Heino - Because We Need Him Now More Than Ever

[Guy Berger]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

I'm glad we don't have anything like that in America!

Exactly.  Very strong parallels

[Teasing the Korean]

36 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

Exactly.  Very strong parallels

 

 

[Rabshakeh]

What is the significance of rolled ‘r’s? Is that a right wing signifier in Germany?

[Teasing the Korean]

3 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

What is the significance of rolled ‘r’s? Is that a right wing signifier in Germany?

 

The significance is that Heino spent some time in einer bar in Mexico, and began to pick up on the pronunciations of the locals.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[Rabshakeh]

1 minute ago, Teasing the Korean said:

 

The significance is that Heino spent some time in einer bar in Mexico, and began to pick up on the pronunciations of the locals.

 

No doubt. A well travelled Schlager singer could hardly escape it.

[Dub Modal]

7 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

What is the significance of rolled ‘r’s? Is that a right wing signifier in Germany?

One of the articles about this guy mentioned it was an aspect of Teutonic dialect. 

[Big Beat Steve]

I like my fair shares of oddball music and have been guilty of buying some, but not in my wildest nightmares would I want to find myself actually spending money on ANY of his records ...
.. and I still feel sort of ashamed of that day in, I think, 1970 or so (when I was about 10) when I urged my pa to step on it on the autobahn to make it back from our uncle's place to our home in time for the start of the TV "Hitparade" where Heino was scheduled to appear on that particular Saturday evening ... (But things abated fast after that, though there still must be a 45 from that era somewhere around in a hidden corner - actually one with a picture sleeve dating back to BEFORE the doctor ordered him to wear "sunshades after dark" (and before ... ).

Heino was the epitome of square - maybe actually square enough to make him cool again in some circles. I guess ....

His way of singing (including the allegedly rolling "r" which in fact was just part of a somewhat TOO clear diction by contemporary trends if you DO speak German and get the lyrics) may be reminiscent of some regions (I know a region way north of Frankfurt where they roll their "r"s like crazy) but is not something specifically Teutonic per se but rather a singing STYLE of "popular" baritones from way, way back (be it in "volksmusik" or elsewhere) that for some reason came natural to him. Including the "marching rhythm".Yet I think I was not the only one who at the time wondered if the way he sang was that he MEANT it that way or that it was a put-on to try to see how far he'd get with that ... and get away with it (very far, it seems ... )

His South African tours and Schlesierland singing came at a time when nobody in their "right" mind in the music-LISTENING world at large took him seriously anymore so that did not do lasting damage to his reputation with the general public or media. At any rate, next to Red River Dave he was virtually nowhere  ...
FWIW, I have seen one or two interviews with him from his (more recent) rock days where on general topics he showed a relatively liberal and commonsensical attitude. Getting wise as he aged?

As for his more recent "rock" period, this of course came up for discussion in some rock listening circles and apart from the fact that most did not take it very eriously, teh consensus most often was that he did it on the premise of "I have gone that far and am that far beyond good or bad or whatever  that I can do whatever I please and get away with it because I am beyond categorization ..." And he wasn't far off the mark, I think ...

As for that "oompah" music - don't get those styles wrong ... What Heino did often was not just "Schlager" in the stricter meaning of the term but more often words put to "Volksmusik" (that often is perforemd as instrumentals), and this was and is no strictly German affair. It's not limited to Bavaria but you are just as likely to find that "oompah" in Austria, some regions of Switzerland, the Alsace region of France, Czechoslovakia, and all this come not just from  those of German descent but Bohemians too, for example. (I'd bet some of the U.S. ethno-music heritage, e.g. whatever the Polka bands play if it is not strict polkas they play, takes its inspiration from that kind of "Volksmusik" too).

Anyway ... this a truly funny thread. Amazing to see how someone like Heino can be given that much shrift here - of all places ...

P.S  Karel Gott was Czech (and proud of it), not German.

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Big Beat Steve

[Niko]

1 hour ago, Rabshakeh said:

What is the significance of rolled ‘r’s? Is that a right wing signifier in Germany?

taken by itself, it's just a feature of some Southern dialects (including Austrian ones)... you can sing those Rs and still sound like Leonard Cohen rather than Hitler or Heino

 

[Brad]

3 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I do believe that it is important for us, as adults, to listen to what today's generation is saying.

However, some of us find their messages to be delivered in an uncouth and unrefined manner; and we prefer to hear those messages rendered more tastefully and professionally. 

And this applies to a song he recorded in 1969?

I think I hear the 1950s calling you 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Brad

[Teasing the Korean]

11 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

P.S  Karel Gott was Czech (and proud of it), not German.

Didn't he work in Germany??? Every LP I've seen is from Germany.  Granted, not many Czech LPs make their way over here. 

