Da Da Da

"Da Da Da"
Original German cover art
Single by Trio
from the album Trio
A-side	"Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha"
B-side	"Sabine Sabine Sabine"
Released	1982
Format	7" & 12" Vinyl
Genre	Synthpop[1]
Length	3:23
Label	Mercury
Writer(s)	Stephan Remmler Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel
Producer(s)	Klaus Voormann
Certification	see below
Trio singles chronology
"Halt mich fest ich werd verrückt" 1981 "Da Da Da" 1982 "Anna - lassmichrein lassmichraus" 1982
Music sample "Da Da Da"

"Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha" (usually shortened to just "Da Da Da") is a song by the German band Trio (sometimes written TRIO). Trio was formed in 1980 by Stephan Remmler, Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel, and Peter Behrens. Released as a single in 1982 and featured on their 1981 eponymous debut album, "Da Da Da" became a hit in Germany and about 30 other countries, selling 13 million copies worldwide.^[2] The lyrics were written by Stephan Remmler, the music by Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel. "Da Da Da" remains the band's biggest German hit and their only hit outside Germany.

Song

It is known in many language versions:

• German version as "Da da da, ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" (or simply "Da Da Da")
• English version as "Da Da Da I don't love you you don't love me"
• French version as "Da Da Da je t'aime pas tu m'aimes pas"

The song "Da Da Da" is a song that has become popular while being extremely repetitive. It was a product of the Neue Deutsche Welle (or NDW). However, Trio preferred the name Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit, which means "New German Cheerfulness", to describe their music. At that time, popular songs were based on extremely simple structures that were ornately produced. Trio's main principle was to remove almost all the ornamentation and polish from their songs, and to use the simplest practical structures (most of their songs were three-chord songs). For this reason, many of their songs are restricted to drums, guitar, vocals, and just one or maybe two other instruments, if any at all. Bass was used very infrequently until their later songs, and live shows often saw Remmler playing some simple pre-programmed rhythms and melodies on his small Casio VL-1 keyboard while Behrens played his drums with one hand and ate an apple with the other.

Trio was made up of:

• Stephan Remmler – vocals, keyboards
• Gert Krawinkel – guitar
• Peter Behrens – drums

It had another three top ten hits in Germany until the end of 1983, then disbanded the following year.

Chart success

• The song was a chart success in more than 30 countries.
• The German version of "Da Da Da" was No. 2 on the charts (April 1982). There were three versions: the single version for 3:23, a longer version for 6:36. The live version came in the album Trio live im Frühjahr 82 and goes on for 1:32. On the B-side of the 7" single release was "Sabine Sabine Sabine", whereas the B-Side of the maxi-single carried two more songs: "Halt mich fest ich werd verrückt" and "Lady-O-Lady".
• In the UK, "Da Da Da" hit No. 2 in July 1982. The single version goes on for 3:23 and the longer version for 6:36.
• In Canada, it peaked at No. 3 in December 1982.
• In France, the song was made more popular in 1982 with Zam making a French version titled "Da Da Da je t'aime pas tu m'aimes pas".
• In the US, the song peaked at No. 33 on the dance charts.^[3] In 1997, the song gained further chart success when the CD of TRIO and Error was released as Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha in the United States and was a US-only promo CD-single in response to the 1997 US Volkswagen commercial that featured the song "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha", often contracted to simply "Da Da Da". The re-release had some changes: two songs were added to the CD and the album was digitally remastered. The shorter version known as a radio edit version goes on for 2:49.

In popular culture

Cover versions

Many cover versions^[36] of "Da Da Da" have been done worldwide in German version ("Da da da ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha"), in English version ("Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me") and in various languages including French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and Thai amongst others.

