Teddy bear
| Teddy bear | |
|---|---|
| Red Sovine | |
| publication | 1976 |
| Genre (s) | Country music |
| Author (s) | Billy Joe Burnette , Tommy Hill , Dale Royal |
| Label | Starday Records |
| album | Teddy bear |
| Cover versions | |
| 1976 | Gerard de Vries |
| 1978 | Jonny Hill |
Teddy Bear is a song by the American country singer Red Sovine from 1976 that is performed as spoken chant . In German-speaking countries, the song became known in 1978 as Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier by the Austrian pop and country singer Jonny Hill . The song was written by Billy Joe Burnette with Tommy Hill and Dale Royal . Both the original version and the German version describe radio contact between a trucker and a little boy in a wheelchair whose father was also a long-distance driver and was killed in an accident.
background
The song was written and composed by the composer Billy Joe Burnette in collaboration with Tommy Hill and Dale Royal . He wrote the song based on the text of Dale Royal when he was in the 1970s after spending time in Philadelphia and Hollywood to Nashville to Cedarwood Music came. After he had written the song, he chose against the will of Bill Denny, the boss of Cedarwood, Red Sovine as an interpreter, who was due to his songs at the time as "The King of the Narrations". In Denny's opinion, Sovine was too old for the song, but Burnette prevailed and persuaded the singer.
The single was released in 1976. In the United States, Teddy Bear was number 1 on the Billboard Country Charts for five weeks and received a gold award.
Text and music
text
Lyrically, the song deals with radio contact between a trucker and a little boy in a wheelchair at Christmas time , whose father was also a long-distance driver and died in an accident. The song is narrative, without a chorus and is performed consistently as spoken chant in simple pair rhymes .
In the song, the little boy who calls himself a "teddy bear" uses a CB radio and asks for someone to talk to him. The narrator, a truck driver, answers the call and listens as the boy tells his story. Aside from his disability and the fact that the father is dead, his mother has to work to support the family. Teddy bear describes himself as "crippled", German crippled , and sits in a wheelchair. His greatest wish, a trip with his father in a truck, was never fulfilled due to his father's fatal accident. The narrator is so touched by the story that he decides to grant the boy's wish despite his time pressure. When he arrives at the boy's house ("Jackson Street, 229"), there are already 18 other trucks whose drivers had overheard the conversation, and they let him ride in their trucks. The boy enjoys the show and at the end thanks the driver for it.
At the end of the day, the truck drivers collect for Teddybear's mother. "Mama Teddy Bear" reports on the air later. She thanks the drivers from the bottom of her heart for what they have done and wishes them God's blessings on their journeys for all time.
music
The accompanying country music underlines the spoken monologue Sovines and is held in 4/4 time . It starts with an intro of a steel guitar and then forms a calm, restrained and therefore subtle accompaniment. To a continuously repeating chord sequence carried by the bass and rhythm guitar, melodic solos from steel guitar, piano, electric guitar and western guitar are played alternately . The speaking voice does not respond to the melody played, but sets pauses to synchronize with the rhythm. After the last movement, the music quickly fades out.
Cover versions and sequels
The song was covered several times in the original version as well as in other languages . In the American-speaking world, for example, it was sung again by the gospel band The Jackson Southernaires in 1979, by Ferlin Husky in 1987 and by Boxcar Willie in 1991. In the German-speaking countries it was known as a version under the title Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier by the Austrian pop and country singer Jonny Hill in 1978, which was also sung again by Gunter Gabriel . In the Netherlands there was a version by Gerard de Vries called Teddy Beer . In both versions, the text was largely translated and adapted; accordingly, it only differs from the original in nuances.
Jonny Hill - Ruf 'Teddy Bear One – Four
In 1978 the song by Ulf Krüger and Jonny Hill appeared as a single on the record company RCA Corporation . On the B-side the song Kann Liebe Alles Verzeihn was recorded, a German version of the song Some Broken Hearts Never Mend by Don Williams :
- Call Teddy Bear One - Four - 4:42
- Some Broken Hearts Never Mend - 2:47
As in the original, the German-language text is written in pair rhymes. The accompanying music, on the other hand, is more dynamic and has a continuous melody. In addition to the instruments of the American version, drums , harmonica , a vocalizing choir and finally a keyboard are used. As the story progresses, the drama of the music increases through a stronger use of drums, choir and keyboard as well as several semitone shifts , which distinguishes the cover version from the restrained and uniformly arranged original.
