Rock Me Amadeus

"Rock Me Amadeus"
Single by Falco
from the album Falco 3
B-side	"Urban Tropical" "Vienna Calling"
Released	16 June 1985
Format	7" 12"
Recorded	1985
Genre	Neue Deutsche Welle[1]
Length	3:21
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Falco Rob Bolland Ferdi Bolland
Producer(s)	Bolland & Bolland
Falco singles chronology
"Kann es Liebe sein?" (1984) "Rock Me Amadeus" (1985) "Vienna Calling" (1986)

"Rock Me Amadeus" is a 1985 song by Austrian musician Falco from his album Falco 3. It topped the singles charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was Falco's only number one hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, despite the artist's popularity in Germany, his native Austria, and much of Europe. The song was written by Falco and Dutch music producers Bolland & Bolland.

History

With "Rock Me Amadeus", Falco became the first German-speaking artist to be credited with a number-one single in all mainstream US pop singles charts : the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 Singles. Prior to Falco, "99 Luftballons" by Nena got to number one on Cashbox, but peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The single hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 29 March 1986.^[2]

In the United Kingdom, where his "Der Kommissar" failed to make the charts, the song hit number one on 10 May 1986, becoming the first single by an Austrian act to achieve this distinction. "Vienna Calling" hit number 10 and three subsequent singles briefly charted.

In Canada, the song reached number one on 1 February 1986. (There, "Der Kommissar" had reached number 11 in January 1983, and "Vienna Calling" would hit number 8 in April 1986.)

"Rock Me Amadeus" would later be ranked number 87 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s and number 44 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders.

Production

Originally recorded in German, the song is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his popularity and his debts. A longer version (eight minutes), named the "Salieri Mix", appeared on the initial US release of the album Falco 3. The song was inspired by the movie Amadeus. For the US release, the song was remixed with an English background overlay. There was never a full English version.^[3]

Voiceover facts

1756: Salzburg, January 27, Wolfgang Amadeus is born.

1761: At the age of 5 Amadeus begins composing.

1773: He writes his first piano concerto.

1782: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constanze Weber.

1784: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a Freemason.

1791: Mozart composes The Magic Flute.

On December 5 of that same year, Mozart dies. (on some remixes, says "Mozart kicks the bucket")

1985: Austrian rock singer Falco records "Rock Me Amadeus"

Official versions and remixes

The song was released in Europe in 1985 in its original, German-language version. For the international markets (USA, UK, Japan etc.), several different single and extended mixes were produced; none of them were solely an English-language version, but the international single versions reduced the German lyrics. However, the video, which featured the original European version, was used worldwide.

1. Original Version (a.k.a. The Gold Mix) (3:21)
2. Extended Version (7:07)
3. Salieri Version (8:21) (on the international versions of Falco 3 this mix is denoted wrongly as "Solieri Version")
4. Short Salieri Version (4:50)
5. Special Salieri Version (3:59)
6. American Edit (3:10)
7. Canadian Edit (4:02)
8. Canadian/American Edit (3:59)
9. Extended American Edit (6:10)
10. Club Mix 1991 (6:47)
11. Radio Remix 1991 (4:30)
12. Instrumental Remix 1991 (1:29)
13. Live Version 1985 from the album Opus & Friends (4:20)
14. Live Version 1986 from the album Live Forever (6:04)
15. Symphonic Remix 2008 from the album Symphonic (4:52)
16. Live Symphonic Version 1994 from the DVD Symphonic (4:12)
17. Falco Biography Mix 2010 from the 25th Anniversary Edition of Falco 3 (download only) (8:48)

Music video

The song's music video mixes elements of Mozart's time with 1980s contemporary society. Falco is shown in a 20th-century-style dinner jacket, walking past people in eighteenth-century formal wear. Later, he is shown dressed as Mozart, with wild colored hair, being held on the shoulders of men dressed in modern motorcycle-riding attire. At the end, the two crowds mix.

The video for the 1991 remix is a much more sexualized version, starting with the refrain 'sugar sweet', with extra footage spliced throughout, including a similar black carriage riding at night with the driver covered in lights, escorted by police motorcycles, scantily clad girls; in black leather riding outside it, and bright neon fashions inside, resembling earlier-century formal wear. A different crowd in a more Mozart-era formal attire was excessively fraternizing at a party. This version also contains red line art of Falco, guitar riff clips, and a long car scene driving away at the end, to a saxophone solo over the added refrain.

