Boney M. (video, mp3, midi)

(UPDATE: Contains 1 MIDI, 1 MPEG video, 1 MP3 2 MP3s)

We all know that WFMU is poised to become the authoritative on-line resource for Cheesy Euro-Disco. However, for inexplicable reasons one of the most important and educational bands in this genre, Boney M., has not been featured on this blog yet. It is time for this to change.

It all started in 1975 when German producer Frank Farian scored a hit under the pseudonym Boney M. with "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?". He decided that he needed some good-looking dancers and singers to present to the public, and so the band Boney M. came into being, with official members Marcia Barrett, Liz Mitchell, Bobby Farrell, and Maizie Williams. Of those four, Bobby Farrell and Maizie Williams were only lip-syncing and dancing, all the male vocals were contributed by Farian himself. Later on Farian would perfect this technique by creating the lip-sync duo Milli Vanilli.

Boney M. were one of the biggest disco acts in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 70s, but somehow they never got really popular in the US. Frank Farian himself describes them as "the most perfect mix of black and white music" and attributes the lack of success in the US to racial segregation. Well, judge for yourself. If you never heard any of their songs, a good place to start is this "mega-mix" (MIDI file) of their hits Rivers Of Babylon, Sunny (yes, the Kinks in MIDI Euro-Disco), Daddy Cool, and Rasputin.

Or maybe a MIDI file is not the best place to start, since you are missing out on the educational content and the dancing. Whereas contemporaries like Dschingis Khan also educated the general public about Russian culture (drink Vodka straight and chilled, throw the glasses against the wall), Boney M. took it one step further and wrote a song about the life of Rasputin, "Russia's greatest love machine". Here is a video (MPEG, 46.9 MB) of this Euro-Disco history lesson. Apart from dancing, a fake beard and a thoroughly bored guy in the first row chewing gum, you can also see Boney M. strutting over the Red Square in Moscow and playing in the Russian snow. Irony has it that the song itself was banned in the Soviet Union for a while, despite being very popular.

Just a couple of minor corrections/additions: The line "But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear" suggests that he was screwing around in Moscow. However, Rasputin earned his reputation while he was in St. Petersburg, the Russian capital at the time. Boney M. also fails to mention his 11-inch penis (13 inches according to other sources), which is purportedly on display in the St. Petersburg Erotica Museum. You can see a picture here and decide for yourself whether it looks like the real thing or a sea cucumber.

For those who gave up religion for life of promiscuous sex and heavy drinking, or vice versa, think again. Rasputin created his own brand of Christianity, derived from the teachings of the Khlysty sect. It is not quite clear what the exact principles of his religion were, but having sex with lots of different partners and living a life of sin certainly play a central role in its path to salvation. Doesn't that sound appealing?

Another historical figure Boney M. took on is Kate 'Ma' Barker, whose life was portrayed in Roger Corman's meticulously researched biopic Bloody Mama. Listen to the song here (MP3). You will notice that they changed the name to "Ma Baker", according to this site for rhyming reasons. However, there is no single rhyme with "Baker" in the whole song. I guess they wanted to protect the innocent.

They also moved her to Chicago, probably because the line "She was the meanest cat in old Chicago town" sounded so groovy. Other than that, the song lyrics could have been copied from a history book. Roger Corman's film focused a bit more on the incest and drug part of the story, but you just can't tell everything in a four minute song.

By the way, did you notice that the FBI guy in the song has a German accent?

UPDATE: Here is the extended disco version of Rasputin (MP3), from a 12" vinyl single. It was by far the most requested song on my shows at WCBN in Ann Arbor. I took it from one of my show archives, but the sound quality seems to be alright, at least on my crappy speakers. I can personally vouch for its appeal to American college radio audiences.

Comments

[fatty jubbo]

heheh! boney M! An old roommate and I would listen to Boney M alot. Their cover of "Love for Sale" is top-drawer stuff!

In "Touching The Void", that movie about the mountain climber who was left for dead...at one point towards the end of his journey, on broken legs, dragging himself down the mountain, he starts to hulucinate, finally believing he is going to die...a Boney M song is on a constant loop in his head. He says, "This is the last song I want to die to".

[Lukas]

I even saw "Touching the Void" (on an airplane!), totally forgot about that. The song looping in his head is "Brown Girl In The Ring", one of the most retarded songs in the whole Boney M repertoire. It has a certain appeal, but it does not quite work as the soundtrack to a slow death.

To add a personal experience: I found a 12" single with the extended disco mix of "Rasputin" at WCBN in Ann Arbor. The response was overwhelming and it became the most requested song on my show ever. The only other Boney M material in their music library was a later LP with only terrible songs. Luckily, I forgot the name of it.

