Ba-Ba-Bankrobbery

Ba-Ba-Bankrobbery was the first and only English language single released by Austrian band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung.

This was an English language version of "Ba-Ba-Banküberfall", which was released in 1985 on a single but only in Germany. It appears on the "Geld oder Leben" album. "Ba-Ba-Bankrobbery" was released as a single in the UK, Germany, Spain and Canada on both 7" and 12" formats. The single was also released in Japan on 7" only.



The 12" version (or maxi) appears on the "Kann denn Schwachsinn Sünde sein?" (Can imbecility be a sin?) album, although the 7" English version does not seem to appear on any albums.



The song was basically a like a rap about how a man with no money can survive and comes up with the idea of robbing a bank as he can't think of any other way. This track was not very melodic, which did not seem to do it any favours. The "English-German" version which is just the English version in a German accent. It is NOT a bilingual version as the title suggests. The "British-British" version is the same but with a British accent, this appeared as an extended form on the 12" releases along with the standard length "English-German" version and the German language version itself. If this was not confusing enough, the 7" labelled the A side as "Ba-Ba-Bankrobbery (English Version??)".



The Guiness Hit Singles book printed this title exactly how it printed on the label which made it look as though the authors were not sure of what they were printing. This was in the 7th edition, however more recent copies appeared to have dropped the question marks.



The song did not do very well. For instance in the UK, it was in the top 75 for just 4 weeks, peaking at number 68.

The standard UK 7" featured the German accent version on the A side and the German language version on the B side. It may have seemed a better idea to have recorded a few more English language tracks and released them as well in order to gain more international favour like the German band Dschinghis Khan did.

The band did not record any further English language versions of their songs. Quite a few of their other songs, however do feature some English in them. Songs like "Lez Dance" from the "Himbeerland" album is mostly in English.



Despite the band's failed (and rather poor) attempt to gain international fame, they still remain quite popular in Germany and Austria.


 
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