Every New Zealand #1 single…
3
Paloma Blanca by George Baker Selection
Topped the NZ chart: from 1 August 1975 for five non-consecutive weeks
Dutch musician George Baker scored hits in three different decades. 1969’s ‘Little Green Bag’ is an impressive slice of garage rock. It almost made the Billboard Top 20 and allowed Baker to quit his job in a lemonade factory.
His hit songs from 1975 and 1985 are less impressive, dipping into easy-listening schmaltz.
A poor South American farmer who works hard all day and then sits by a tree and dreams of being a white bird with its freedom.
George Baker, explaining Paloma Blanca
Like ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree‘, ‘Paloma Blanca’ is another 1970s hit that sounds irredeemably kitsch to modern ears. The countryish 1-5 bass line and the jaunty flute riff are irritating.
There are some interesting musical ideas. After an extended instrumental introduction, the vocal starts when you don’t expect it. But it’s hard to see it as anything other than novelty.
It’s not surprising that parody versions emerged, like ‘I Am A Cider Drinker’.
A Jonathan King cover, titled ‘Una Paloma Blanca’, outperformed the original on the UK charts in 1975.
The past is a foreign country – it’s hard to imagine a world where ‘Paloma Blanca’ was a hit.
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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.
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Good quote: The past is a foreign country.
I have a history major!
🙂 You and my daughter in-law would have a lot to talk about. History is her thing also.
George Baker Selection – now, there’s a name I haven’t heard in decades!
I’ve definitely listened to that humdinger “Paloma Blanca” during the ’70s. In fact, if I recall it correctly, some German crooner covered it in German. The same is true for “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” which now makes me feel more like tying it around my neck! 🙂
I guess it’s a reminder the good ole days weren’t always that good.
“Little Green Bag,” on the hand, which I didn’t know, sounds pretty good.
Yup, Little Green Bag is the highlight of today’s post.
I feel like the German singer should have given himself a Portuguese stage name and covered it in Swedish, to stay true to the spirit of the original.
“Little Green Bag” was one of the first records I ever bought, still classic. “Paloma Balanca” I only know from a rarely-played K-Tel album I have!
Yup, it would have been more interesting if Little Green Bag was the number one. They sound like different bands.
It reminded me of The Flintstones theme… I could see this melody sticking with you…it’s hard to unhear…I liked the parody.
Yup, I got that Flintstones connection too. First few notes of the flute riff were pretty similar.
I remember this song. Very 70s.
Yup, very 70s. But people made cool music in the 1970s too.
I agree with you totally.