science

Mr Tembo

Mr Tembo is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mr Tembo rather than just read about it. In short: "Mr Tembo" is the fourth single released by English recording artist, songwriter and Blur/Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn, from his debut solo studio album Everyday Robots. Its release as a single was limited to the United States.

Key takeaways

Mr Tembo belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mr Tembo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mr Tembo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Mr Tembo" is the fourth single released by English recording artist, songwriter and Blur/Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn, from his debut solo studio album Everyday Robots. Its release as a single was limited to the United States. The track features The Leytonstone City Mission Choir and contains a sample of "Lions", from the 1959 album Way Out Humor as written and performed by Richard Buckley. The track is produced by both Albarn and Richard Russell, whom Albarn had previously worked with on Bobby Womack's comeback album The Bravest Man in the Universe and on the DRC Music album, Kinshasa One Two.

Background "Mr Tembo" was recorded for a baby elephant that Albarn met in a national park in Mkomazi, Tanzania. He said in an interview for Rolling Stone: "It was recently orphaned and walked onto this aerodrome; the people I know took it in and called it Mr. Tembo. I was there, and I met this little elephant, and he was very sweet. I sang it to him." "Tembo" in Swahili means "elephant". On 17 February 2014, Albarn was the subject of an episode of The Culture Show, in which he talked about the album, and his own personal experiences from his earlier life and how they had a profound effect on his songwriting. Albarn spoke about "Mr Tembo", and said that the eponymous elephant had grown up around gospel music, as his owners were fans, so Albarn decided to incorporate The Leytonstone City Mission Choir, to offer a more gospel element to the track, saying in the programme: "If the elephant does hear the finished track, hopefully he'll like it..." As for the recording process of the album, Albarn started it with nearly 60 songs written down, and then would allow co-producer Richard Russell to pick his favourites, which would then become tracks on his album. With regards to "Mr Tembo", Albarn said "It was recorded on a phone, and in a light-hearted moment, I put it on a list for Richard. He said, 'I'd really like you to try that,' so I did. I started off giving Richard a lot of songs, 60 or 60-plus – he had the editorship. Hence a song like 'Mr Tembo', which I never would have considered recording, because I put that in my 'songs I write for other things', like for kids' birthdays, or in this case, it was for a baby elephant I met in a place called Mkomazi, in Tanzania." An article on the baby elephant that Albarn wrote "Mr Tembo" about was released. The baby elephant became separated from his mother and Albarn wrote the song as a tribute to the elephant. The track was played in a demo form, for the elephant by Albarn and Paul Simonon when they visited Tanzania. Despite his new carer's efforts, the elephant's mother was nowhere to be found, and Albarn dedicated the song to him. It was played live on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and was very well received by critics, applauding the song for its upbeat nature. The sample used on the song is that of "Lions" by American comedian Lord Buckley, from the 1959 album Way Out Humor and features the lyrics: "Fred, will you take those lions off the front of the boat? Good God man, lets have some heart in you! Will you please...!? All right. I'm trying to run this expedition in a decent manner..." When asked how the elephant responded to the track Albarn said: "To be honest to you, when I sang it to the elephant, it shat itself. Because it was on milk, it was white elephant baby poo, if you can imagine that. It’s quite something at close vicinity." Speaking of the collaborations with The Leytonstone City Mission Choir, Albarn felt that the choir held a nostalgic importance to him and asked the Church if he could record with the choir, "Back in Leytonstone, there was a Pentecostal Church at the end of my road that belonged to the city mission. I remember standing outside with my bicycle listening to the singing, but never being able to find an entry point. But it was a very strong childhood memory that I've carried with me. I got in contact with that church, and they've still got a small choir, so they very kindly agreed to sing on the record a bit." On Tuesday 25 March 2014, the track was heard in its full studio form, which features the prominent Lord Buckley sample and a spoken-word portion from Albarn as well. According to Dan Cains of The Sunday Times, "Mr Tembo" was written for Albarn's daughter Missy: "The album's one anomaly, was intended as a birthday gift to his daughter, Missy, for whom Albarn has long written songs. 'I knew it was time to stop,' he deadpans, 'when my daughter cried when I played her one on one of her recent birthdays – out of embarrassment, not pleasure.' All that, plus a gospel choir and an Albarn rap."

Live performances The track has been performed live many times by Albarn; however the song was heard in its full form on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on 12 March 2014, when Albarn and his live band "Damon Albarn and the Heavy Seas" performed the track with a local American choir. Albarn's band consists of Seye, drummer Pauli the PSM, guitarist Jeff Wootton and Mike Smith on keyboards. The band's first performance was at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival on 28 February 2014. Albarn told the audience, "This is our first ever gig and it's quite nerve-wracking to be not only playing your first gig but playing it live on radio as well, but I suppose I should be used to it after all these years." The gig also saw the first exclusive plays of songs such as "The Selfish Giant" and "Mr Tembo", Albarn also played "Tomorrow Comes Today" from Gorillaz eponymous debut album and The Good, the Bad & the Queen single "Kingdom of Doom" as well as "El Mañana" from Demon Days and the Blur B-side "All Your Life".

Music video On 22 April 2014, guitarist Seye updated on Tumblr that Albarn and his live band The Heavy Seas were filming a music video for the song. The music video was released on 13 May 2014. The video features Albarn and his band The Heavy Seas plus footage of the real Mr. Tembo – an orphaned baby elephant Albarn met while travelling in Tanzania. The studio-shot portions of the video were filmed in the Pentecostal City Mission Church in Leytonstone and features the church choir, who also sing on the album.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mr Tembo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mr Tembo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mr Tembo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mr Tembo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mr Tembo

In research: Mr Tembo appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mr Tembo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mr Tembo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 singles, 2014 songs, British pop rock songs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mr Tembo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mr Tembo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mr Tembo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mr Tembo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mr Tembo in simple terms?

Why does Mr Tembo matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mr Tembo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mr Tembo.