The man in the moon (Gus-Backus-Lied)

The man in the moon is the title of a German-language hit in the foxtrot rhythm , which in 1961, sung by Gus Backus , became a number one success.

prehistory

In 1961, the former US American GI was a well-known figure in the German hit scene. In addition to several other hit parades, he had his greatest record success to date with the song Da spoke the old chief at the beginning of the year . In the top 50 of the German music magazine Musikmarkt , it came in third place. In July 1961 the record company Polydor , with which Backus had been under contract since 1959, released a new single with the singer, which contained the title The Man in the Moon under catalog number 24 564 on the A side . The successful author Charly Niessen ( Banjo Boy ) created the melody and lyrics . Gus Backus was accompanied by the Johannes Fehring orchestra , the intro is the countdown of a rocket launch. Ten months after the first landing of a lunar probe ( Lunik 2 ), the text deals with the question of how the man is doing in the moon: “One wonders, does the man live beautifully on the moon?” And states: “ The man in the moon has a hard time because he is no longer spared today. "

successes

Musikmarkt magazine included the man in the moon in its Top 50 hit list for the first time on September 2, 1961. Two weeks later the title had reached the top 10 and was in first place on October 7th. He had ousted the top hit La Paloma with Freddy Quinn and stayed at the top for two weeks. In total, the song was in the top 50 for 25 weeks. The man in the moon took first place in the music box of the youth magazine Bravo three times during October and November 1961 .

Gus Backus' record success prompted Franz Antel to have the singer appear in his film Im schwarzen Rößl , which premiered on December 22, 1961, alongside Peter Kraus , Lolita , Trude Herr and other pop singers with the song Der Mann im Mond .

The Man in the Moon 1969

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to land on the moon. Charlie Niessen took this as an opportunity to write a sequel to his 1961 text, leaving the melody unchanged. With the title line, which also remained the same, Niessen now referred to the moon landing: “Now we have seen the man in the moon. Now we know that the man lives very nicely on the moon. ”Polydor brought the song onto the market in September 1969 with a slightly different arrangement on the single number 53 148. In contrast to the original version, this piece could not be placed in the hit lists. Later, however, the single became a coveted rarity among record collectors.

Cover versions

In Germany, Der Mann im Mond was only covered by the cheap label Tempo . On the single No. 843 sang the title Jimmy Fields aka Teddy Parker . The Austrian Fred Jay wrote an English text for Niessen's melody entitled Queen of the Stars . The small New York record company Fon Graf produced a single with this text and also with Gus Backus in February 1962. In Denmark, Niessen's text Hej Månemand , text Peter Mynte, sung by Melody Mixers and published by Polyphon in 1962. The Finnish singer Pirkko Mannola , also known in Germany, sang an adaptation of her compatriot Kari Tuomisaari. The Finnish title Kuu-ukko was also released on Nor-Disc in 1962. A Swedish version of Gubben i Månen was recorded by Lille Gerhard, who in turn occasionally appeared in Germany under the name Little Gerhard.

literature

Angelika and Lothar Binding: The large binding single catalog , Volume 2, self-published 1996, ISBN 3-9804710-1-2 , p. 97.
Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit balance sheet German chart singles 1956–1980. Taurus Press 1987, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 .