“Elephant” by Tame Impala

"Elephant" came out in July 2012 as the lead single from Lonerism, Tame Impala's second album, and it's the odd one out on a record of woozy daydreams: a strutting, bluesy riff that Kevin Parker had been sitting on since the days of the band's self-titled EP. He'd never gotten around to recording it until the band played it at a soundcheck and everybody agreed it belonged on the album.

Parker wrote it with Jay Watson, who adds piano and keyboards, and Parker sang, played, recorded and produced the rest, with Dave Fridmann's mix making the whole thing thud and glow. Leif Podhajsky, who made the Lonerism artwork, also did the single's sleeve. Parker later admitted he was surprised by how big the song got.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.