Da Da Da
"Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha" (usually shortened to just "Da Da Da") was an international hit record for German band Trio (sometimes written TRIO) formed in 1980 by Stephan Remmler, Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel and Peter Behrens. "Da Da Da" released in 1982 was a hit in Germany and about 30 countries worldwide and sold 3 million copies[1]. The lyrics were written by Stephan Remmler, and the music by Gert 'Kralle' Krawinkel. "Da Da Da" remains their biggest German hit and their only hit outside Germany, taken from their debut album Trio released in 1982. Trio disbanded in 1984.
The song
It is known in many language versions:
- German version as "Da da da, ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" (or simply "Da Da Da")
- English version as "Da Da Da I don't love you you don't love me"
- French version as "Da Da Da je t'aime pas tu m'aimes pas"
- Dutch version as "Bla Bla Bla"
The song "Da Da Da" is a song that has become popular while being extremely repetitive. It was a product of the Neue Deutsche Welle (or NDW). However, Trio preferred the name Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit, which means "New German Cheerfulness", to describe their music. At that time, popular songs were based on extremely simple structures that were ornately produced. Trio's main principle was to remove almost all the ornamentation and polish from their songs, and to use the simplest practical structures (most of their songs were three-chord songs). For this reason, many of their songs are restricted to drums, guitar, vocals, and just one or maybe two other instruments, if any at all. Bass was used very infrequently until their later songs, and live shows often saw Remmler playing some simple preprogrammed rhythms and melodies on his small Casio VL-1 keyboard while Behrens played his drums single-handedly while eating an apple.
Trio was made up of:
It had another three top ten hits in Germany until the end of 1983, then disbanded the following year.
Chart success
- The song was a chart success in more than 30 countries.
- The German version of "Da Da Da" was #2 on the charts (April 1982). There were three versions: The Single version for 3:23, a longer version for 6:36. The live version came in the album Trio live im Frühjahr 82 and goes on for 1:32 . On the B-side of the 7" single release was "Sabine Sabine Sabine", whereas the B-Side of the maxi-single carried two more songs: "Halt mich fest ich werd verrückt" and "Lady-O-Lady".
- In the UK, "Da Da Da" hit #2 in July 1982. The single version goes on for 3:23 and the longer version for 6:36.
- In Canada it peaked at #3 in December 1982.
- In France the song was made more popular in 1982 with Zam making a French version titled "Da Da Da je t'aime pas tu m'aimes pas".
- In the USA, the song peaked at number thirty-three on the dance charts[2]. In 1997, the song gained further chart success when the CD of TRIO and Error was released as Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha in the United States and was a US-only promo CD-single in response to the 1997 US Volkswagen commercial that featured the song "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha", often contracted to simply "Da Da Da". The re-release had some changes: two songs were added to the CD and the album was digitally remastered. The shorter version known as a radio edit version goes on for 2:49.
"Da Da Da" in popular culture
Cover versions
Many cover versions[3] of "Da Da Da" have been done worldwide in German version ("Da da da ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha"), in English version ("Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me") and in various languages including French, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Tagalog and Thai amongst others.
Covers of the German version
The covers of German "Da da da ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha"
(with year of release in parentheses wherever available):
- Frank Zander (1982)
- Karl Dall (1982)
- Out Of The Ordinary (1990)
- Otto Waalkes
- Mike Krüger as "Da da da (muh muh muh)"
- MC DaDa had a maxi-CD of three versions (1991):
- "Da Da Da" (Single Mix) (3:09) as mp3
- "Da Da Da" (12" Mix) (6:32)
- "Da Da Da" (Brain Dead Mix) (3:30)
- Duo had a maxi-CD single with four versions of the German version (1994):
- "Da Da Da" (Radio Edit) (3:22)
- "Da Da Da" (Da Da Dance Mix) (4:06)
- "Da Da Da" (Extended Mix) (5:02)
- "Da Da Da" (Instrumental Mix) (3:20)
- Re-O-Do feat. CCR (Cecil Carlos Remmler) (1995)
- Herbert Grönemeyer[4] released it with various music influences (2000).
