Thursday, December 31, 2009

Die Toten Hosen: Auld Lang Syne


Don't leave the house without MRML's New Year's gift stapled onto your iPod (oh that wasn't the verb I needed was it?) Last time we dedicated a post to Die Toten Hosen we said "they have for decades have ruled the charts of their native Germany by mixing the swagger of glam rock, the aggro of '77 punk and and the sing-along choruses of schlager (a central and Northern European easy listening genre whose name sounds like a portmanteau of schmaltz and lager for good reason). Now I'm going to send you sprawling into 2010 with the sound of the Dead Pants (en anglais) curb-stomping Guy Lombardo.


It's a riotous 2:32 that, in tribute to "Auld Lang Syne's" Scottish author, Robbie Burns, has bagpipes alongside the loud guitars. Die Toten Hosen's take on this old folk standard recalls the Sex Pistols derangement of "Friggin' in the Riggin", there's even an exact moment where you can imagine someone shouting "Give it some bollocks" just before the song goes into overdrive. Who cares if the boys add some 'new' verses about "pubs in Inverness" when the song's such a blast?



The rest of this 1999 E.P. is filled out with two fine-sounding Deutsch sing-alongs as well as an unplugged versions of "Auld Lang Syne" and "Little Drummer Boy".


Auld Lang Syne
CD EP

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3 comments:

  1. Hey Jeffen,I hate to date myself but 'back in the day'(mid 1970s) I had a very pleasant conversation with Guy Lombardo.It was at Place Bonaventure in Montreal just before the retail shops opened.We were both window shopping.Guy Lombardo was a New Years fixture 'back in the day'.I believe they still play his version of Auld Lang Syne at Times Square NYC every New Years.

    Happy New Year Jeffen and thanks for all the tunes.

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  2. really nice!all the best for2010!

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  3. Doug
    If I did a "Best Comments of '09" that would so make it on. Yeah Guy's a Canadian legend but I couldn't resist a gratuitous curb stomp reference now could I?
    Have an awesome New Year!

    Robert
    Thanks, you too, you too.

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