The Commissioner (song)

The commissioner
Falco
publication	December 12, 1981
length	3:51
Genre (s)	Pop rap
Author (s)	Falco, Robert Ponger
music	Robert Ponger
album	Solitary confinement

Alternative cover of the Canada version

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

The commissioner   DE 1 03/01/1982 (29 weeks)   AT 1 01/01/1982 (16 weeks)   CH 2 01/31/1982 (10 weeks)

Der Kommissar is a pop song by the Austrian musician Falco from 1981. It was the first single from the 1982 album Einzelhaft . The song was a number one hit in Austria , Germany , Spain , Italy and Japan and also reached the top ten in Australia . The piece is considered to be the first commercially successful rap song by a white man and was voted number 1 of the “100 most important Austrian pop songs” in 2020 by the pop culture magazine The Gap .

Emergence

Falco starred in the television series Kottan determined in the eleventh episode The Kidnapping as a substitute pianist in Major Kottan's police band. It was then that he had the idea that there should be a song about Kottan. He experimented on the piano and after the birthday party of Lukas Resetarits , the actor of Major Kottan , the text was fixed. The composition originally came from his producer Robert Ponger , who had no text for it. Ponger had originally written it for Reinhold Bilgeri , who, however, did not like the piece and declined it. He then offered it to Falco, who wrote the text for it. In addition, the originally desired single Falcos Helden von heute was produced, a song based on David Bowie's Heroes .

Music and lyrics

The composition of the song is inspired by black music and funk . However, Falco had reservations about the piece because he did not think the composition was original enough and it also had similarities to Rick James ' piece Super Freak from 1981. The verses are performed as rap while the chorus is sung. With the song Falco became the first white rapper and liked to refer to himself as the “godfather of white rap”.

The text and the melody are strongly reminiscent of the nursery rhyme "Don't turn around, the dump bag goes over". A reference to this can be found in the text line "Now the nursery rhyme".

With the text, Falco established his typical artificial language consisting of High German and Viennese , later supplemented by English . The official title of commissioner was and is not used by the Austrian police , for Falco it stands for any form of state authority. However, the Commissioner has no political message.

publication

It was first released as a single on December 12, 1981.

In early 1982 it reached the top ten in numerous European countries and became a number one hit in countries like Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain. In the USA , the song was particularly popular in the club scene and reached number 19 on the dance charts. Falco was planning in his time, he in New York City spent a collaboration with hip-hop - MC and producer Afrika Bambaataa that did not come for unknown reasons about.

There are three versions of the artwork that was used in German-speaking countries. In each of the pictures, Falco can be seen in a leather jacket. The difference between the editions is the color of the background, which varies. The British cover artwork is similar to the Austrian one. On the artwork of the CD in the US version, Falco can be seen with white powder . In the remaining states there is an adaptation of the cover for the LP solitary confinement or a red star with the inscription Der Kommissar .

B sides

• Heroes of Today : Originally the song Heroes of Today was intended to be released as the main single. However, the record company and producer Ponger was not satisfied with Falco's decision, as The Commissioner was an in-house production, in contrast to Heroes of Today , which clearly showed similarities with David Bowie's Heroes .
• On the Run : Released as the B-Side of the respective Maxis in Brazil, Australia and Canada. The song was later released as a promotional single with Machine Burns as On The Run . This version even made it onto Billboard's American US hot play charts .
• Too much heat : in other countries this song was published as the B-Side of the Maxis in addition to Auf der Flucht . This song also came out later as a promo single.

Track list

Continental-European version :

1. The commissioner - 3:53
2. Heroes Of Today - 4:08

US version :

1. The Commissioner - 3:50
2. On the Run - 4:40
3. Today's Heroes - 4:06

British version :

1. The commissioner - 3:53
2. Today's Heroes - 4:08
3. On the run - 4:06

Dutch version (GIG / KILLROY KIL 119535 KMS) :

1. The Commissioner (Extended Version) - 6:23
2. Heroes of Today (Extended Version) - 5:13

Mexican version (A&M AMS-43 003) :

1. The Commissioner (12 "version) - 6:00
2. On the Run (12 "Version) - 7:20

Cover versions

Shortly after release of the single and in the light of the great commercial success, sung in German song for the Italian and French markets has been covered . Falco did not agree to this, but could only defend himself to a limited extent because he only had control over the publishing rights over the music publisher in Austria, but not in Italy and France. The version Clair, commissaire! Sung by the French singer and dancer Matthew Gonder was released in France in 1982 . and in Italy an Italian version. Both did not reach the charts.