- The more famous was "Da Da Da" (Brass-Mix) (4:24)
- A shorter "Da Da Da" that went on for (4:06)
- NDW 2000 (in 2001)
- Soul-O with a version "Da Da Da" (Gorgeous Summer Radio & Video Cut) for 3:15
- Swiss Made
- Trimatic titled their maxi-CD release:
- "Ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht" (Radio Mix) (3:33) as mp3
- "Ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht" (High Energy Club Mix) (6:04)
- "Ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht" (Extended 12" Mix) (5:26)
- "Ich lieb' dich nicht du liebst mich nicht" (Instrumental Mix) (6:02)
- String Quartet feat. Dr. Pill, a reggae version of the song
- H+M had two versions in a maxi-CD (2003) that included Tanzin. The versions of "Da Da Da" were
- "Da Da Da" (Club Cut) (2:48) as mp3
- "Da Da Da" (DJ S.P.U.D. Remix) (5:43)
- Nefkom feat. DJ Ghandi had a maxi-CD featuring
- "Da Da Da" (Radio Edit) (3:30) as mp3
- "Da Da Da" (Tanzhallen-Mix) (5:48)
- "Da Da Da" (Radio Edit Maxi) (5:16)
- Ab dafür (2004)
- Haax as "Bla bla bla" for 3:33 from a compilation album Krach Bum Bäng Zack Döner Ein Tribut an Trio
- Señor Coconut in the album Around the World (2008)
Covers of the English Version
Cover versions of "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me"
(with year of release in parentheses):
- Boriss (1983)
- Suzie Andrews (1982) with A-side as "Da da da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me" and the B-side containing "Der Kommissar (Rap That)"
- Martin Judd (1982)
- Pinocchio made a maxi-CD with four versions:
- "Da da da" (Radio Version) (3:50) as an mp3
- "Da da da" (Extended Version) (8:00)
- "Da da da" (2 PNP Remix) (5:49)
- "Da da da" (Whoopl Mix) (8:01)
- Cecil Jonni Lauro released a version as a music download. (1995)
- Alternative band Elastica[5] recorded it on their album The Menace (1999)
Versions in other languages
- Giorgos Alkaios made a Greek version of "Da da da" in 2002.
- Anan Anwar, in Thai language (2000).
- The Spanish disk-jockey Nacho Dogan performed a Spanish version as "Da Da Da", which became hit #2 in summer of 1982 in Spain.
- Polish group Formacja Nieżywych Schabuff recorded a Polish version on their album Foto (1998).
- Portuguese comedian Herman José made a portuguese version (1982).
- Arabic Abdel Moneim Madbouly Da Da in Toot Toot (Train's Sound) Children Album (1979)
- Mexican band Molotov released a Spanish and German version on their 2004 cover album Con Todo Respeto (2004)[6]
- Mundial in Italian with A-side "Da da da" (Mundial '82) and B-side "Da da da" (Instrumental)
- Brazilian rodeo announcer and singer Gleydson Rodrigues did a cover called Dá Dá Dá
- Toss performed a French cover version as "Da da da est-ce qu'on s'cherche ou est ce qu'on triche?" (1982)
- Group Tři sestry made a Czech version on album Hudba z marsu (1995).
- Filipino entertainer Yoyoy Villame made a cover. There were two versions: "Da Da Da (Tsismis)" and a second in Tagalog language, also "Da Da Da (Tsismis)". (1982)
- Zam made a French version titled "Da Da Da je t'aime pas tu m'aimes pas" (1982).
Sampling
Some have used the music only and changing the lyrics:
- Swedish band Quasimodo 5 released it with modified title as "Ya Ya Ya" and modified (mostly English) lyrics sampling just the basic tune from the original[7]
- Post-punk band Have A Nice Life sampled the metronome-like rhythm in their track "Holy Fucking Shit 40,000" from the album Deathconsciousness.
Use in commercials
"Da Da Da" has been used in many commercials as well:
Some ads used modified lyrics of the song.
- Teletext replaced "da da da" with "blah blah blah"[10] (vocalized by Ewan Bailey); It used the slogan "Life's too much full of blah blah ... Teletext, no blah blah"
- Sakata Rice Crackers[11] replaced "da da da" with their brand name.
- The Song was also used in a 1997 commercial for Microsoft's Internet Explorer starring Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
- Ariston, a manufacturer of home appliances, used the beat & tune in the 80s in their television ads which appeared in the United Kingdom. The lyrics "Ar-is-ton and on and on and on" were used - the ads appeared around the same time as the Trio song.
Use in other media
- ABC following the popularity of the Volkswagen commercial, aired a promo for the sitcom Spin City parodying the car ad. In the original VW commercial, two men drive around and pick up a smelly couch, which they quickly dispose of. In the ABC ad, Michael J. Fox and Michael Boatman's characters pick up Richard Kind's character, who becomes so obnoxious that they throw him out the car.
- Pett Productions used "Da Da Da" in the second series of Tittybangbang on BBC Three for the intro to Pete Wade's sketches.
- The song has been used in the Italian movie Il Divo, directed by Paolo Sorrentino, a fictional biography of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti.
- The song is included in the movie Bio-Dome, directed by Jason Bloom, starring Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin.
- On YouTube, a lip dub video version[12] by Back Dorm Boys lip syncing to the song with parody FIFA uniforms gathered huge popularity reaching 8 million views. It was released on June 30, 2006 as a 2006 FIFA World Cup tribute and submitted to the Pepsi Creative Competition. Later the Back Dorm Boys performed it live as a part of Sina.com's promotional online.
- The same Back Dorm Boys guys made a new version wearing blue t-shirts that was released on August 26, 2006 on YouTube.
- The basic rhythm pattern was featured in an episode of Homestar Runner, which included Strong Bad's body with a Casio piano head playing the pattern.
- This pattern also appears in the Super Mario 64 level editor (Toad's Tool 64). During the loading screen when the tool is opened, a button can be clicked on that will result in the rhythm pattern playing.
References
It's based on the avante-garde art movement DaDaism.
External links