We were once singing it in a car going somewhere in camp (we were a small group) and I scared the crap out of the people in front when I grabbed one of them on the shoulder at the "hide the deadly black tarantula" line.
And (for a more modern Belafonte reference) I was astonished a year or so ago when I first heard "The Monkey Song" and realized that was what was being parodied in a cartoon I had seen in my childhood (not having ever heard the song before, I assumed the cartoon had made the tune up themselves.)