4 minutes ago, Brad said:

And this applies to a song he recorded in 1969?

Precisely.  I prefer his more refined, professional reading of the song, as opposed to the uncouth delivery by the pop group who wrote it.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[Big Beat Steve]

He was HUGELY successful in Germany and toured everywhere all of the time but he was Czech, that's a fact. And as far as I know he never made his permanent residence outside Czechosolvakia.
BTW, as I just saw now on reading his bio on Wiki (FWIW) he was one of those who signed the Communist-party initiated "anti-charter" AGAINST the liberal-freedom-minded "Charta 77" - which some held against him. Another one with more facets to his personality than some would imagine ...

BTW, for you who appreciates music off the beaten tracks of the obvious, try to get your hands on his early single that has his (English-sung) cover version of "Be Bop a Lula". Which will explain to you where many younger European singers of the (late) 50s and 60s came from. Overruling post-war U.S. influences all the way.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Big Beat Steve

[Teasing the Korean]

3 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

He was HUGELY successful in Germany and toured everywhere all of the time but he was Czech, that's a fact. And as far as I know he never made his permanent residence outside Czechosolvakia.
BTW, as I just saw now on reading his bio on Wiki (FWIW) he was one of those who signed the Communist-party initiated "anti-charter" AGAINST the liberal-freedom-minded "Charta 77" - which some held against him. Another one with more facets to his personality than some would imagine ...

BTW, for you who appreciates music off the beaten tracks of the obvious, try to get your hands on his early single that has his (English-sung) cover version of "Be Bop a Lula". Which will explain to you where many younger European singers of the (late) 50s and 60s came from. Overruling post-war U.S. influences all the way.

Oh, I'm not doubting you, and I appreciate the clarification.  I assumed he was German, because of the records I've found by him are on German labels.  

[Big Beat Steve]

24 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Precisely.  I prefer his more refined, professional reading of the song, as opposed to the uncouth delivery by the pop group who wrote it.

If this is so then I have another one for you:

 

One to be heard to be believed too.
Eat your heart out, not just you Yardbirds but John Lee too.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

Yeah, that pronos that he made stands the test of time, especially the ones with June.

[Brad]

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

If this is so then I have another one for you:

 

One to be heard to be believed too.
Eat your heart out, not just you Yardbirds but John Lee too.

I actually enjoyed this one. Not bad, although it could use a touch of uncouthness 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Brad

[Guy Berger]

7 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

 

 

Campy crypto-Nazi musicians are oh-so-funny

[Teasing the Korean]

An alternate shot that I've never seen before!

[B. Clugston]

On 5/20/2021 at 5:04 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

I believe that Heino also sued a German heavy Metal band who modeled their look after him.  Supposedly,  in the courtroom, a bunch of the band's fans appeared dressed as Heino!

Didn't know that about Letterman!  Was that part of "Dave's Record Collection?"

It may have been, but I can't remember. I do remember it was a running gag that Letterman played out for a long time.

[Teasing the Korean]

17 minutes ago, B. Clugston said:

It may have been, but I can't remember. I do remember it was a running gag that Letterman played out for a long time.

I remember Dave playing tracks from industrial musicals for "Dave's Record Collection," but I don't remember Heino.  

But I vividly remember the visual impression that those album covers made the first time that I saw them in the store with the international section.

[Teasing the Korean]

48 minutes ago, rostasi said:

About 8 minutes and 15+ minutes in...

These are great, I will check them out!  

I'll have to look for the industrial musicals.  In the early days of the InterWebz, my wife was online friends with the Letterman writer who wrote this segment and later featured in the film Bathtubs Over Broadway.

[Bluesnik]

On 5/24/2021 at 9:32 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

That is very interesting.  I have often wondered how and why Germany in the postwar period fully embraced that Octoberfest oompah sound.

. The other day I found Ray Conniff on an early BN Hot Jazz orchestra. Specifically, Art Hodes Chicagoans. But I don't know if he's German. I suppose not. But I was very surprised... and amused.

[Bluesnik]

On 5/19/2021 at 7:50 AM, Gheorghe said:

It was so "square" that it was "cool" again.

I know what you mean

[Gheorghe]

Another post war german artist might be Freddy Quinn. Also very very teutonic voice,

Maybe you know this one:

"Junge, komm bald wieder " or even "better" 

"Seemann, lass das träumen" 

[Niko]

I read somewhere these days that Heino modelled his way of singing the R after Freddy Quinn...

[Teasing the Korean]

7 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Another post war german artist might be Freddy Quinn. Also very very teutonic voice,

Maybe you know this one:

"Junge, komm bald wieder " or even "better" 

"Seemann, lass das träumen" 

Are his album covers as entertaining as Heino's?