dinsdag 16 mei 2006

Voilà L'Été (4): Gruppo

"She said: your nose is running baby. I said I'm sorry but it's not." If you recognise this word joke, you're probably Dutch and over 35. The line is from Hey Girl, a hitsong from 1978 by Dutch band Gruppo Sportivo. Gruppo was a fun band, they sang in a bad accent (but nobody cared) and had simple, but humourous lyrics. Read Disco Really Made It, for instance.
Gruppo's reign lasted until the eighties, thereafter frontman Hans Vandenburg started a solocareer and bands with funny names like Buddy Odor Stop and Ouwehans Dierenpark. In 2004, music journalists received an album with the title Topless 16, a take on the K-tel hitparade-compilations from the seventies. It was a mixed bag of songs, later it was revealed that this was the comeback of Gruppo Sportivo. The story was that the cover (with the topless girl) had hung above the teenage bed of Hans Vandenburg, but he lost the record and fantasized years later about the music on that record.
One of the songs he recorded was called Côte D'Azur - Un Peu Dommage, a pastiche on sexy summersongs (think Gainsbourg) and highschool-French. Don't know who the girls are, but they sound very con-uhhh-vincing.

Gruppo Sportivo - Côte D'Azur - Un Peu Dommage

(merci à Speenhoff for the mp3)

2 opmerkingen:

  1. those girls are most probably the legendary duo Bombita's, best known for their work for H. Brood & his Wild Romance, one of them, Lies Schilp, I saw the other week in a cafe singing an impromptu 'Roxanne' in a band with former Powerplay-man J. vd Mey. She never aged.

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  2. Wow, this guy Hans deserves an international career.
    F-u-n-n-y!!!!!!!!

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