Comments on: GOOMBAY DANCE BAND – “Seven Tears”

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:16:16 +0000

“You called Tash to Narnia. Tash is come. What have you now to say to hm?”

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:12:34 +0000

I swear that sleeve is getting brighter.

By: pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør

pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:47:04 +0000

in what sense have they not in fact gone way?

By: Tooncgull

Tooncgull — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:25:10 +0000

Hated it then…. hate it now. Go away, Goombays, please make them go away, somebody!!

By: wichitalineman

wichitalineman — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:45:57 +0000

K-Tel watch: Oliver Bendt and friends closed out side one of Turbo Trax, following Bad Manners’ Got No Brains and Matchbox’s One More Saturday Night.

By: Malice Cooper

Malice Cooper — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:30:22 +0000

Brian Jacks got fed up of winning “Superstars” and decided instead to sing and eat fire. The brilliantly named “Oliver Bendt” had a solo career and beat Peter Kay to this one

http://i12.ebayimg.com/05/i/001/3a/3d/ed48_1.JPG

By: DV

DV — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:39:45 +0000

When I was small and this was a hit, I assumed that the lyrics had some kind of deep meaning that I would understand when I was big.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:24:55 +0000

Light Entertainment Watch: The Goombay Dance Band were a familiar sight on British TV screens in 1982;

STARBURST: with Bob Monkhouse, Alvin Stardust, Druids, Goombay Dance Band (1982)

SUMMERTIME SPECIAL: with Little And Large, Chas & Dave, Gigi Garner, Goombay Dance Band, The Grumbleweeds, Rudi Schweitzer (1982)

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:17:01 +0000

TOTPWatch: The Goombay Dance Band peformed ‘Seven Tears’ on Top of the Pops on no less than five occasions;

4th March 1982. Also in the studio that week were; Toni Basil, Gary Numan, Imagination, The Jets, ABC and Tight Fit, plus Zoo’s interpretation of ‘Deutscher Girls’. David Jensen was the host.

18 March 1982. Also in the studio that week were; Classix Nouveaux, Leo Sayer, Japan, Gary Numan and Tight Fit, plus Zoo’s interpretation of ‘Layla’. Steve Wright and Richard Skinner were the hosts.

25 March 1982. Also in the studio that week were; Altered Images, Bucks Fizz, Foster & Allen, The Boomtown Rats and Killing Joke (!). Peter Powell and Garth Crooks were the hosts.

1 April 1982. Also in the studio that week were; Motorhead, Roxy Music, Dollar, Bardo and Status Quo. Yay! – John Peel was the host.

8 April 1982. Also in the studio that week were; Haircut 100 and Chas & Dave, plus Zoo’s interpreatation of ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’. Simon Bates was the host.

By: will

will — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:25:19 +0000

Detested it then, as now. But I haven’t been able to shake the bugger out of head for the last two days.

By: rosie

rosie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:42:57 +0000

Snif @ 26: Come now, it’s such a musical cliché that, given the first two lines, you can hum the rest without thinking.

By: Snif

Snif — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:06:22 +0000

This song was sufficient a hit in Australia to the point that I can hum the tune to the first two lines, but that’s it.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:41:50 +0000

#21: “I understand”…..

By: Alix

Alix — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:36:57 +0000

I’m afraid that today in the Gingerbread offices we have nothing as exciting as Seven Tears or even Spandau Ballet to listen to, but I can confirm that one of my colleagues has just said the word ‘Splott’ to whoever he is on the phone to.

Also, thanks Pete!

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:56:09 +0000

My memories of a stint working for Gingerbread are, oddly, heavy rotation for Spandau Ballet’s Only When You Leave. Which is worse, and sadder in its own way I’d venture, than Seven Tears.

Definite campfire quality to this. Again, Terry Wogan played this ever such a lot – that and the fire eating were enough to elevate it above Imagination. Wot a shame.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:10:21 +0000

As a child I couldn’t get a handle on this song – What’s the narrative point? How is it supposed to make me feel?

I wasn’t yet familiar with the concept of hackwork.

By: Kat but logged out innit

Kat but logged out innit — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:59:09 +0000

Listening to this for the first time ever: it’s like someone thought Auld Lang Syne wasn’t quite linking-arms enough and required some dribbling vicar vocals over the top. I can see why Cliff thought he might be able to have a better shot at it a few decades later (sorry SB).

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Oh dear, first I have to admit loving The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and now this one too. Obviously 7 year old me had particularly rubbish taste. My main memory of this song is that it was the cause of the first serious argument I remember having with my sister, as I insisted my parents copied this off the radio onto tape, and in the process wiping over her favourite song. Anyway, that aside, I loved this at the time, and looking back on it, I think the fire eater played a big part.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:11:22 +0000

Speaking of Swedish dance bands

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:09:45 +0000

What the bloody hell is a Goombay Dance Band anyway? Is Goombay a place? I really don’t want to look it up, just the thought of this record is making me lose brain cells.

By: lonepilgrim

lonepilgrim — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:55:35 +0000

welcome jungman (I so want to say ‘I was once in your shoes’ that I have resorted to this self conscious patenthesis) – perhaps you can shed some light on any swedish musical influences in abba that we brits assume are uniquely abbaesque

By: Jungman Jansson

Jungman Jansson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:55:08 +0000

My only previous exposure to Goombay Dance Band is “Sun of Jamaica”, which I “inherited” from a friend who apparently had hazy teenage memories of listening to it when drinking with his girlfriend. Don’t ask.

Anyway, they are frighteningly similar. If I had heard this played on the radio, I could well have thought it to be “Sun of Jamaica” (which apparently didn’t chart in the UK). I don’t think they had that much success here in Sweden either, we have our own native “dansband” scene which is probably immune to foreign influences – it’s an extremely weird musical subculture made up primarily of middle aged people. Something to investigate if you’re interested in odd Scandinavian exoticism. My friend had some strange German friends in his home town, that must be where he got it from.

By: lonepilgrim

lonepilgrim — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:40:50 +0000

I have little or no memory of this beyond a vague impression of something in a lets-link-hands Kumbayah stylee.

I can barely summon the energy to suffer it on Youtube (if it hasn’t been affected by their ban).The picture sleeve does not bode well.

European pop – it’s like another country

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:33:50 +0000

Wikipedia seems to suggest that the Goombays were massive in Germany EXCEPT for this song.

By: peter goodlaws

peter goodlaws — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:19:55 +0000

If this kept “Just an Illusion” off the top, I hate it even more than I have heretofore (great word, that!)

As Erithian says, I cannot understand how this was a best seller. It sounds like a comedy record to me, as Tom seems to suggest. Since I have no inclination to do the simple research myself, can someone tell me if this was a Europe-wide hit or was it just us who embraced this lunacy?