I liked this one a lot. Best part of the 1970s was the fact that there weren’t many, if any, genre specific radio stations. You heard all kinds of music on every station. You never knew what to expect. This is likely the explanation for my very eclectic musical tastes.
Oh my!! It’s been AGES since I’ve heard this song. Indeed it is very different, but I think that’s part of its charm. It always made me happy when I heard this song as a kid, and it’s a great memory to look back on now. This was a great find, and kudos to whoever suggested it. Great reaction video as always, Jay and Amber, and it’s especially cool when you react to a song that I had forgotten about over the years. ❤
This was huge hit in germany in the 70s. Everyone had danced together. It was my childhood time and I haven't heard it for many years. FYI: Paloma blanca = spain and it means white dove Greetings from northern Germany ♥️
It was quite big (no. 10 hit) in the UK too! But you're right, I remember visiting West Germany in the mid 70s, and it was even bigger over there! The female singer sings in a foreign accent, possibly Dutch??
@@kwaobenti George Baker Selection is a Band from the Netherlands (George Bakers real name is Johannes „Hans“ Paul Bouwens, he is half Dutch and half Italian). The Name of the blonde female singer is Lida „Lydia“ Jonkman-Bond. She is also Dutch.
I loved this song as a 13-year-old when it came out in 1975, and I still enjoy it today. I particularly love it when the key changes and the female soloist takes over. Thanks so much for featuring this one!
I Loved this, I was 14. I never knew who sang it. Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass had an instrumental version and Slim Whitman had a yodeling version, but this George Baker version was BIG on the COUNTRY stations in Texas.
ROB SQUAD, OMG!!! It has been a LONG TIME since I heard THIS song!!! AND I clicked on it because I was like "let me see if I remember this song" and TWO notes into the beginning I was like yes, I remember this song!!!🎉🎉 That happens quite OFTEN when I'm watching your videos and I always love it every time it happens!!!❤❤
This was a massive hit in the UK, and coincided with social change. Early 70's foriegn travel became more affordable and Brits started going to places like Spain for their summer holidays, hearing European pop and bringing the songs back with them.
This song takes me back to my small childhood. I was probably 3 or 4 years old the first time I remember hearing this song. I'm 50 this June. Thanks for unlocking a core memory today 😀🤣
George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from the Netherlands. They are best-known for their 1969 song "Little Green Bag" & the 1975 hit "Paloma Blanca".
Good thing I saw your post. This record was big when I was 10. I hated it. (Too good for that stuff. Live and learn.) I remember distinctly the DJ saying they were Polish and that the song was considered polka. Either way, 50 years later, it's still here.
I love this song. My wife, who is seven years younger than me, always rolls her eyes when this song comes on. Thank you for another great reaction. Keep up the good work.
I LOVED this song when I was a kid! Thank you so much! Now you've gotta do GBS's "Little Green Bag." It has one of my favorite basslines ever. Hearing these songs that I used to dance and sing to as a child make me a little teary-eyed and emotional now as an adult, but it's so wonderful to hear them again.
This was my jam when I was about 2 or 3! When my parents passed away I inherited their record collection, and was lucky that this album was part of it. Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories of my childhood ❤
Another European group to check out, from Germany is Kraftwerk (electronic/synth pop). A few songs to check out would be Autobahn, Numbers, and Tour de France from 70's/80's.
When I heard this hit song on the radio back in the 1975 as a 19 y/o teenager, I always associated it with the bicentennial celebration of the USA along with Elton John's Philadelphia freedom hit song.
One of my all time favorites is "Baby Blue" which got to #1 here in N.Z in 1974. It's one of those lyrically sad songs with a bouncy tune that gets stuck in your head.
I'm from the Netherlands, as is George Baker. Around 2005, the song was used in a Dutch film and was a huge hit again. George performed at my company's christmas party that year.
This was always an oddball track in terms of appeal. When I was doing discos at the time this was a hit, we had to play it endlessly. However, if you played this early in the evening at - say, a wedding or a birthday party gig - all the little kids and their mums would get up and dance to it. Toward the end of the evening when everyone had sunk a few drinks, if you played it then pretty much everyone from tots to grandads would get up and jig around to it. Maybe sober adults are resistant to joy, but drink brings out the inner kid? I still don't ever want to hear it ever again though :-D Bah humbug.
Exactly THIS! Only enjoyed when in a drunk stupor.....otherwise it's 🤮. Same with Andre Hazes....I was a barman too when in the army, lived in Amsterdam. So I played the music....put on Hazes and got yelled at by everybody not from Amsterdam. But after half an hour and the first drinks/drunks the whole bar joined hands and sang along. 🤣🤣🤣
Another great song on your channel that I had forgot about. And it reminds me of of another one more like it's the Banana Boat Song (Day O) by Harry Belafonte. It's song that your kids will love and they will sing the chorus constantly when they hear it. Enjoy.
For those wondering how was the actual sound of any kind of song in the 1970s, it sounded like this song. The sound was very thick and full and you could hear all the instruments. There were few synthetic sounds and music was not compressed like now. I deeply miss that old Analog style of mixing music. Best sound engineering decade ever. By the 1980s compression and digital processes came in and it's been digital ever since.
Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to kiddie disco time on holiday in Spain! Back in the day, you couldn't turn on the radio at any time of day to have this song crawl into your ears and lodge in your brain for hours! *shudders*
I haven't heard this song for decades, but heard it on the radio this morning and it sent me straight back to being a kid in the 70's. Have had a smile in my head all day!