Covers of the German version

The covers of German "Da da da ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" (with year of release in parentheses wherever available):

• Frank Zander (1982)
• Karl Dall (1982)
• Otto Waalkes
• Mike Krüger as "Da da da (muh muh muh)"
• Herbert Grönemeyer^[37] released it with various music influences (2000).
  • The more famous was "Da Da Da" (Brass-Mix) (4:24)
  • A shorter "Da Da Da" that went on for (4:06)
• Señor Coconut in the album Around the World (2008)

Covers of the English version

Cover versions of "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me" :

• J Church on their release My Favourite Place (1997).
• British band Elastica.^[38] recorded it on their album The Menace (1999)

Versions in other languages

• 1982: Filipino entertainer Yoyoy Villame also covered the song with parody lyrics. There were two versions: "Aha Hala Ka" in Cebuano^[39] and a second in Tagalog, titled "Da Da Da (Tsismis)".^[40]
• 1982: Portuguese comedian Herman José made a Portuguese version.
• 1983: Slovak amateur punk rock bund Paradox created a slovak version of "Ja nechcem teba a ty mňa".
• 1985: Lithuanian band Antis recorded a demo for a Lithuanian version, “Ką darai, daryk gerai (Taip Taip Taip)” (What's worth doing is worth doing well (Yes Yes Yes)). It was only released in 1994, as part of the band's Bjauroji Antis (Ugly Duck) EP.
• Macedonian comedy group K-15, under their musical stage name Duo Trio, did a Macedonian version of "Da da da" with altered lyrics in the early 1990s called "О дадада на радоста" (O dadada na radosta).^[41] The name is referencing Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" or "Ода на радоста" (Oda na radosta) in Macedonian.
• 1995: Group Tři sestry made a Czech version on their album Hudba z Marsu.
• 1998: Polish group Formacja Nieżywych Schabuff recorded a Polish version on their album Foto.
• 2000: Anan Anwar covered the song in Thai.
• 2002: Giorgos Alkaios made a Greek version of "Da Da Da".
• 2004: Mexican band Molotov released a Spanish and German version on their cover album Con Todo Respeto.^[42]
• Filipino entertainers Bebeng Samson and Maribubut also performed a parody Tagalog version titled Puros Tsismis, Puro Tsismis.^[43]
• Abdel Moneim Madbouly covered the song in Arabic titled "Da Da", from the album Children Songs - Touut Touut.

Sampling

The following are bands who have sampled the music of "Da Da Da", or have sampled/interpolated the song with altered lyrics:

• Swedish band Quasimodo 5 released it with the renamed title of "Ya Ya Ya" and with modified (mostly English) lyrics using the basic melody from the original.^[44]
• Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's used a sample on the bridge of her song "Forever" on her album Jane Wiedlin.
• Experimental shoegaze band Have a Nice Life sampled the "tsk" part of the song on their album Deathconsciousness, on the song "Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000."

Use in other media

• The song has been used in the Italian movie Il Divo, directed by Paolo Sorrentino, a fictional biography of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti.
• The song was used in the 1983 movie Private School and appeared on the official soundtrack.^[45]
• The song is included in the movie Bio-Dome, directed by Jason Bloom, starring Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin.
• The song was featured in promos for Nick at Nite from 1991 to 1993, to promote The Dick Van Dyke Show, with lyrics changed to "Dick Van Dyke".
• The song was prominently used by Volkswagen in a 1997 American commercial for the Golf. The ad, entitled "Sunday Afternoon", depicts two Generation X slackers aimlessly driving around in a red Golf four door while the song plays in the background; the song and some minor sound effects are the only audio heard in the ad. Premiering during "The Puppy Episode" of Ellen, the ad would become hugely popular as well as frequently referenced and parodied in the media. To this day Americans largely associate "Da Da Da" with the Volkswagen ad, a result of its lasting popularity. A later commercial from 2015 uses the melody in a variation of the song 'Ya Ya Ya!', a phonetic pronunciation of the German word for yes, 'Ja'.
• On YouTube, a lip dub video version^[46] by Back Dorm Boys lip syncing to the song with parody FIFA uniforms gathered huge popularity reaching 8 million views. It was released on June 30, 2006 as a 2006 FIFA World Cup tribute and submitted to the Pepsi Creative Competition. Later the Back Dorm Boys performed it live as a part of Sina.com's promotional online.

See also

• List of best-selling singles
• Lists of number-one singles (Austria)
• List of number-one singles from the 1980s (New Zealand)
• List of number-one singles of the 1980s (Switzerland)

References

External links

• Trio Website
• Lyrics of "Da Da Da"