"Calcutta" is a German pop song. An

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

version by American bandleader and TV host

Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known as "champagne music" to his radio, tele ...

on the 1961

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

album ''Calcutta!'' was a chart hit, the most successful of Welk's career.

History

The tune was written in 1958 by the composer

Heino Gaze Heino Gaze (20 February 1908 – 24 October 1967) was a German composer.Fritsche p.249 He worked on more than thirty film scores during his career. He composed "La Le Lu (nur der Mann im Mond schaut zu)", sung by Heinz Rühmann in the film Wenn ...

. The original title was "Tivoli Melody", but it was re-titled several times, until it finally was named for the Indian city of

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, known in German as Kalkutta and in English as Calcutta. The German version has lyrics by Hans Bradtke, and is titled "Kalkutta liegt am Ganges" (Calcutta lies on the Ganges). In the English-speaking world, the song was released under the title "Calcutta", and the American songwriting team of

Paul Vance Joseph Paul Florio (November 4, 1929 – May 30, 2022), known professionally as Paul Vance, was an American songwriter and record producer, primarily from the 1950s until the 1970s. His most successful song compositions, all written with Lee Poc ...

and

Lee Pockriss Lee Julian Pockriss (January 20, 1924 – November 14, 2011) was an American songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life and career Born in ...

wrote English lyrics, celebrating the charms of the "ladies of Calcutta." Welk's recording of the tune was something of a departure for him. It incorporated his recognizable "trademarks," i.e., the

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

lead and an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

but combined them with handclaps and a brisk

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

rhythm. "Calcutta" stayed atop the US pop chart for two weeks while the album, with its combination of

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

tunes and covers of then-popular rock singles, charted at #1 for two weeks, spending three months on the chart. At the time "Calcutta" reached #1, Welk, who was 57, became the oldest artist to have a number one pop single in the U.S. (His record would be broken three years later by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

who at age 63 topped the singles charts with " Hello, Dolly!" in early 1964.) "Calcutta" was also a hit on the Hot R&B Sides chart, where it peaked at #10. It proved to be the last charting hit of Welk's career. Dancers

Bobby Burgess Robert Wilkie Burgess (born May 19, 1941) is an American dancer and singer. He was one of the original Mouseketeers. Later, he was a regular on ''The Lawrence Welk Show''. Early life Growing up in Southern California, Burgess started performi ...

and

Barbara Boylan Barbara Boylan (born in Long Beach, California) is an American dancer and former television personality who was featured on ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1961 to 1967, and briefly for a few months in 1979. She was the first of Bobby Burgess's ...

, cast members on Welk's weekly TV show, worked up a dance routine to go along with "Calcutta", which they performed numerous times on the ''Welk'' show over the years. '' Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood'', a 2022 film, briefly used the song in the background of a scenes.

Chart performance

All-time charts

Cover versions

The Four Preps The Four Preps are an American popular music male quartet. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the group amassed eight gold singles and three gold albums. Their million-selling signature tunes included "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)", "Big Man (The Four ...

released a 45rpm single vocal version shortly after Welk's recording in 1961,

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

4508. It briefly entered the Billboard Hot 100.

Al Caiola Alexander Emil Caiola (September 7, 1920 – November 9, 2016) was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of ...

released a version on his 1961 album Golden Hit Instrumentals, UAS 6142.

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

released a version on their 1963 Dolton album ''

The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull ''The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull'' is an album by the band the Ventures, released in 1963. It consists entirely of cover versions of popular instrumentals from the late 1950s to early 1960s (all of which reached the Top 15 on Billb ...

'', BST 8019.

Les Baxter Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica ...

made a version of the song, which was featured in ''Volume 3: Space Capades'' on the 1960s CD compilation

Ultra-Lounge ''Ultra-Lounge'' is a series of compilation CDs released by Capitol Records, featuring music predominantly from the 1950s and 1960s in genres such as exotica, space age pop, mambo, television theme songs, and lounge. Many of the volumes have sin ...

. There is also a vocal version by Marino Marini, and a French-language cover by

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

, ''Ma Fête À Moi''. There are German versions by

Vico Torriani Vico Torriani (September 21, 1920 in Geneva as Ludovico Oxens Torriani – February 25, 1998 in Agno, Ticino) was a Swiss actor and '' Schlager'' singer. Life Born in Geneva to a family of Lombard origin, Torriani grew up in St. Moritz where ...

Die Travellers Die Travellers, originally Die 3 Travellers, were a German musical group known for their novelty, comedy and schlager records. The group formed in Berlin in 1946. The members were Fred Oldörp (bandoneon The bandoneon (or bandonion, es, b ...

, and

Rainhard Fendrich Rainhard Jürgen Fendrich (born 27 February 1955) is an Austrian singer, composer, entertainer, and actor. He is one of the most successful Austropop musicians, and his songs are written in Viennese German. He is very popular in Austria, but less ...

References

External links