The 70's had a thing about flute music (Jethro Tull, Focus), and pigeons (Lieutenant Pigeon with an almost instrumental song "Mouldy Old Dough"). Another Dutch song from the 70's with some flute music is "Back Home" by Golden Earring. I don't know anything about do si do. The dance we do to Una Paloma Blanca is called polonaise here. A kind of conga dance, but less fancy.
Hi, you two! It's Andrew Erroch fae Paisley in Scotland here. I am more familiar with a spoof version of this song that was originally done in 1976 by The Wurzels called 'I am a Cider Drinker'. I am also much more familiar with George Baker's excellent track called 'Little Green Bag' that they did in 1970, which became much more famous in 1992 when it was the song played at the start of Quentin Tarantino movie, 'Reservoir Dogs', so I guess you've already heard it, from when you did your movie reaction. I absolutely love the soundtrack of that movie and I used to play it over and over again, back then, as I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino movies. Æx 🙏
I haven't heard this song in ages. An instant hit when it came out with my father. He would sing along at the top of his voice at parties. I miss him. Memories.
Released in 1975 and went #1 in multiple countries before eventually hitting #1 in the U.S. in early 1076. From Wikipedia: "Paloma Blanca" (Spanish for "white dove"), often called "Una Paloma Blanca", is a song written by Dutch musician George Baker (under his real name, Johannes Bouwens) and first recorded and released by his band, George Baker Selection. Baker has been quoted as saying the song is about "a poor South American farmer who works hard all day and then sits by a tree and dreams of being a white bird with its freedom.
Their LITTLE GREEN BAG (1969) is one of my faves, and kicks off the film Reservoir Dogs. UNA PALOMA BLANCA (one white dove) was big in the 'states in '75, and George wrote this under his real name, Johannes Bouwens.
🇬🇧 Oh my, I have not heard this in ages. I remember this being on the radio back in the 70s all the time, & I loved it. The year this was a hit (1975), I was 11 and me and my sister would sing and dance along to it. Great memories, and I'm glad you liked it. 🎼💓
Here in the UK there was a cover version by Jonathan King which reached number 5 in the UK charts .. this original version also charted reaching number 10 .. both versions were in the top 10 together
This is a Wedding song. I worked in Catering. This is a staple song for wedding bands. That lead guitarist is well known. I believe he was with "The Association"(?).
LOL! The only time I had ever heard a piece of this song before this reaction was a segment on that infamous Slim Whitman album commercial on TV back in the 80s and of course Eddie Murphy doing "Buckwheat sings!" on SNL, never heard the full song vefore.
I loved this song growing up! It was just so much fun to dance to as a kid! I love you guys! Amber, you are my daughter from another mother. I'm 62 and grew up with 60's, 70's, and 80's music! It was magical! I'm a hippy, trippy, psychedelic kinda girl. I know you like Axl Rose! I LOVE Guns and Roses! The way Axl moves! I must say, fav reaction Rupert Holmes "The Pina Colada Song"! Y'all were hilarious! Just wanted you to know you two make my day, everyday! For that I am grateful! Peace!
Memories of listening to this on a bus from Rome to Naples on a school trip, over and over again on an eight track tape. It took me years before I could stand it again.
As a Dutchie this made me so happy! Great song! Also check out 'Little Green Bag'. Some other great songs by Dutch artists to check out are 'I Would Stay' by Krezip, 'Nobody's Wife' by Anouk(great song for Female Friday) and 'When The Lady Smiles' by Golden Earring.
" LITTLE GREEN BAG " - GEORGE BAKER SELECTION 1969 Rock Classics 🎸 an Amazing Favorite Next On Your List 💯 One Georges Most popular ones and Extra Creative, Paloma Blanca is a DOVE 🕊️ beautiful bird and a beautiful song too. He's got many more Amazing songs with great sound
It's a POLKA!!! Barely made the US Top 40 in 1976, but went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, later inspired a cover by Country Yodeler Slim Whitman!!
I haven't looked, but somebody from the UK absolutely must have mentioned the huge British novelty hit, that was based on this song - "I am a cider drinker" by The Worzels.... It was a massive chart hit, bigger in this country than the original ever was....that became so entrenched in British culture around 1976, that to anyone British, over the age of about 50, that I'm sure.... Just as I do..... That when they hear this tune play, they immediately chuckle, and sing "I am a cider drinker" rather than "Una Paloma blanca". Honestly, if you want to hear something truly English, quirky, and funny, have a listen to the Worzels version..... It should really make you smile at it's tales of being down on the farm, in the summertime, drinking cider 😁
Hey guys , from the UK , please find The Wurzels , I am a cider drinker , it’s a parody of this song , exactly the same tune but words are different, you will find it funny , loving your chanel
When I was a kid hearing this I always thought that it sounded like a Polka. But living in northern Europe in the 80’s I quickly learned that this was then a very standard music genre.
Amber, you're right that flute is a Recorder and is a Woodwind instrument. This instrument is often used to guide children into playing an instrument because it is relatively simple to have a melody fast, so the children are not frustrated like with a violin or a trumpet. There are this small one Recorder, I think most children play and it's called a soprano flute. Then there are also an alto, tenor and bass version. These are mostly used for completing the sound of the soprano flute. The Recorder is a classical instrument and there are many songs written only for this instrument, too.
