Friday, December 10, 2010

Der Ententanz - Tchip tchip - The Birdie Song - Tiina Titityy


Well, today's finnpick is a truly international song - or dance, if you like. Jaana Wilenius was Finnish one-hit-wonder with her 1981 hit song "Tiina Titityy". The catchy lyrics were written by Raul Reiman. And the winter 81-82 was the high season for 'chicken dance' danced to the tune of "Tiina Titityy", in all Finnish restaurants. The tune was originally composed for accordion in the 1950s in Switzerland, by Swiss accordion player Werner Thomas. Thomas tended a flock of ducks and geese, so the tune was first named "Der Ententanz" (The Duck Dance). Thomas played the tune in restaurants and people started to dance to it. However, the national and international breakthrough came in the 70's. Bobby Setter Band was a Belgian dance band and formed in 1963 in Gent. When they in 1973 released this Thomas's song with the title "Tchip tchip", the group was for some reason renamed to "Cash and Carry". The single was a smash hit in Switzerland and spent 5 weeks at the very top of Swiss charts. In 1981 the tune became European and worlwide hit when it was released in Britain as an instrumental novelty tune "The Birdie Song" performed by studio combo called The Tweets. It sold over 1.6 million in the UK alone, making it the most popular version of this song. BTW, this version has been voted as "the most annoying song of all time". There are approximately 140 versions of the original "Ententanz" recorded, selling about 40 million pieces.

Here's the triplet:

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