"S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" is a song recorded by Swedish

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

artist Dr. Bombay. It was released in 1998 as the second single from his debut album, '' Rice & Curry'' (1998). The song was a top 10 hit in Norway and Sweden (number two), while reaching the top 20 in Finland.

Content

The song has a humorous theme and is sung from the perspective of Dr. Bombay, a

snake charmer Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous ...

and mystic whose peaceful life in the outskirts of rural

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

is interrupted when a vicious

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

begins abducting members of his family.

Track listing and formats

* Swedish CD single # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" – 3:29 # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" (Instrumental) – 3:25 * European CD maxi-single # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" (Original Version) – 3:27 # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" (Extended Ravi-Dance Version) – 4:43 # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" (Instrumental - Be Your Own Dr. Version) – 3:27 # "S.O.S. (The Tiger Took My Family)" (S.O.S. Shaky Snake's Meditation) – 2:51

Music video

An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song was produced in 1998. The video opens with an introduction to Dr. Bombay's family and their peaceful life in the outskirts of Calcutta, followed by a montage of each family member running in terror from the performer dressed as the tiger. The rest of the video follows Dr. Bombay pursuing the tiger through the jungle while armed with a

slingshot A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends ...

. He's seen swinging on vines, running in place in front of a

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

and unwittingly shooting hikers and travellers as he desperately searches for the tiger. The video ends with the eventual defeat of the tiger and the rescuing of the family.

Other media

A cover version of the song was included in the rhythm game, '' Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000'', as well as the game's soundtrack release. The

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

''Popee the Performer'', entitled "Popee the Clown", uses this song as

background music Background music (British English: piped music) is a mode of musical performance in which the music is not intended to be a primary focus of potential listeners, but its content, character, and volume level are deliberately chosen to affect behav ...

. "S.O.S" was licensed for inclusion in the music game ''

Beatmania IIDX 2nd Style This list comprises the entire ''Beatmania'', ''Beatmania IIDX'' and ''Beatmania III'' catalog of music video games. This list does not contain beta, demo, bootlegged, or unreleased games. :''This list is incomplete. If you know of a release that ...

''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Dr. Bombay songs Song recordings produced by Robert Uhlmann (composer) Songs written by Robert Uhlmann (composer)