Schnappi
Schnappi, the little crocodile, is a German music project by the Cologne-based author , composer and music producer Iris Gruttmann. The project gained notoriety through the children's song of the same name , which became an international million seller from the end of 2004 , served as the namesake of a comic figure and triggered a wave of merchandising .
Style and content of the song
Schnappi, the little crocodile, is a nursery rhyme in terms of both form and content. It uses - sung by a child with an unsteady voice - the typical textual and melodic features. The text is simply structured and uses the stylistic figure of "several-attempts-with-wrong-vowels" ("Schni-schna-schnappi" as in "Bi-Ba-Butzemann"), which is one of the so-called sound figures. In simple rhyme form the story of a newly hatched Nile crocodile is told that is cute, curious and cheeky and explores its surroundings.
History of origin
The starting point was the WDR children's series “ Die Sendung mit der Maus ”, for which the Cologne-based author, composer and producer Iris Gruttmann writes, among other things.
However, the song was written especially for her then five-year-old niece Joy Gruttmann , for whom Iris Gruttmann rewrote the original text from Rosita Blissenbach in 2001 and wrote a melody for it, initially only appeared on the music cassette "Iris Lieder - Lied für mich" the MC series "Songs & Stories with the Mouse". Here the song of the “Crocodile on the Nile” is already being sung by the then five-year-old niece Joy Gruttmann. Then the song was marketed in 2003 on the sampler "Großes und Kleines mit der Maus" ("Karussell" - MC # 544 751-4). The song, which until then was only available on analogue sound carriers, was converted into MP3 audio format by Internet users in early 2004 and distributed via file sharing networks.
It was only in MP3 format that "Schnappi" triggered a snowball effect over the Internet. After the radio station SWR3 became aware of the song and it was more a humorous part of the morning program, the station received hundreds of inquiries. The largest German Internet radio, RauteMusik, also began with intensive public performances of the song. From May / June 2004 the song spread through various websites, emails, chats and forums, which increased its popularity considerably. At that time, "Schnappi" was already very popular on the Internet, and in mid-August 2004 Iris Gruttmann was made aware of the "Schnappi" hysteria by the Maus editorial team. Thereupon the authors applied for and received title protection according to § 5 Abs. 3 MarkenG on August 24, 2004.
Publication on CD
Now record companies became aware of the "Schnappi" wave. Polydor Records released the slightly edited original on December 6, 2004 (St. Nicholas Day; also Joy's birthday) and sold the title around 250,000 times within four weeks. A year later after its release, the single had sold over 1.4 million copies, and the accompanying album Schnappi and his friends also sold more than 420,000 copies on international counters. By 2008, the single sold over 1.7 million copies. At the same time, the song was combined with an animated video for the music television station .
"Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil" entered the German hit parade on December 20, 2004, where it reached number 1 in the German single charts from January 3, 2005 and held this position for 10 weeks until March 7, 2005. The nursery rhyme stayed in the charts until April 10, 2005. In six other countries, the single went straight to number 1 on the single charts. In the Netherlands, the German version was number 1 in the Dutch charts for weeks, while the Dutch version also reached number 2. An English version also came to the island on October 3, 2005 under the title "Snappy The Little Crocodile", but only managed to achieve a poor placement there (32nd place). Other translations were in particular “Crocky le Petit Crocodile” (French), “Šnapis mažas krokodilas” (Lithuanian) or “Togetogeshi, chiisai wani” (刺 々 し 、 小 さ い 鰐) (Japanese).
Most of the time, however, the German original was successful, but there were also additional versions and parodies, for example in Belgium and the Netherlands. The number of remixes and versions that are making the rounds on the Internet is in the hundreds, some examples are Schlappi, the small Drogodil , Schnapsi, the small Alkodil and Fi Fa Ficki . A parody of the song by Elmar Brandt ( The Gerd Show ) with the title Schri-Schra-Schrödi , which was also produced by Schnappi manager Peter Burtz , reached number 18 in the German single charts in March 2005.
The success of the single was seen by critics of the music industry as an - albeit rare - evidence that illegal download offers of copyrighted music titles do not always have to lead to a loss of sales and, on the contrary, can even have a considerable advertising effect. A few other titles such as “Veo Veo” ( Hot Banditoz ) or “Ilarie” ( Las Chicas ) only became a hit after being illegally distributed over the Internet.
A merchandising campaign was already running during the success story. The Kösener toy manufacturer had a total of 30,000 pre-orders for fabric schnappis in different sizes. Anyone who suggested the term "Schnappi" in Internet search engines received a result of almost one million hits.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
|||
| 2005 | Schnappi and his friends Polydor |
DE2  (19 weeks)DE |
AT1 (25 weeks)AT |
CH19 (15 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: February 28, 2005
Sales: + 420,000 |
| Schnappi's Winterfest Polydor |
DE43 (3 weeks) DE |
AT25 (3 weeks) AT |
- | - |
First published: December 7, 2005
|
|
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
|||
| 2004 | Schnappi, the little crocodile Schnappi and his friends |
DE1 × 2
(25 weeks)DE |
AT1 × 2
(34 weeks)AT |
CH1 (30 weeks)CH |
UK32 (4 weeks) UK |
First published: December 6th, 2004
Sales: + 1,700,000 |
| 2005 | A lama in Yokohama Schnappi and his friends |
DE6 (14 weeks) DE |
AT6 (17 weeks) AT |
CH15 (12 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: April 11, 2005
as Schnappi and the Lama |
| Jing! Jingling! The Christmas Schnappi! Schnappi's winter festival |
DE17 (6 weeks) DE |
AT16 (4 weeks) AT |
CH41 (6 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: November 25, 2005
|
|
Awards
On April 2, 2005, the songwriter Iris Gruttmann and the singer Joy received an Echo Pop for Schnappi, das kleine Krokodil in the “Download Single of the Year 2004” category. The single went platinum twice in Germany , the album was rewarded with platinum. There was double platinum in Austria and Norway (7 weeks in first place), platinum in New Zealand and Switzerland and gold in Australia, Belgium and Sweden. Iris Gruttmann confessed that she had not written the nursery rhyme with these successes in mind: “I think the success is there because I do it with all my heart. Schnappi is an authentic nursery rhyme and I didn't write it with a view to the charts ”. This success was not new to her, however, because in 2000 she received a gold record for the audio book "Bedtime stories and songs with the mouse".
Individual evidence
- ↑ She has written, composed and produced over 100 other children's songs and 20 albums for the "Sendung mit der Maus", the radio play series "Letters from Felix" and "Träum schön, kleine Mondbär" and wrote "Flix and Fox"
- ↑ a b c Interview (3:20 minutes) in “WDR 2 Morgenmagazin” on December 22nd, 2004 with composer Iris Gruttmann about the success of her children's song
- ↑ The title protection gazette of August 24, 2004, No. 683, p. 2 and p. 9; Title protection is granted for the words "Schnappi", "Schnappi, the little crocodile", "Schnappi-Song", "schni schna schnappi schnappi schnappi schnapp" (PDF; 266 kB)
- ↑ a b c Fabian Soethof: What became of… Schnappi, the little crocodile? musikexpress.de, December 6, 2019, accessed December 12, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Mark Pittelkau: Schnappi star wants to sing pop songs. bild.de, April 16, 2008, accessed on December 12, 2019 .
- ^ Youtube video by Fi Fa Ficki
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK
- ↑ a b Awards for music sales: DE AT CH
Web links
- Product of a new form of cult development (taz, January 19, 2005)
- Pop story: What became of ... Schnappi, the little crocodile? (Musikexpress, September 10, 2019)