Boten Anna

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"Boten Anna"
"Boten Anna" cover
Single by Basshunter
from the album LOL <(^^,)>
Released May 29, 2006
Recorded 2005-2006
Genre Eurodance
Length 3:29
Label Warner Music (5051011-4730-5-0)
Writer(s) Basshunter
Producer(s) Basshunter
Chart positions
Basshunter singles chronology
"Boten Anna"
(2006)
"Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA"
(2006)

"Boten Anna" ("Anna, the bot") is a song by Swedish dance musician Basshunter, which appears on his second studio album LOL <(^^,)>. Due to the song, Basshunter became a noted artist in his native Sweden, as well as Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands after the release of the single in 2006. The song topped hit charts and – on the 3rd of May 2006 – was named Norway's official Russ-song[1]. It was also the most popular song at The Gathering demo party 2006.

The Swedish lyrics of Boten Anna tell the story of a female IRC user mistaken for an IRC bot by the vocalist who later finds out the truth; subsequently, however, he states that she will always remain a bot in his eyes. The song is based on an actual experience of Jonas Altberg (a.k.a. Basshunter), who explained the situation in an interview with the Finnish website Stara.fi. His friend said he would create a bot with administrative capabilities to keep order in his channel, #BassHunter.se; when this happened Jonas saw a new user with administrative capabilities named Anna enter the channel, and naturally thought this was the bot. Months later, he learned that Anna was actually not a bot, but was his friend's girlfriend; the embarrassment, he says, inspired him to create the song.

Despite the esoteric subject of the lyrics, the song was well-received by mainstream media, albeit the word bot was frequently mistaken for boat (bot is commonly mispronounced as boat), and the double meaning of the word channel — the IRC channel mistaken for the body of water. The video to the song shows Basshunter riding a pedal boat down a canal, further adding to the confusion.

In the Dutch Top 40 in the Netherlands, a spoof of the song has peaked at #6 in weeks 38 and 39 of 2006. It is also called "Boten Anna" and it is by De Gebroeders Ko, who also made other Dutch versions of known songs like "Dragostea din Tei". Although they knew the original song wasn't about a boat, they translated it as if it were (one called Anna). "Boten" is the plural form of "boat" in Dutch. In November another spoof of the song, again by De Gebroeders Ko, charted the Dutch Top 40. In week 47 the song called "Sinterklaas Boot (Boten Anna)" charted in the Dutch Top 40 and peaked at #7. This version of "Boten Anna" is about the boat of Sinterklaas.

In Israel, where the original song reached number eight on the Top 10, a spoof song was also created. The song, titled "רוצה בנות" (Rotze Banot, or "I Want Girls") was performed in Hebrew by חובבי ציון (Hovevei Zion) to the tune of Boten Anna, telling the story of a man who visits a nightclub with his friend. Whilst surrounded by attractive girls, the singer cannot convince any of them to come home with him (at one point he even begins to flirt with two girls, only to find they are lesbians). At the end of the song, his friend goes to the toilets with a girl, and the singer is forced to return home to masturbate. After the success of the song of Hovevei tzion, came the version of "Hovevot Zion" (Female Hovevei Zion) with a female version to the song, "I Want Boys". The music videos of both songs were very popular.

A bot named Anna occasionally resides in the IRC channel #BassHunter.se on Quakenet, albeit due to the popularity of the song, the channel, as well as #Anna, has been filled up with bots.

Contents

[edit] Formats and track listings

CD single (May 29, 2006)

  1. "Boten Anna" [Radio Edit] - 3:29
  2. "Boten Anna" [Club Remix] - 5:26

Maxi single (September 4, 2006)

  1. "Boten Anna" [Radio Edit] - 3:29
  2. "Boten Anna" [Club Remix] - 5:26
  3. "Boten Anna" [DJ Micro Spankin Club Remix] - 5:30
  4. "Boten Anna" [Backslash Fluffy Style Remix] - 4:40
  5. "Boten Anna" [SkillsToPayTheBills Remix] - 4:34
  6. "Boten Anna" [Instrumental] - 3:20

[edit] Chart performance

Chart (2006) Peak (weeks)
Dutch Top 40 1 (2)
Finnish Top 20 4 (1)
Norwegian Top 20 3 (2)
Swedish Top 60 1 (2)
Austria Top 40 4 (9)
Israel Top 10 8 (5)
German 100 10 (10)
Dutch Top 40 (starting 2006/week 31)
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Position
16
9
3
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
5
6
7
13
19
34
Norwegian Top 20 (starting 2006/week 24)
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
Position
8
7
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
4
6
7
8
Swedish Top 60 (starting 2006/week 23)
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Position
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
3
3
3
8
7
Finland Top 20 (starting 2006/week 32)
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
Position
16
9
12
11
-
-
-
11
-
-
20
-
8
16
4

[edit] Svensktoppen

On 9 July 2006, "Boten Anna" was tested for Svensktoppen, where it as best was placed 4th.

[edit] External links

In other languages