[Lin-Jye]

I am new to the world of Boney M. The great Mike Perini and along with my wife from Russia, is that apt or what, introduced me to the worderful wonderful world of Boney M. I was always a big fan of Abba. How did I miss Boney M growing up? Oh wait, I was raised in Ann Arbor.

[Station Manager Ken]

I too would like to take this opportunity to blame Ann Arbor for obscuring my vision from the wonder of Boney M. That video is a fine piece of Cheesy Euro-Disco plagiarism. It's as close as you can get to Dschingis Khan without becoming Dschingis Khan. Nice job Lukas! I'd love to get a copy of the Rasputin 12 inch if you have a MP3. -ken

[Lukas]

I don't have the 12" single, it is still in the WCBN library. I just found it in one of my archived WCBN shows and I will post it as an update in a few minutes.

As to the plagiarism thing: If one of the bands plagiarized, it was Dschingis Khan. They were formed in 1979, and the video of "Moskau" is from that year. Boney M. already performed "Rasputin" in 1978 on the British show "Top Of The Pops". The video I posted is from the German show "Musikladen", I think, but it was probably also 1978, or very early 1979. However, I would agree that Dschingis Khan set completely new standards of excellence for fake Russian dance music (and videos).

[Baz]

Boney M... argh! lol... What annoys me is that history dictates that in England 1978, it was a great time in music since the punks had killed off much of the dross. Did it f***! What most of us were really subjected to was disco, Travolta and Newton John, Abba and nonsense like Boney M! They were enormously popular in Britain and kids in playgrounds could be heard singing the immortal chorus of "Rasputin" not having any clue who Rasputin was nor what the "love machine" part in the lyrics meant!

In some ways, Boney M were a glam act for the late 70s. Whenever they appeared on TV, they always wore the most ridiculous outfits and Bobby Farrell... God bless Bobby! He would prance and leap around with comical faces as if a firework had been let off in his pants. The sight of him on TOTP with the Rasputin beard and attempting Russian dancing is something that scarred millions of young memories!

My main memory of Boney M on TV was that the BBC had this awful summertime show, "Seaside Special" which featured all the dead end of the pier talents and sometime in 1979 it came from someplace like Rhyl and began with Boney M in full costumes miming to "Hooray Hooray, Its A Holi, Holiday" on the beach. It wasn't very sunny from what I remember either so it was a truly ridiculous sight. I'd love to see that clip again if the BBC still have it.

Then in 1980, that was it. They just stopped charting altogether and quickly faded away as the horror that was the 80s unfolded.

Just thought you'd be amused to read some memories of Boney M from a British lad who was a kid aged between 5 and 8 when Boney M had their reign of hits!
Best Wishes,
BAZ

[Molly Black]

When I spent a few weeks hanging out in Dublin in 1998 with some members of the artist scene/rave kids one of the coolest things they turned me on to was Boney M. I totally forgot about the fact I have a copy of one of the cassettes with Rasputin on it and now I'm going to have to dig it out and rip it to cd. Thanks for the memories you brought rushing back! :-)

[Romolo]

They were very popular in Mexico. To this day "oldies" stations feature many of their hits all the time.

[JanetLand]

A Boney M. Christmas song, "Mary's Boy Child," became amazingly, stunningly popular on WRVA in Richmond, Virginia in the late 70s/early 80s. People called the station repeatedly, begging to hear it again, but you couldn't buy it anywhere. The station finally began giving away promotional copies of the 45 as prizes in their "Fun Line" trivia contest. I think I still have one.

[Jason Frederick]

I would like to say thank you for bringing to the table the topic of Boney M. I have been a fan of Boney M. - more specifically the Nightflight to Venus record, since I was a very small child. I can honestly say Rasputin is the first song I ever new all the words to. I have repeatedly tried to turn people on to this music over the years, but only recently have my attempts been met with accepting ears. Long live Boney M.!!!!

[hz]

There are places in the world where people have not heard or heard
of Elvis Presley, Beatles, Bruce Springsteen..... but Boney M music
are classics:

Boney M in India last year.
http://www.gurgaonscoop.com/story/2004/9/19/122656/666

quoting from a customers review in
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B00000769K/104-0969636-2150365

"It is practically a trademark of my family in Ghana and has been for the last 15 years. No Christmas is the same without Boney M."

.---
In the northern European country where I live we later
heard artists like Bob Marley, Neil Young and Creedens Clearwater
Revival cover Boney M hits such as:

"No Woman No Cry"
"Have You Ever Seen the Sun"
"Heart of Gold"

[Trifocal]

I found the Nightflight to Venus album at a thrift shop in Fla. when I was a kid. I loved the countdown to takeoff and "Heart of Gold"

[elvina]

I can't believe noone has mentioned their "political" song about the situation in northern ireland, BELFAST. a classic!

