruined by a flamboyant male doing some kind of repetitive movements that looked like a wannabe vaudeville seizure. "His" makeup scared me kinda like Tiny Tim did when he tip toed through the tulips. Did this guy kill himself? If he died from aids, then yes he committed suicide. It boggles my mind when people dont have enough self control not to do the thing that contracts aids. Why do most gay men die of aids? Cuz they don't want to have protected sex. They want to be irresponsible in the moment and never answer for their choice. Sexually dangerous lifestyle. How selfish and cavalier. I don't feel sorry for the man that sticks his dirty hand in fire and gets burned. I'm not wrong or prejudice. I'm gay. I've also had phenomenal protected sex. No diseases here! I'm gonna a live a long happy life and won't kill others while doing it.
Jeffrey Alan Cella from Woodstock, NyI recently listened to this song repeatedly while writing an original song, because the lines, "I'm far away from nowhere," and "You're far away from nothing," as well as the structure of "Tarzan Boy," are very inspiring to me, since I was aspiring to write a lyric with the same type of ambiguous and open- to-interpretation words. My now completed song sounds nothing like--or one would never guess that "Tarzan Boy" helped my process--but that's how inspiration/influence work if one is creating original works/products, and are using influence properly.

I love this song--(It's very unique)--and I'm listening to it as I write this comment!

There are some very well-done covers of "Tarzan Boy" on YT, which I came across!
Jimbo from South FloridaIt’s a fun, catchy, upbeat song. Does it matter what it’s about? Who cares!! Turn it on, turn it up. Dance to the beat!!! Life is to short.
Kez from UkIf jimmy mc Shane was not the original singer of tarzan boy then to put everyone's minds at rest on who was the real singer let Maurizio bassi sing tarzan boy now that jimmy Mc Shane has passed away , and see the difference
Michelangelo from Ny CityTurtle power!!!
Zip Von Weltzien from Wisconsin UsaJimmy McShane was gay. He came out to his family at a very young age, and the family had a hard time accepting that he was gay. Jimmy moved from Ireland to London to study acting, dancing and singing, then later ended up in Italy where Baltimora was formed. To me, the song Tarzan Boy is about coming out gay, and the difficulty at that time of finding other gay people in the "urban jungles" of the World.
Bruno from Lima, PeruThe problem with Milli Vanilli was that they won the Grammy. Boney M and Technotronic (in the beginning) had "fake singers" lypsynching too and the woman in the C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat" video wasn't the singer but neither one nor another won the Grammy as Milli Vanilli did.
Sharon from Cleveland, OhThis song is architypal.
Joe from Gallipolis, Ohthis song is about johnny damon
Jeff from Austin, Txso, the dude in the video wasnt the guy singing, and he's the one who died of AIDS??? Im totally confused now. So, if the real guy who was singing is still alive, why the hell hasn't he recorded Tarzan Boy II?
Joshua from La Crosse, WiNow let me get this straight: Maurizio Bassi was the "real" Baltimora, but he hired this McShane guy to be its figurehead? Can you say "Milli Vanilli", boys and girls? How is it that Baltimora got away with this while MV didn't? (Actually, this was four years or so before Rob and Fab themselves came on the scene. I guess MV's disgrace is now complete - even their infamous identity scam itself turns out not to have been an original idea!)
Soutiman from Mumbai, IndiaVery catchy song. Will make my kids listen to it.
Woody from Moose Jaw, CanadaWhat does DANK mean?
Quin from Alpine, UtThis song is dank
Alex from New Orleans, LaThis is now best known as "the gay fuel there song",thanks to ytmnd.

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