In the car in front of me

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In the car in front of me
Henry Valentino with Uschi
publication 1977
length 3 min 28 s
Genre (s) Bat
Author (s) Hans Blum
Cover versions
1978 Klaus Wunderlich
1987 The red roses
2002 Otto Waalkes
2015 Holy Moses
2017 Concrete death

In the car in front of me is a song by the German composer Hans Blum , the first version of which he published and sang in 1977 together with the singer Ursula Peysang under the pseudonym Henry Valentino with Uschi. As a classic party hits , the song was subsequently in numerous versions gecovert , especially pop and punk bands . In addition to the original title, a cover version of the band Die Toten Hosen , published in 1987 under the alias Die Roten Rosen , became known.

Background and origin

In the 1950s, the double bass player Blum was part of the Hansen Quartet named after him , the most famous and most booked German music ensemble at the time . As a composer and lyricist of pop music, Blum wrote mainly pieces for other performers in the 1960s, including Wencke Myhre , Erik Silvester , Hildegard Knef , Ivan Rebroff , Roy Black and Peter Kraus . In 1967 and 1969 he made German contributions to the Grand Prix Eurovision De La Chanson hit competition . He stayed in the background as a composer and lyricist.

Label of the single Im Wagen vor mir by Henry Valentino with Uschi from 1977

He invented the fictional character Henry Valentino, whose vocals were based on Louis Armstrong , to record the song I have seen your knee , published in 1974 , in which no record company was interested. After that he appeared several times as Valentino and published several songs. He also wrote the lyrics and composed the melody for the song Im Wagen vor mir . He took it on together with a young woman named "Uschi" (Ursula Peysang) and later, after her death, with Daffi Cramer .

Blum supposedly got the idea for In the Car Before Me when he was driving behind another vehicle in which he thought he recognized a woman with beautiful, long hair. As he curiously passed the car, it turned out that it was actually a man with long hair. From this experience, Blum developed the lyrics to a car driver who discovers a "young girl" in the car in front of him and drives behind her daydreaming for a long time, while this supposed pursuit becomes increasingly uncanny. Blum's wife, to whom he played the song several times, initially criticized the melodies in the sing-along part as "too complicated, not catchy enough, too cumbersome". It was only when he reduced the part to two syllables that she was satisfied.

Henry Valentino performed with a false mustache when interpreting the piece and imitated Louis Armstrong's voice .

Text and music

text

Lyrically, the song deals with two people, a man and a woman, who drive one behind the other on the motorway. The man drives behind the woman's duck in his car and is happy that he can enjoy the sight of her from behind without any hectic, while she feels disturbed by his pursuit. He starts with

"A young girl
drives in the car in front of me. She drives alone and she seems pretty"

The different perceptions of the situation are particularly evident in the passages in which the woman describes her position and the man comments on it with an interjection, for example at the beginning of the second stanza:

"What does that stupid guy want behind me?
(Is not she cute)"

The woman feels by moving behind her husband increasingly harassed and eventually leaves annoyed the highway to escape his pursuit:

“I'm going to take the very next exit!
There I'll hide behind some kind of hedges.
Damn it, I'll be late for home. ""

The man is not aware of the harassment and he assumes that the woman has achieved her goal:

"Bye bye my beautiful girl, have a good trip.
She has the indicator on, here she is leaving"

music

In the car in front of me , the original recording is performed as a duet of a male and a female voice. The piece is composed of four-line verses in two double stanzas and one triple stanza. The scheme of the end rhymes is

[abcc abcc] [abcb abcb] [abcb abcb abcc]

The song begins with the refrain "Rada rada radadadada", sung four times by the male voice. This is followed by the first double stanza, also sung by Valentino in his bass part.

After repeating the refrain “Rada rada radadadada” twice, the female voice, Uschi or later Daffi Cramer, sets in and begins her part. In this double stanza, Valentino's speech passages are interspersed several times, such as “Isn't she cute” or “So soft hair”. Also after this part the double repetition of “Rada rada radadada” follows.

The last part consists of three stanzas, of which Valentino sings the first and last and the female voice the middle. The song ends again with a four-fold “Rada rada radadada”, sung by both male and female voices.

In terms of composition, the song is based on three chords , initially in the key of D major in the progression D, G, A. The chorus after the second double verse moves back to E flat major . For the last third stanza the music moves to E major with the chords E, A and B, in which the song also ends. In the car in front of me, it is composed in four-quarter time . In the arrangement of the first release, an acoustic rhythm guitar is used on the quarter notes and a bass drum on the beat , a subtle snare drum plays on the second and fourth quarter notes. During the male-sung passages as well as during the refrains, an electric guitar plays short solos in the style of honky-tonk country in the transition between the lines of the song . Partly vocalizing background voices are used for the last two lines of the stanzas and in the chorus .

