Little Green Bag
| "Little Green Bag" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by George Baker Selection | ||||
| from the album Little Green Bag | ||||
| B-side | "Pretty Little Dreamer" | |||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Format | 7″ single | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length |
3:17 (single) 4:20 (album) | |||
| Label |
Negram (The Netherlands) Colossus (Canada, US) Discostar (Belgium) Hansa (Germany) Parlophone (Australia) Penny Farthing (UK) RPM (South Africa) Stateside (India) | |||
| Writer(s) |
Jan Visser Hans Bouwens | |||
| Producer(s) | Luke Wiley | |||
| George Baker Selection singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians, Jan Visser and George Baker (credited as Hans Bouwens), and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The track was released as the George Baker Selection's debut single by Dutch label, Negram, with the B-side being "Pretty Little Dreamer".[1][2]
Ironically, the track's original title was "Little Greenback" (a reference to the US dollar), but the single's label was mispressed with the erroneous title, "Little Green Bag" (which some people interpreted as 'bag of marihuana'), leading to its acceptance as both the song title for all subsequently released versions of the single throughout the world as well as the song title on the group's 1970 debut album also titled Little Green Bag.[2] However, "little greenback" is the actual lyrical phrase sung throughout the track.
The song's single peaked at No. 9 on the Dutch Top 40 singles chart and No. 3 in Belgium. In the United States, the single reached No. 16 in the summer of 1970 on the Cashbox magazine chart and No. 21 on the US Billboard Top 100 chart. In 1992, when the song was used in the Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs, it became an international cult classic. Also in 1992, the song reached No. 1 in Japan after being used in a Japanese whiskey commercial.[1][3]
Cover versions
- In 1970, the group I Punti Cardinali released a version titled "La borsetta verde".
- In 1970, the Italian singer Nada recorded an Italian-language version with translated lyrics by Luigi Albertelli under the title "Un passatempo".
- In 1999, Tom Jones released a cover version of the song recorded with Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies, on his album Reload.[1]
In other media
- The song is included on the soundtrack of the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs and appears in the famous intro scene that leads into the opening credits.
- The track is used in the Capcom video game Under The Skin.
- The song is the opening song from the soundtrack of the 2012 science documentary Transit of Venus, released by BBC/Horizon.
- The track is used in a 2013 television commercial for Motorola's Moto X smartphone.[4]
- The track is used in the episode entitled "Sex, Death and Nudity" for the British TV series Coupling.
- The song appears in the episode entitled "Chokin' and Tokin'" for the American TV series Freaks and Geeks.
- The track is the theme song for the Argentinian TV series En el camino.
- The song appears in Season 18's second episode, "Jazzy and the Pussycats, for the American animated TV series, The Simpsons.
- The song is used in the TV series, Red Dwarf, on the 1999 Season 8 episode "Back in the Red: Part 2".
- A cover version is featured on the Turkish TV show Leyla ile Mecnun in the episode entitled "Kireçburnu Yaban Çakalları".
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "George Baker biography". hollandrocks.com. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Various worldwide releases of the George Baker Selection single, "Little Green Bag"". 45cat.com. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ "George Baker Biography". www.georgebaker.com. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ↑ http://www.commercialtunage.com/commercials/motorola-moto-x-little-green-bag/