El Lute / Gotta Go Home

"El Lute / Gotta Go Home"
Single by Boney M.
from the album Oceans of Fantasy
Released August 1979
Format 7" single, 12" single
Recorded 1979
Genre Europop, disco
Label Hansa Records (FRG)
Producer(s) Frank Farian
Boney M. singles chronology
"Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday"
(1979)		 "El Lute" / "Gotta Go Home"
(1979)		 "I'm Born Again / Bahama Mama"
(1979)

"El Lute" / "Gotta Go Home" is a double A-side single by 70s disco band Boney M. It was the lead single from their fourth album Oceans of Fantasy (1979) and was the group's eighth and final number 1 single in the German charts. In the UK where "Gotta Go Home" was chosen as the main A-side, the single was their first one since their debut single not to reach the Top 10, peaking at number 12. Boney M. used the double A-side format over the next years, typically with the A1 being the song intended for radio and A2 being more squarely aimed at discos. The sides were usually switched on the accompanying 12" single.

El Lute

The ABBA-esque pop melody "El Lute" told the true story of Spanish outlaw Eleuterio Sánchez, who was still in prison at the time the song was released, though he was shortly to be released following a pardon. The song presents his claim that he was wrongly convicted of murder and links his liberation from prison to the liberation of his country from oppression after the rule of Franco. During a promotional visit in Spain, Boney M. met Sánchez and gave him a golden record for the sales of the single.

Margot Borgström wrote lyrics in Swedish, as Wizex recorded the song on the 1979 album Some Girls & Trouble Boys.[1] Released under Kikki Danielsson's name, the song became a Svensktoppen hit for 10 weeks between 25 November 1979–10 February 1980, even topping the chart for one week.[2] Liz Mitchell later released a version on the album No One Will Force You titled "Mandela" with the lyrics altered to describe the life of Nelson Mandela, who was still in prison at the time.

Gotta Go Home

A fast-paced disco track, the song was re-written from a German single "Hallo Bimmelbahn" (1973) by Nighttrain with the brothers Heinz and Jürgen Huth, both also credited as co-writers on Boney M.'s version. Boney M. first promoted it in a few TV shows in its early version "Going Back Home". Several single versions featured a 4:40 version (timing on label 4:22), a slightly remixed edit of the full 5:04 version, and longer than the 3:45 album edit. Later single pressings featured a 4:00 edit. In 2010 "Gotta Go Home" was used extensively on the Duck Sauce track "Barbra Streisand".[3]

"Gotta Go Home" was issued as an A-side in Canada, and was a Top 40 hit on the RPM Magazine charts there, peaking at number 35 in late November 1979.

Releases

7" Single

12" Single

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 44
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 2
Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders)[6] 2
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] 35
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[8] 1
France (IFOP)[9] 5
Ireland (IRMA)[10] 11
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[12] 2
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 42
Norway (VG-lista)[14] 4
South Africa (Springbok Radio)[15] 2
Spain (AFE)[16] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[17] 12

Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[18] 5
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[19] 16
France (IFOP)[20] 16
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[21] 15
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[22] 27
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 8

Preceded by
"Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward		 Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single
30 August 1979 – 4 October 1979 (6 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard

References

  1. ↑ "Some girls and trouble boys / Wizex". Svensk mediedatabas. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ "Duck Sauce's Barbra Streisand sample of Boney M.'s Gotta Go Home". WhoSampled. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Boney M. – El Lute / Gotta Go Home" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Radio 2 Top 30 : 8 september 1979" (in Dutch). Top 30. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7853a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  8. ↑ MusicSeek.info – UK, Eurochart, Billboard & Cashbox No.1 Hits at the Wayback Machine (archived 14 June 2006). MusicSeek.info. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Titres par Artiste" (in French). InfoDisc. Select "Boney M" from the artist drop-down menu. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Gotta Go Home". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Boney M. - El Lute / Gotta Go Home search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Boney M. – El Lute / Gotta Go Home" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Boney M. – Gotta Go Home". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  14. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Boney M. – El Lute / Gotta Go Home". VG-lista. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (B)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  16. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  17. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1979-09-15" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  18. ↑ "Jahreshitparade 1979" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 1979" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "TOP – 1979" (in French). Top-france.fr. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  21. ↑ "Single Top 100 over 1979" (PDF) (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  22. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1979" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  23. ↑ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1979" (in German). Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 June 2014.