Success and covers

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Henry Valentino + Uschi
  DE 8th 10/15/1977 (33 weeks)

In the car in front of me , Crystal Schallplatten GmbH ( EMI Group ) released a single as a single , on the B-side the song They called him Sunny-Boy was recorded. It was able to establish itself very well in the German-speaking area and is one of the classic party hits. As a result, the original version appeared on numerous hit and party music samplers. In October 1977 the song entered the German single charts at number 24 and rose to number 8 in the following weeks, remaining in the top 100 for 33 weeks. In the Austrian and Swiss charts, however, the song did not appear. On January 9, 1978, Henry Valentino + Uschi appeared in episode 101 for the first time in the ZDF hit parade with Dieter-Thomas Heck and were also guests there in the two following programs. In the show disco with Ilja Richter they could be seen in episode 86 on December 10, 1977.

The song was republished or covered by numerous musicians and bands. It mainly played a role as a party hit for several hit covers , but several bands from the field of punk music also picked up the song. While most of the cover versions also adopted the text largely unchanged, in other versions it was partly heavily changed and parodied . Blum himself published the play again in 1990 as Henry Valentino & Ute Geller (today: Colör ), in 1993 as Henry Valentino + Daffi with Daffi Cramer from Cologne and most recently in 2002 with TV presenter Katrin Huss in reversed roles as "The Other Version".

Die Toten Hosen released Im Wagen vorme on their album Never Mind The Hosen - Here's Die Roten Rosen

The punk version of the band Die Toten Hosen , who in 1987 released the album Never Mind The Hosen - Here's Die Roten Rosen with rocky hit classics under the name "Die Roten Rosen" , became known to a larger number of listeners due to the success of the album. They recorded the song with guest singer Monique Maasen from the band Asmodi Bizarr and released it as a single along with the album along with the song Halbstark.

Michael "Bully" Herbig and Sasha presented their cover version with the title Im Coverwagen vor mich in 2002 on the TV show Bullyparade .

The bands and performers who released the song in a cover version include: u. a.

  • 1978: Orchestra Udo Reichel - In the car in front of me on the album Heidi (and other children's hits )
  • 1978: Klaus Wunderlich - In the car in front of me on the album Wunderlich Pops 7
  • 1978: Adam and Micky’s - In the car in front of me… an old Simpel drives Here a dispute between a driver from Frankfurt and one from Offenbach is told, two cities with local rivalries.
  • 1987: Die Roten Rosen - In the car in front of me , as a single and on the album Never Mind The Hosen - Here's Die Roten Rosen
  • 1996: Double Impact - In the car in front of me
  • 1997: Les Tender Whiskers - In the car in front of me on the album Monsterpussy
  • 1998: The Ass-Fucked Rubber Maids - In the car in front of me there is a horny fucking pig driving on the mini-album Wasch dich die Pflaume
  • 1998: Nordwind - In the car in front of me on the album Liebe, Lust & Limonade
  • 1999: Axel Schweiss Band - Wägele (In the car in front of me)
  • 2002: Otto Waalkes - In the car in front of me on the album Only Otto
  • 2015: Holy Moses - In the car in front of me on the album Strength, Power, Will, Passion
  • 2005: The Gerd Show - Angie & Gerd - In the election campaign before me (zone girl) on the album Greatest Hartz
  • 2007: Dieter Thomas Kuhn & Band - In the car in front of me on the album Music is Trumps
  • 2011: Shepherd Heinrich - In the tractor in front of me
  • 2015: ComBox - In the car in front of me
  • 2018: Betontod - In the car in front of me on the album Vamos!

reception

The song is generally regarded as a "hit" and "catchy tune". Schlager expert Roger De Win said: “Even today, Im Wagen before me is a hit classic. And it is always fascinating how a famous composer can achieve a hit simply because he listens to his wife. " Schlagerplanet.com wrote:" The happy number inspires with lively country influences and, like many other Henry Valentino songs , Songs is also a funny and humorous single in the car in front of me . The singer takes on the role of the guy in love who gives a girl in the other car a queasy feeling without even realizing it. This is how amorous signals can be misunderstood! "

With the emergence of debates about stalking and sexual harassment , the song came under fire because of the situation portrayed in the text and was cited as an example of fear-inducing situations. The journalist and writer Jenni Zylka wrote in the taz in 2004 :

"In this song a male car driver sings on the autobahn about a young girl driving in front of him: 'She drives alone and she seems pretty', so let's go: he follows the poor thing until you ' the matter is slowly getting queasy 'and she drives' the very next exit' to 'hide behind some hedges' there - a clearer case of the type of sexual harassment that the American calls' street abuse' was, in my opinion, still in not sung about any hit. "

She put it as “the bad fear of women song” in the context of its time, “the 70s, very, very shortly before the urgently needed women's movement and anti- sexism debate.”