Chart performance

Covers and samples

• Cantopop artist Anthony Wong covered the song with Chinese lyrics written by Albert Leung.
• The song was covered in 1998 by German industrial metal band Megaherz. They released "Rock Me Amadeus" in 1998 from their album Kopfschuss.
• German hard rock/gothic metal band Umbra et Imago released a cover of the song on their 2000 album Mea Culpa.
• German rapper Fler sampled the song on his 2005 single "NDW 2005" from his debut album Neue Deutsche Welle.
• Norwegian experimental black/thrash metal band Sturmgeist released a cover of the song on their 2006 album, Über.
• German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen released a cover of the song on their 2012 bonus CD Die Geister, die wir riefen.
• German heavy/power metal band Edguy has released a cover version of the song on their tenth album Space Police: Defenders of the Crown.
• In 2014, South African rapper Snotkop released a rap cover in Afrikaans called "Rock My Amadeus".^[38]

Live cover performances

• The folk rock group Girlyman performs the song live fairly regularly, with Nate doing the German parts and the other band members and audience supplying the oh's.
• German band Münchener Freiheit performed the song at the 2007 Muenster Eurocityfest.
• During their Vienna concert on their 2010 Tour, the band U2 played "Rock Me Amadeus", as did Robbie Williams at his Vienna concert a few years ago.

Sampling

• Rapper Tech N9ne made a song titled "I'm a Playa" set to the same tune, except with a more Dirty South/crunk style beat.^[39]
• The Bloodhound Gang sampled "Rock Me Amadeus" throughout their song "Mope" on the 1999 album, Hooray for Boobies.^[40]
• Radio station WSKZ (Chattanooga, Tennessee) played a version on that station's morning zoo called "Rock Me Donny Osmond" which sampled music from the original by Falco.

Parodies and references

The song has been lampooned and paid tribute to by many:

• An episode in the Cartoon Network series Regular Show is named "Steak Me Amadeus".
• "Weird Al" Yankovic included it in his medley "Polka Party!" on his album of the same name.^[41]
• Rick Dees parodies the song with "Eat Me, I'm a Danish", from his 1985 album, Rick Dees' Greatest Hit (The White Album).
• A Muppet Babies episode used a parody of the song called "Amadogus", based on one of the character's ancestors.
• The WMMS "Buzzard Morning Zoo Crew" created a parody of the song called "Rock Me, Mr. Leonard", a reference to a frequent call-in character.^[42]
• LaTour, under the name Bud Latour, along with fellow Phoenix, Arizona disc jockey Mike Elliot, did a parody version called "Rock Me Jerry Lewis" in 1986.
• A parody version of this song titled "Amateur" was released in 2004 by Mexican band Molotov on their 2004 cover album, Con Todo Respeto. In their version the song starts with a melody of "Aber bitte mit Sahne" by Udo Jürgens, a famous Austrian singer.^[43]
• A pastiche of the song is featured in the Simpsons episode, "A Fish Called Selma": Troy McClure performs the part of the human in a musical adaptation of Planet of the Apes. "Amadeus" becomes "Dr. Zaius".^[44]
• The song and clips from the music video were featured in the pilot episode "The Ceremony" of the animated show "The Brothers Grunt".
• Jewish parody band Shlock Rock parodied the song as "Achashverosh".
• The song is also featured in the movie Adventureland. The song is played frequently over the amusement park speakers, much to the annoyance of the characters.
• In the Family Guy episode "Petarded", Brian asks Lois if Peter's stupidity bothers her, to which Lois responds that she just represses the thought. The camera then zooms into her brain and shows a tumor with the face of Peter singing, "I'm a tumor; I'm a tumor" to the tune of "Rock Me Amadeus".
• Momus' 2001 album Folktronic contains a song entitled "Folk Me Amadeus".
• Adam Sandler sings along to this song in his truck in the feature film Bedtime Stories.
• Selina Griffiths performed a portion of the song in the comedy Benidorm at Neptune's Bar on the karaoke stage. The character Pauline is an alcoholic, who treats the song very seriously and performs it very seriously.
• Robbie Williams screams "Rock me, Amadeus!" at the beginning of the instrumental section of his 1999 hit "It's Only Us".
• Kid Rock's 1999 song "Cowboy" includes the lyric "Cause chaos, rock like Amadeus."^[45]
• In one of the episodes of the online parody show Yu Gi Oh! The Abridged Series, Yugi exclaims "Rock me Amadeus!" upon seeing Kaiba announcing a new tournament. The song itself plays over the end creditos to the episode.

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1986
• List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1986
• List of CHUM number-one singles of 1986
• Lists of number-one singles (Austria)
• List of number-one singles of 1986 (Canada)
• List of number-one hits of 1985 (Germany)
• List of number-one singles from the 1980s (New Zealand)
• List of number-one singles of 1986 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden
• List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s

References

External links

• "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco at songfacts.com
• Music video for Rock Me Amadeus on YouTube (not viewable in US)
• Music video on YouTube (viewable in US)
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics