Gasolin Theater concert - Good time Charlie and This is My Life

I sorta like it, despite it being very different indeed from the old original, one of my faves as a youngster.
This rendition show how much flexibility and depth there is in Gasolin's compositions, despite many "people of taste" dismissing them as worthless pop in their heyday, probably exactly because they were so hugely popular across age, gender, and class-divides. It's uncool to like what everybody likes.


Troels Lyby and Follinsmusik

In contrast, same song by Kim Larsen, co-composer, former lead singer of Gasolin. 


Another yet different version, by Tine. Good stuff.

Gasolin'

Gasolin' was the "Worlds biggest band" in Scandinavia in the seventies. They had fans from age 3 to 103, and still have, even though they split up over 30 years ago.

Franz Beckerlee on guitar.


MP3 file of one of my faves: Good Time Charlie.

The one below was hot amongst my school pals back when, but it was a bit too rocky for me then. It was only as an adult that I came to appreciate hard rock.


They attempted to crack the US market, and did a couple songs in English...


This I'd not seen before: here they playing each other, in playback.


Gasolin' is so famous in Scandinavia that their first drummer, Bjørn Uglebjerg, is famous still today, even though he was replaced before their first LP came out! Here's a very early concert, before they started playing mainly in Danish.

Tremastet beton, by Gasolin, translated. "Three-masted concrete"

I was astonished and disappointed when I could not find any translation of Gasolin's classic song. So I translated it myself. It's quite poetic in style, so the translation had to be quite conceptual at places. The text was written by Mogens Mogensen, an old poet the band had befriended. He wrote the lyrics to several of their songs, and was "a sailor like Captain Haddock". - Eolake
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GASOLIN: TREMASTET BETON
Lyrics in Danish and English

Tremastet Beton

Du søger solnedgangens stille hygge,
der er myg
du drages mod havet der ser du mor'ild
gennem skovene's mørke sale

Three-masted Concrete

You seek the quiet coziness of dusk
mites in the air
You are drawn towards the sea
where you see phosphorescence
through the dark cathedrals of the forests

over marker, marker med kornmodsglans
da søger du hjem i din stue
ensomheden, skæret, skæret fra de fyrre watt
du smider dig i dækstolen
dine øjne er lukkede, men du ser.

Over fields, fields with the glow of ripe harvest
You seek your home and your room
Loneliness, the glow, the glow of forty watts
you throw yourself down on your deck chair
Your eyes are closed. But you see.

Du ser drenge der søger mod havet
de kommer inde fra, langt inde fra landet
legende langs kajerne med store kraner
de kommer langvejs fra
havnepigernes fnisen på dækket
et stød i fløjten,
skrig
du skal hjem, åh hold kæft

You see boys seeking the sea
They come from inland, far far inland
they play along the habor with its great cranes
They come from far away
The girls of the habor giggling on the deck
the whistle blows
Screams
You gotta go home now. Aw, shut up

hoppen skal, den skal den du vil
sømanden gør det sgu'
lukkede øjne, sømand fjorten somre.
Store have, ensomheden og drengen
solen, bølgerne, mågerne og stjernerne
krigen, pigerne og havnene, og myggene
og feberen, feberen og pigerne, piger i mange farver

The mare must, it must, what you know
The sailor does it, I'll be damned
Closed eyes. Sailor. Fourteen summers.
Great seas, loneliness and the boy
The sun, the waves, the gulls, the stars
the war, the girls and the ports, and the mites
The fever, the fever, the girls. Girls in many colors.

navne på havne, piger derfra er der ingen
sus-dus og rotter, delfiner og marsvin og lus
kanontorden, skibe der brænder, signalflag
havene ta'r dem, de sorte sejlere
lukkede øjne der stadigvæk ser
sømand, pensionist søger mage.

Names of ports, girls, none are from there
The wild life and rats, dolphins and porpoises and lice.
The thunder of cannons, burning ships, signal flags
The seas take them away, those black sailors
Closed eyes, but seeing still
Sailor, retired, seeking soul mate

Ala-tin-gala

Cover version of an old Gasolin' fav fave.
Ala-tin-gala is a nonsense word so far as I know.
Unfortunately it does not seem there's a video version of Gasolin's own famous extended version from their excellent double album Live Sådan. (Rough translation: "Live; that how you do it".) One couldn't have imagined a better Live collection, they were in absolute top form all the way through.
(iTunes UK has many Gasolin collections, but I only found this one on CD. For big fans I recommend the Black Box.)

Tyve meter henne af en rendesten 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

Der sad en lille dreng og så på dameben 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

Så kom en abbedisse med portvinstud 

og skældte ham ud. 

En millionær og en minister gik en aftentur 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

De kyssed' hinanden i et cykelskur 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

De sagde hej hej jeg elsker dig 

hvis du stemmer på mig. 

En luder og en lommetyv, på Jammers Plads 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

De spilled' boogie woogie på en Fender bas 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

Så kom der en guru med det 11. Bud 

men ham smed de ud. 

En gammel mand med tømmermænd og stjerneskud 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

Han sad på en trappesten og spotted' mig ud 

åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala. 

Han sa' der' sikkert mange ting du meget bedre forstår 

om mange år. 

Ok, gamle dreng sagde jeg, og hva' så det? 

Gasolin'

The Danish band Gasolin' is not well known outside Scandinavia, but there they were huge in seventies until the broke up. Many have tried to convince them to reform, but nobody has succeeded. Their old recordings keep finding new audiences amongst new generations.

Here is their Good Time Charlie.

This Is My Life

One of the ole Danish favorites from the seventies is the song This Is My Life by Gasolin'.

I recently tracked down another version of it, by the lead singer Kim Larsen with another band (Yankee Drengene). This version may require iTunes to play. I remembered this version fondly, mostly for the wonderful female vocal solo near the end, by a "Miss Q". I like it just as much now, thirty years later, which is nice to discover.
Actually the correspondent solo in the first version is great too.
Tell me what you think.

... And to put the icing on the cake, it turns out the most prominent Kim Larsen entry on YouTube is the same song! Only Kim is also maybe thirty years older. A third excellent woman singer is featured here.

Danish stamp

The next Danish stamp will be based on one of the most beloved LP covers ever, the one from Gasolin's third album.
It was photographed from a cafe wall in Copenhagen. They could not find out who had painted it, so they just went ahead and used it...
When the artist, Tage Hansen, made himself known, he was not pee'd off. Perhaps he was even a bit flattered. In any case, he was satisfied with a few copies of the album for the use. Too cheap, methinks.
At least the PO will be paying his survivors for the stamp use.


Sadly I was not able to find a bigger scan of the cover. You can hardly see the little joke: she has her arms full, and has dropped her panties.

Art Frahm pantie-droppers

Look particularly at the third one. This may explain why that Danish artist did not make a big uproar when Gasolin used his painting as cover...