Others also use the song as an example of a typical stalking situation, for example Holger Hettinger describes the song as a "drooling old stalker hymn" in a contribution to Deutschlandfunk . MEP Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker cited the song in a speech in the Bundestag in 2016 “to improve protection against stalking” as an example of a stalking in which the situation from the perspective of the persecuted woman sounds completely different to that of the man: “ She's wondering what that stupid guy is doing behind her. She is annoyed, she is insecure, she feels pressured, and she takes this as an opportunity to drive off the autobahn, even though it makes her late. "

In his “Declaration of love to the car” in 2019 in the NZZ , Rainer Moritz described his ambivalent thoughts while driving: “I think of this and that, enjoy a touch of melancholy and am happy when we two go somewhere or somewhere on Peter Rubin's radio In the car in front of me you can hear: that evergreen, from today's highly correct point of view, which Henry Valentino and Uschi sang many years ago, which can clearly be classified as sexist. "

supporting documents

  1. ^ Henry Valentino - Biography. Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Henry Valentino and Paul Bishop's Rag-Time-Band - I saw your knee. officialcharts.de, accessed on October 7, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Jonas-Erik Schmidt, dpa: Pop singer Henry Valentino turns 90. volksstimme.de, May 22, 2018, accessed on October 7, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Henry Valentino & Daffi Cramer - In the car in front of me. Retrieved November 13, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c d hit mosaic - successful hit thanks to wife. In: srf.ch . June 22, 2019, accessed October 7, 2019 .
  6. ^ Volksstimme Magdeburg: Henry Valentino still has the wrong beard. Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Henry Valentino + Uschi - In the car in front of me. officialcharts.de, accessed on October 7, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Henry Valentino + Uschi - In the car in front of me at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Henry Valentino + Uschi - In the car in front of me. austriancharts.at, accessed on October 7, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b Henry Valentino + Uschi - In the car in front of me. hitparade.ch, accessed on October 7, 2019 .
  11. ^ ZDF Hitparade, episode 101.fernsehserien.de, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  12. ↑ ZDF Hitparade, episode 102.fernsehserien.de, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  13. ^ ZDF hit parade, episode 103.fernsehserien.de, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  14. ↑ disco, episode 86.fernsehserien.de, accessed on October 9, 2019 .
  15. ↑ germancharts.de - The German chart portal. Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
  16. ↑ What became of ... Daffi Cramer. Retrieved October 9, 2019 .
  17. ↑ germancharts.de - The German chart portal. Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Official German Charts - Katrin Huss + Henry Valentino. In the car in front of me (the other version). Retrieved October 7, 2019 .
  19. ↑ youtube: Katrin Huss & Henry Valentino - In the car in front of me. Retrieved October 31, 2019 .
  20. ↑ a b Die Roten Rosen - Never Mind The Hosen - Here's Die Roten Rosen at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  21. ↑ Interview with Monique Maasen, guest singer with the Rote Rosen. Die Toten Hosen , November 2001, archived from the original on June 25, 2013 ; Retrieved October 25, 2013 .
  22. ↑ a b The red roses - In the car in front of me at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  23. ↑ Orchester Udo Reichel - Heidi (and other children's hits) at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  24. ↑ Klaus Wunderlich - Wunderlich Pops 7 at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  25. ↑ Adam and Micky's - In the car in front of me ... drives so'n old Simpel at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  26. ↑ Double Impact - In the car in front of me at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  27. ↑ Les Tender Whiskers - Monsterpussy at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  28. ↑ The Ass-Fucked Rubber Maids - Wash the Plum at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  29. ↑ Nordwind - Liebe, Lust & Lemonade at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  30. ↑ Axel Schweiss Band - Wägele (In the car in front of me) at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  31. ↑ Otto - Only Otto at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  32. ↑ Holy Moses - Strength, Power, Will, Passion at Discogs , accessed October 9, 2019.
  33. ↑ The Gerd Show - Greatest Hartz at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  34. ↑ Dieter Thomas Kuhn & Band - Music is Trumps at Discogs , accessed on October 9, 2019.
  35. ↑ Betontod - Vamos! at Discogs , accessed October 9, 2019.
  36. ^ Pop singer Henry Valentino turns 90. In: Volksstimme.de.
  37. ↑ Slippery lyrics, good mood - Henry Valentino's most beautiful songs. In: Schlagerplanet.com.
  38. ↑ a b Jenni Zylka : Jenni Zylka on plague & cholera: Pull up to my bumper, baby. taz.de, September 7, 2004, accessed on October 12, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Holger Hettinger: Bye-bye Diesel! Deutschlandfunk Kultur, August 7, 2017, accessed on October 13, 2019 .
  40. ^ Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker : Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker: "The criminal liability of stalking is an important concern of the Union". Speech to improve protection against stalking. CDU , October 20, 2016, accessed on October 13, 2019 .
  41. ^ Rainer Moritz: A declaration of love to the car . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . ( nzz.ch [accessed October 15, 2019]).

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