Other countries and cultures are great - they enrich our own in all sorts of special ways. America, for example has loads of culinary and alcoholic delights from their neighbours south of the border.
Unfortunately for us Brits, our southern neighbours eat snails, but we do get some great things from other European countries. Take Belgium, for example. They've given us Belgian beers, Belgian chocolate (though personally I prefer Cadbury's), chips/french fries, Hercule Poirot and... the Smurfs.
The Smurfs are celebrating their fiftieth birthday. I'm afraid that I can't give you a full explanation of these loveable blue creatures, since I know almost nothing about them. Luckily, they have a website, which should more than satisfy any curiosity you may or may not have (they're even advertising job vacancies in Smurfland). Apparently their creator became a cartoonist after failing to land a job as a dental assistant. All I remember about them is their hit record, made with Dutch performer Father (Vader) Abraham, which reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1978, and sold over 30 million copies worldwide:
You have to remember that at the time, the competition to get the naffest possible record into the charts was really fierce. Another 1978 hit was Irishman Terry Wogan's "Floral Dance", which completely outclassed Father Abraham, though it only got to number 21:
After which your weekend can only get better. Have a good one!
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19 comments:
Those poor kids who came to Top of the Pops because they thought they were going to see Cliff Richard or the ilk were probably quite miffed when the record-buying habits of their grandparents ruined their fun afternoon.
Did you know there will be a 'Smurf' movie soon? Yeah I am already scared.
I'd really like to know what kind of drugs they were on in the 70's. It must have been great.
Why the hell was tere only one female smurf?
That blond smurf must have been sore all the time.
Bashfull smurf was a homo.
FADKOG:
Presumably some of the acts were a bit more to their taste, but in the clip they do appear to be more interested in whether or not they can see themselves in monitors and cameras than watching Mr Wogan...
Kat:
Yes, I noticed that they were talking about it on the Smurf website. I suppose seeing it won't be compulsory. It's strange how dated the 70's seemed now - it didn't at the time, as far as I remember.
Dan:
I didn't realise you were a Smurf expert. One isn't really enough to go round - they should do what they did in that Australian town and advertise for some ugly chicks...
both those videos made me want to slap the snot out of the singers
and I know you've been waiting to hear this:
this fish pond booth was every bit as vile as you thought it would be.
I left early
Jean Knee:
I'm glad you enjoyed the music that much!
Fish are always bad news - fish ponds doubly so...
those smurfs are very wiley indeed.
They have Father Abraham so you'll think rabbi priest . But then they have pentagrams all over. it's true
they'll probably say it's earth worship or something
Beware innocent smurf watchers
The Smurfs were French????
As a kid, I loved them! You had Poppa Smurf with all of his wisdom, and Smurfette in her stripper shoes and bastard baby, and Gargamelle (I'm sure that's not spelled right) with his terrible combover and evil plots that always went awry.
I always wondered why old Garg didn't just step on the Smurfs. They were always outsmarting him and he was like a thousand times their size. One good stomp of his Doc Martines would have taken care of that.
I see that I'm still on the bottom of your blog roll there Brian..You don't want to make me do what I don't want to have to do, do you?
I am 11th!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It will be horrible what I have to do if you don't move me up. Don't make me do it Brian!! don't make me!
You know what cartoon I hope comes back? The New Kids On The Block cartoon.
I mean, they had one in the late
80's early 90's when they were big. And now they're coming back! I hope they bring the cartoon back! I've already got my Tivo set!
Hey, did you call us Americans a bunch of alcoholics?
Don't forget we've also given the world McDonalds, Burger King, and the obesity epidemic.
Those are all three great things.
Also, we had Chrystal Pepsi for a while and Chinese food that real Chinese people have never heard of.
Oh shoot, I don't want to be 13th. Well, now I've made way too many comments.
Let's see, what else has America given to the world?
Designer dogs that are actually muts that people pay thousands of dollars for. The labradoodle. The pugapoo.
And Capt'n Crunch. And I'm sure we made Snickers bars.
Oh and didn't we make Murder She Wrote? And the Golden Girls.
Don't laugh but my bedroom may or may not have had smurf wallpaper at one time.
Yeah I'm such a bad ass.
Smurfs rock. So does Belgian chocolate.
Terry Wogan? Ah, I'll have to pass on that.
Jean Knee:
I hadn't noticed the religious connotations...
Tracy:
Smurfs are Belgian, not French. The Belgians don't like being called French - it's a bit like calling Canadians Americans, I suppose.
And, no, I didn't say you were alcoholics - I was just thinking about the alcoholic drinks such as Tequilla that you've got from Mexico.
You did give us Murder She Wrote, though Angela Landsbury is British, so it's more of a collaboration.
Snickers and Mars bars come from Britain, where Snickers used to be called Marathon. However, again, we did import the guy who founded Mars, so you can claim a bit of the credit there.
Bee:
The smurfs must have been a much bigger thing in the US than here. And, I'm sorry, but I did laugh ;-)
Chris:
People must have bought that Floral Dance record - it's rather worrying... They do say that Terry Wogan is a national treasure, so maybe they should put him in a museum, out of harm's way ;-)
But you should be thankful I didn't put up the St Winifred's School Choir instead. I suspect that might count as cruel and unusual punishment ;-)
You tell those smurfs we want our pentagrams back or else
I'm having flashbacks to my days of Smurfy.... Those smurf, smurf, smurfy days gone by.
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