"Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" is a song written by Randy Newman, about a sincere young man of modest means named Simon Smith who entertains affluent ("well-fed") diners with his dancing bear. A recording by the

Alan Price Set Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...

reached No 4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1967. Newman later recorded the song himself.

History

Randy Newman wrote the

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

-influenced song in 1964. He considered it a major stepping point in his songwriting, telling ''Performing Songwriter'' "I was writing a song, believe it or not, for

Frank Sinatra Jr Francis Wayne Sinatra Group note. (; January 10, 1944 – March 16, 2016), professionally known as Frank Sinatra Jr., was an American singer, songwriter, and conductor. He was the son of singer and actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy ...

. And it was called something like "Susie" or "Mary" and I just all of a sudden couldn’t do it. So I ended up somewhere with "coat to wear" and "dancing bear"... ...and then I was never the same. And I never wrote particularly conventional songs after that." Sinatra Jr. never recorded the finished song. ''Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear'' was popularised in the UK by a recording by the

, issued 24 February 1967. Upon its release, Peter Jones of ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

'' described Price as "high on my short list of Most Distinctive Voices" and characterised the song as "jazz-styled and bouncy and smokey and with tremendous punchy piano". Don Short of ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' doubted the song's hit potential, writing "the song is not so weird as the title, but I can't see the Alan Price Set making the charts with it".. Reviewing the week's new singles for '' Melody Maker'',

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

praised the song and considered it a likely hit, describing it as "so much better than the period, vaudeville stuff because it's still a bit modern". The single reached No 4 on the '' Record Retailer'' chart in April 1967. Price filmed a promo video for the song with two bears from

Colchester Zoo Colchester Zoo is a zoological garden situated near Colchester, England. The zoo opened in 1963 and celebrated its 50th anniversary on 2 June 2013. It is home to many rare and endangered species, including big cats, primates and birds as well as ...

. Additionally, Newman offered the song to Californian

sunshine pop Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appre ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Harpers Bizarre Harpers Bizarre was an American sunshine pop band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/sunshine pop sound and their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's " The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Career Harpers Bizarre was formed out of t ...

, whose recording appears on their album '' Feelin' Groovy'', issued in April 1967. Newman's own recording features on his 1972 album '' Sail Away''. It has been covered by such artists as

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

, Morrissey,

Bobby Short Robert Waltrip Short (September 15, 1924 – March 21, 2005) was an American cabaret singer and pianist, who interpreted songs by popular composers from the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold ...

Akiko Yano is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s. She has been called "one of the major musical talents of the Japanese popular music world", and her vocals and ...

, and

Okkervil River Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They beg ...

Bobbie Gentry Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter, who was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Sou ...

recorded a gender-switched version, "Salome Smith and Her Amazing Dancing Bear". The song appears in the 19th episode of the first season of ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'', sung by the character Scooter as Simon Smith and with

Fozzie Bear Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character best known as the insecure and comedically fruitless stand-up comic on ''The Muppet Show.'' Fozzie is an orange-brown bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a pink and white polka dot necktie. The char ...

as the dancing bear.

References

Songs about bears Songs about dancing Songs about fictional male characters 1967 singles Alan Price songs Randy Newman songs Songs written by Randy Newman The Muppets songs 1967 songs Song recordings produced by Russ Titelman Song recordings produced by Lenny Waronker {{1960s-single-stub