For the English-speaking market, the British new wave band After the Fire covered the song with Falco's approval and thus reached number 47 on the British singles chart and number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983 . Other cover versions were released by Suzy Andrews in 1982 and Laura Branigan in 1983 under the title Deep in the Dark . The band Die Zöllner released another cover version in 1991 on the album Café megalomania .

New editions

The Commissioner (Part 2)

1991 version newly recorded for the compilation The Remix Hit Collection, which was only released in Germany ; the vocals were also re-sung by Falco. Released as a single, the song did not achieve much commercial success.

The Commissioner 2000

This version was presented in autumn 1997 at the gala for the 30th birthday of the radio station Ö3 . The new recording, according to Falco an “excerpt from the new album”, is heavily influenced by techno. Der Kommissar 2000 can be found on the posthumously released album Out of the Dark (Into the Light) and on the single Out of the Dark of the same name .

The Commissioner (Club 69 Remix)

Version commissioned by Falco during his lifetime, but which was only produced and published by the Austrian DJ and musician Peter Rauhofer after his death . Released as a single ( Der Kommissar (Jason Nevins and Club 69 Remixes) ) together with other remixes by Rauhofer and Jason Nevins in 1998 and also featured on the 1999 album Verdammt wir leben .

The Commissioner (Symphonic)

Der Kommissar (Symphonic) is an orchestral version of the song from the album Symphonic . It was published in 2008 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of death.

The Commissioner (Sido)

In 2018, the German rapper Sido and several German rappers reissued some songs with parts of the old Falco recordings on the 20th anniversary of Falco's death , resulting in Der Kommissar , which is the 17th track on the first CD of the album Kronjuwelen and on the Falco -Collabo album Die To Live finds again.

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Germany (BVMI)	gold	250,000
France (SNEP)	gold	501,000
United States (RIAA)	-	100,000
All in all	2 × gold	851,000

Main article: Falco / Discography # Awards for music sales

Web links

• Peter Wicke: The commissioner . In: Song Lexicon . Retrieved October 21, 2014.
• Christiane Wiesenfeldt and Dirk von Petersdorff: Falco: “Der Kommissar” , faz.net , September 15, 2018
• Music video on YouTube
• Music video on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sources for chart placements: DE / AT / CH , accessed on February 22, 2013.
2. ↑ AustroTOP - The 100 most important Austrian pop songs - page 28 from April 28th, 14th 2020, accessed on April 23rd, 2020 (German). 
3. ↑ Do I have to die to live? - Falco is alive! ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at wieninternational.at 
4. ↑ Herbert Kraus: S ince "Kottan" comes to Falco's Commissioner . (PDF; 168 kB) In: Kurier , December 17, 1982
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography: The rise to pop star. Falco Private Foundation website, accessed February 22, 2013 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Roman Kozak: Falco's German Rapping: Tomorrow The US? In: Billboard (magazine) . February 26, 1983, p. 30 .
7. ↑ Peter Wicke: The Commissioner . In: Song Lexicon . Retrieved June 11, 2015.
8. ↑ release date
9. ↑ See documentation: Hoch wie nie (1998).
10. ^ After the Fire in the UK Singles Chart, The Official Charts Company, accessed February 24, 2015.
11. ^ After the Fire on the Billboard Hot 100 , billboard.com, accessed February 22, 2013.
12. ↑ Sido & Falco - The Commissioner. In: 16BARS.DE. Retrieved December 15, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Les Meilleures Ventes “Tout Temps” de 45 T. / Singles / Téléchargement ( Memento of May 24, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
14. ↑ 'Der Kommissar' Cover Battle Heats Up st Radio. Cash Box, March 5, 1983, accessed April 4, 2020 .