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"Elephant" is a song by Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala, released on 26 July 2012 as the lead single from their second album Lonerism. The single features artwork from Australian artist Leif Podhajsky, who also created the artwork for Innerspeaker and the follow-up Lonerism.
"Elephant" was covered by children's music group the Wiggles for Australian youth broadcaster Triple J's Like a Version segment on 5 March 2021, which won the station's Hottest 100 of 2021.
Kevin Parker explains that:
""Elephant is actually one of the oldest songs that I have, it's just been in the vaults this whole time. I'm not sure why we never recorded it before, but we were just playing it at a sound check one night and everyone in the band was like, 'We should just put this on the album', and so we did."
— Kevin Parker
"Elephant" features a bluesier side of Tame Impala, heard more frequently on their self-titled extended play, as the song was written around that stage. Because it was written around that time, "Elephant" is "an anomaly on Lonerism. There are no other songs that have that bluesy riffing".
Speaking about the track in a retrospective interview with Beats 1 in 2019, Parker spoke of his surprise at how successful the track became. "I always thought it was a bit shallow, a bit cringe. But now I appreciate "Elephant" because the character I'm singing about, from the loner's perspective… it's how I always envisioned big, egotistical people who would march around. It's kind of how a loner might see a jock - like an elephant." In this same interview, Parker added that his favorite Lonerism lyric is from "Elephant": "He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac / 'Cause he doesn't like it looking like he looks back".
Alicia Dennis from Zimbio called "Elephant" "the best psych-rock song ever written about a pompous jerk", while Nick Patch of the Times Colonist described it as a "distortion-drenched garage-rocker". It is also viewed as a "glam-rock gem" by the webzine PlayGround. Joe Levy from Rolling Stone stated that the song was "Tame Impala's 2012 alt-rock hit", describing the guitar riff as "gong-banging glam". Ian Cohen of Pitchfork gave the song the "Best New Track" accolade, praising its production and stating that it "splits wide open during its midsection for an expansive and lyrical guitar jam that these guys are doing better than just about anyone else right now." Nathan Reese of Refinery29 described the song as the group's "meaner, more immediate take on its garage-psych sound". He also commented that the song "with dueling keyboard and guitar solos that arrive midway through" resembles Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam", "channeled through the Stooges".
- Appeared at No. 7 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2012.
- Won Best Song at the EG Music Awards
- Zane Lowe declared it the "Hottest Record in the World" on 26 July 2012.
- The song won Song of the Year at the APRA Music Awards in 2013.
- The video won Video of the Year at the 2013 West Australian Music Industry Awards
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