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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In Germany, the single rose to number 22 in the German single charts on March 19, 1979 . By April it rose to eighth place and was able to stay there for five weeks with a short break. In total, the song was in the charts for 25 weeks. In the ZDF Hit Parade , the song was on 5 March 1979 presented and Jonny Hill presented it to the November 12, 1979 every month according to the current chart position, which is the title on May 7, 1979 to second place in the show managed. Hill appeared four times with the song in the ZDF hit parade. In Switzerland, the single reached its highest chart listing in eight chart weeks at position eleven. Ruf 'Teddybär Eins-Vier was the first and only Jonny Hill single to make it into the charts.
In the following year 1979 Jonny Hill published a double album with German cover versions of popular country songs under the title The most famous 24 Country Hits in German , on which 22 other country covers besides the songs Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier and Kann Liebe alles forgive were included. Until the publication of Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier , Jonny Hill was best known for sea shanties in the style of Freddy Quinn . The last release before the single was albums with titles such as Eine Reise um die Welt , Our home is the ocean , Seeman, when are you coming again , Across all seven seas and On a long journey . With the country songs, the singer addressed a trucker romance that was modern at the time. Jonny Hill used the melody of Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier again for the song Tommy und Strolch , in which the truck driver used the CB radio to find a new dog for his young friend Tommy, whose "Strolch" died is.
In 1994 the hit and country singer Gunter Gabriel published the song as a cover version on his album Straßenhund .
Gerard de Vries - Teddy Beer
In 1976, a cover version of the song with singer Gerard de Vries under the title Teddy Beer was released in the Netherlands . It is also a version largely directly translated from the American version. De Vries was known in the Netherlands in the 1970s as a radio disc jockey for his country program Nashville Tennessee , which he hosted on Radio Veronica . As a singer, he became known for various songs, which, like Teddy Baer , were usually translated from English. In 1965 he had his first top 10 hit in the Dutch charts with the song Het Speel Karten , a Dutch version of the song Deck of Cards by T. Texas Tyler from 1948, which was particularly popular with several country singers in the 1960s was covered, including by Red Sovine in his Vietnam Deck of Cards , in which he rewrote the song, which was actually related to World War II , on the Vietnam War .
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Gerard de Vries released his single Teddy Beer in 1976 on the Elf Provinciën label. On the B-side was the song Zijn Leven Is De Autobaan , a Dutch version of Gunter Gabriel's He's a Guy . It entered the Dutch Top 40 at number 20 after its publication in 1976 and climbed to number 7 before dropping again. Overall, the song was in the top 40 for 10 weeks. Teddy Beer was Gerard de Vries' second top 10 hit, but also his last.
Sequels
In addition to cover versions, there were also some songs that were based on the story of Teddy Bear and told the story from the respective point of view of the interpreters. Billy Joe Burnette wrote Teddy Bear's Last Ride for singer Dianna Williams , which also appeared in 1976. The Australian singer Nev Nicholls released a cover version of Teddy Bear and the Phantom 309, also sung by Red Sovine , on his album Loaded Up and Truckin as well as the continuation of the Teddy Bear story, in which "Teddy Bear" dies and by the Truckers are accompanied on their last trip.
Sovine himself published Little Joe, the story of a truck driver's dog who saved his master's life after an accident. In this song, "Teddy Bear" - after regaining his ability to walk - became a truck driver himself and visits the victim with several of his colleagues.
Jonny Hill also published several sequels of the story with Hallo Teddybär , Teddybär, I thank you and Papa, I am Teddybär . The latter appeared on the album 20 Jahre Teddybär and told the story of the creation of his version of the song and related it to the story of his disabled son Andreas, who, following the text, said to him at some point: "Dad, I'm a teddy bear."
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Billy Joe Burnette died on countrymusicnews.de, January 4, 2017; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Brent Hosier: The Billy Joe Burnette Story Part 1 on countryentertainmentusa.com; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Red Sovine - Teddy Bear at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Red Sovine - Teddy Bear on cover.info; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Red Sovine - Teddy Bear. hitparade.ch, accessed on July 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Jonny Hill - Ruf 'Teddybär Eins – Vier at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ a b Jonny Hill - Ruf 'teddy bear one - four. officialcharts.de, accessed on July 31, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Jonny Hill - Ruf 'teddy bear one - four. hitparade.ch, accessed on July 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Jonny Hill - The most famous 24 country hits in German at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Gunter Gabriel - street dog at Discogs ; accessed on August 9, 2020.
- ↑ a b Gerard de Vries - Teddy Beer. top40.nl, accessed on August 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Gerard de Vries - Teddy Beer at Discogs ; accessed on August 9, 2020.
- ↑ Diana Williams - Teddy Bear's Last Ride at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ^ Nev Nicholls - Loaded Up and Truckin at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Red Sovine - Little Joe at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Jonny Hill - Hello Teddy Bear at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.
- ↑ Jonny Hill - 20 years teddy bear at Discogs ; accessed on July 31, 2020.