Sailor, your home is the sea)
Seemann (your home is the sea) is the title of an evergreen that was published by Lolita in 1960 and was very successful internationally.
History of origin
Lolita had already taken over the first composition from Werner Scharfenberger's pen on May 8, 1957 , namely The White Moon of Maratonga . The Fernweh ballad was published in October 1957 and was able to penetrate to number 2 on the German hit parade . Lolita had been making records since 1956, but this was her first hit. Over the years Scharfenberger had written 5 titles for her, the sixth should be her greatest success.
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The Viennese music producer Gerhard Mendelson was urgently looking for a B-side for the title La Luna (written by Ralph Maria Siegel ). Pop writer Fini Busch and composer Werner Scharfenberger hastily wrote Seemann (your homeland is the sea) , which was selected as the A-side after consultations with radio stations. The song is about wanderlust and the oceans on which seafarers are at home, but also about homesickness. The textual mention of international ports increased the authenticity of the song.
Recording and publication
Recorded on December 15, 1959 with Lolita in the Austrophon studio in Vienna and published in February 1960, the sentimental Seemann (your home is the sea) / La Luna (Polydor # 24 177) advanced to Scharfenberger's first million seller with 2 million records sold worldwide. Lolita was the first Austrian singer to receive a gold record in Germany . It was given to her on January 17, 1961 in Vienna. It was later awarded a platinum record for a million copies sold. Despite the great sales success the song in Germany with second place on the charts had to be content blocked from the top position by Heidi Brühl Millionenseller We will never go apart ' . With her other hits, Lolita should be permanently denied the top spot in the charts. But with this song she led the Bravo annual charts in 1960 with 484 points. Lolita also sang the song in the film Send Your Wife Not To Italy , which was released on September 22, 1960.
International breakthrough
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She also achieved her international breakthrough with the song. In August 1960, the original recording of Lolita was released in the USA. This even made it to number 5 on the US hit parade. On November 4, 1960 in Hamburg, an English-spoken recitation by Maureen René was added to the middle section of the original song , which was now pressed as Sailor, Your Home is The Sea for the English-speaking market.
Cover versions
The song was titled Sailor by Petula Clark and Anne Shelton gecovert . Clark's English text, by David West (pseudonym of Norman Newell , producer at EMI), reached number one in the UK charts and sold an additional 250,000 copies when published in January 1961. The title was the first number one hit for the singer. Anne Shelton released her version that same month, but had to be content with rank 10.
Even more than 50 years after the first recording, the song, sung by Lolita, or by Andrea Berg , Freddy Quinn or Géraldine Olivier , is broadcast publicly on television.
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, 144
- ↑ Billboard Magazine, January 30, 1961, Lolita takes Gold Disc , p. 54
- ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 445 .
- ↑ SWR 4 of February 3, 2010, About the unpredictability of hits
- ^ Jo Rice: The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits . 1st edition. Guinness Superlatives Ltd, Enfield, Middlesex 1982, ISBN 0-85112-250-7 , pp. 55 (English).