Tim: In an attempt to be educational, we’ve had a few tracks here in the “songs you didn’t know were covers” – namely Everytime We Touch, Hey Mickey and Torn. We were surprised by those, but this is in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT LEAGUE because, and I say this with only a small degree of hyperbole, it will BLOW. YOUR. MIND.
Tom: Oh, I haven’t heard that in years! But alas, Tim, I have heard it.
Tim: Oh.
Tom: In fact, I remember that from when I was a kid, before the Vengaboys were even a band. Number 1 in 1975, you know. I can remember my Mum complaining about that the cover version wasn’t nearly as good.
Tim: Fair enough, although I will happily place a sizeable bet on most people under the age of, say, 30 having no idea. Which is weird, because while I know the Vengaboys had a reputation for being unusual and kooky, did no-one point it out at the time? It was one of the biggest tracks of that year, with airplay all over the bloody place, but I heard not one mention of it.
I don’t mean that in a “they got cheated” way, mind – I’m sure they made plenty of cash, being the only credited lyricists – but I…well, I’m just in shock really. The one thing I really want to know is why they changed to to Ibiza – if you’re going to go somewhere else, why not go to Jamaica so you can stop Uncle John calling every day?
Tom: Because they knew their target market, Tim. And it worked.