[Edo]

The singer of Boney M, Bobby Farrell, is Dutch/Aruban and was recently in particularly funny Dutch insurance commercial that referred to the fact that he hardly made any money out of it all. (Thank you, Frank Farian!) You see him, preforming the Boney M classic, "Daddy Cool", over and over again, first in front of a huge crowd in the 70's, dancing away, and eventually in a retirement home for 4 elderly people, balding away, while his manager's office keeps improving.
To see it, go to:

http://www.ster.nl/ster?nav=irilHsHCjEtCeDvD

And fill in "Farrell" under "trefwoorden", then search.

[Kathy]

Rasputin was my favorite song as a tyke (I was lucky, my dad was in the military so he got the record overseas). It taught me early on that a great song could be about more than lovemaking and it is still my guiltiest of pleasures.

[Will]

I was in West Germany with the US Air Force in late 70s, they were the hits of the airways then, so I got a cassette. A couple of years ago I found a 4-cd set that included practically all of their songs. A few memorable songs were "Steppenwolf" and "Nightflight to Venus".

[J.F.]

Dude, you really made me laugh this morning with the Rasputin video. Good job.

[Dave H]

I was stationed in Germany in the mid 70s, and there was a German carnival that set up across from my quarters one summer. One of the rides played "Rivers of Babylon" as its soundtrack, night after night, for hours at a time. Naturally I haven't been able to get that song out of my mind for almost 30 years! Thanks to the internet, I can finally begin decompression therapy...and though it is indeed a cheesy, 70's disco song, I still like it. (Of course, I still have a thing for Olvia Newton-John, so guess I'm hopelessly devoted to the 70s.)

[misc]

My parents were also stationed overseas in the late 70's. I found Nightflight to Venus in their old record collection many years ago. Rasputin has to be my all time favorite. One thing I do remember is Michael Cretu's name appearing on the credits as an arranger or producer. He had a few hits himself in the early and mid 90's under the name Enigma.

[lp]

I have been a great fan of Boney M since listening to the song "rivers of babylon".. but i dont have it with me right now. I would request someone having this song to please sent it to me on my id [email protected] , thank you in advance.

[Albgardis Ungvarsky]

Comparing Boney M. to Dschingis Khan, with the accent that Boney M. tried to be like Dschingis Khan shows the utter cluelessness. This is the same as if Debbie Harry (Blondie) would try to look like Madonna...

Boney M. had their big time between September 76 and Oct 1979, then the tensions within the group and with the producer exploded. The lead singer had enough and decided to become pregnant, which she did right immediately. So the group was forced to have a break around the birth (Aaron, June 1980). When they came back in Sept.80 with a new single, the music world had changed, and Disco was fading out.

Now, back to Dschingis Khan. They were casted for the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, which took place in Jerusalem that year (because Israel had won 78). I remember reading a remark on this site somewhere that someone was amazed how popular they were in Israel. Duuuuude - what you saw was the Eurovision Song Contest gig in Israel. They might have also been successful there, but their base was definately in Germany. Their first TV-gig ever together as a group was in April 79, in the national pre-contest (where people decided who would represent Germany in Israel). By then Boney M. were almost over their peak already!

So comparing the Rasputin video (had footage of Musikladen Aug.78 and Moskau Dec.78) with the later founded group is really, really, really weird.

I don't know when Siegel and Meinunger started seeing talents for their group idea, maybe they were already casting in Aug.78. No idea.
BUT: the public did not know about Dschingis Khan until April 1979! So the videos from Aug. and Dec. 1978 hardly could be influenced by the group that had not been born by then. And even if Frank Farian would have heard about his colleague's plans: How would he know that this new group would be a success? Not even he can see the future, as his string of failures in recent times proves.

Just my 2 cents...
P.S. Oh, you might have guessed it already: I am a know-it-all German!

[Boz]

Glad to see there are a lot of people who fondly remember how once upon a time disco was meant to excite, to celebrate life. As a yank who just graduated high school and went about Europe for several months during Boney Ms hey day I have to say that once I tasted the dance music of the continent, I couldnt bear it when I went back to the horrors of Saturday Night fever and all the rest of the garbage. Europe was where the energy was. Too bad I had to head home before the break out of New Wave/New Romantic Music.
Boney M, man what a great time to live and love.

[danusia]

Boney'm it's a great music.Please CD on address.Danuta Droefke
Ul.Wolnosci 126a/5
Country: Poland
Zabrze 41-800
Number telephone:(+48)511-213-765
Email address:[email protected]
With music:Mary's boy child,and other.
Very Thanks

[xavi]

Iwant ten thousand light years -boney m album

[Marinda]

I like their music, I think it is cool.I really love their christmassongs.