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 | ||||
| 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 (born 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".[4][5]
The track's original title was "Little Greenback",[6] namely, the US dollar. The first line of the lyric, "Lookin' back on the track for a little greenback", has three rhymes (underlined); "green bag" would not be a true rhyme. However, the single was given the erroneous title, "Little Green Bag", which some took to be a "bag of marijuana". The "Little Green Bag" title was then retained for all subsequently released versions of the single as well as the group's 1970 debut album, also titled Little Green Bag.[5]
The song's single peaked at #9 on the Dutch Top 40 singles chart and #3 in Belgium. In the United States, the single reached #16 in the summer of 1970 on the Cashbox chart and #21 on the US Billboard Top 100. 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 #1 in Japan after being used in a Japanese whiskey commercial.[4][7]
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.[4]
- In 2007 The Ventures released their version in their album "THE VENTURES – ROCKY!"
References
- ↑ https://70spop.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/little-green-bag-by-george-baker-selection-colossus-1970/ the song is often referred to as pop on website reviews however it is a bit more heavier than pop so i put it as power pop
- ↑ The song is included in loads of nederbeat albums e.g "Club Classics - Nederbeat", "5 CD Box Nederbeat Beat, Bluf & Branie 63 - 69" and it is included in the nederbeat top 40 chart
- ↑ url = http://www.allmusic.com/song/little-green-bag-mt0008949674 quote = "Little Green Bag" is an odd little hybrid of proto-punky rock and roll"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "George Baker biography". hollandrocks.com. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Various worldwide releases of the George Baker Selection single, "Little Green Bag"". 45cat.com. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=21174
- ↑ "George Baker Biography". www.georgebaker.com. Retrieved 2007-05-25.