"Paloma Blanca" (Spanish for "white dove"), often called "Una Paloma Blanca", is a song written by Dutch musician George Baker (under his real name, Johannes Bouwens) and first recorded and released by his band,

George Baker Selection George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from Assendelft, the Netherlands. The band is best-known for the 1969 song " Little Green Bag" and the 1975 world-wide hit " Paloma Blanca". History In 1968, Hans Bouwens from Wormerveer joined th ...

. The single—the title track of the group's fifth album—was released in 1975 with "Dreamboat" (or "Dream Boat") as its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

. The song was a hit throughout Europe, reaching 1 in Austria, Finland,

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, and it also topped the charts of New Zealand and South Africa. In the United States, the song became a No. 1 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Easy Listening Singles chart on 14 February 1976 (becoming that chart's overall No. 1 song for 1976), peaked at No. 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and reached No. 33 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. In Canada and the United Kingdom, "Paloma Blanca" peaked at No. 10, and in Australia, it reached No. 2. The song sold over two million copies worldwide.

Meaning

Baker has been quoted as saying the song is about "a poor South American farmer who works hard all day and then sits by a tree and dreams of being a white bird with its freedom."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Following the George Baker Selection's success, the song was widely

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

. In the UK, where the group took "Paloma Blanca" to a No. 10 chart peak, the recording by

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

achieved No. 5. King's version was also a hit in Ireland, although its No. 15 Irish chart peak was topped there by a cover from

the Dixies The Dixies were an Irish showband based in Cork, and which have performed and toured for over 40 years from its inception in 1954 until the late 1990s. Formed in 1954 as "The Dixielanders" the band originally featured Joe McCarthy (drums), Sea ...

(with Rory O'Connor), who took the song to No. 11. In South Africa, an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

rendering of "Paloma Blanca" entitled "My klein wit duifie" was a hit for a studio group credited as Tameletjie, its chart peak being No. 9. A German-language rendering of "Paloma Blanca" was a hit for

Nina & Mike Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income, ...

( de) in both Germany (No. 6) and Austria (No. 7). In Scandinavia, translated renderings of "Paloma Blanca" were hits for

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...

(No. 8 in Sweden) and

Hans Petter Hansen Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

( no) (No. 7 in Norway), an alternate Swedish rendering being recorded by Säwes ( sv). A Danish version was recorded by Bjørn Tidmand. In Finland, a localized translation of "Paloma Blanca" was a No. 2 hit for

Katri Helena Katri Helena Kalaoja (née Koistinen, born 17 August 1945) is a Finnish singer. Career Katri Helena released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloist ...

, besting a rival version by Kisu ( fi) at No. 18. Finland also afforded chart status to the Jonathan King version "Una Paloma Blanca" which peaked at No. 27 there. The Finnish-language rendering of "Paloma Blanca" has been recorded by

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

( fi),

Jukka Kuoppamäki Jukka Kuoppamäki (b. 1 September 1942, Helsinki) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and priest for The Christian Community in Germany. He visits his summer house in Finland every year. He is one of the most prolific Finnish popular singer-songwri ...

, and

Matti ja Teppo Matti ja Teppo is a famous Finnish folk duo made up of brothers Matti Tapio Ruohonen 73 (born in Turku, Finland on 8 August 1949) and Teppo Ilmari Ruohonen 74 (born also in Turku on 1 March 1948) who have performed together since childhood. The ...

. Patricia Lavila ( fr) recorded both French and Italian renderings of "Paloma Blanca", the former reaching No. 39 on the French chart. French singer

Georgie Dann Georges Mayer Dahan (14 January 1940 – 3 November 2021), performing as Georgie Dann, was a Spain-based French singer-songwriter, known for his popular summer hits. Career Early life Georges Mayer Dahan was born on 14 January 1940 in Paris, t ...

recorded a version in Spanish, released in 1975 in Spain as the B-side of "Campesino". Other versions were by

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...

and

Slim Whitman Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known as Slim Whitman, was an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. He claimed he had sold in excess of ...

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert "Bobby" Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is a American former singer and occasional actor, who also hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid trib ...

recorded a version that appeared on his 1976 album '' Serenades of Love''. The song is often parodied, given its popularity and middle-of-the-road quality. In 1976, the British

Scrumpy and Western 200px, Fred Wedlock Scrumpy and Western refers humorously to music from England's West Country that fuses comical folk-style songs, often full of double entendre, with affectionate parodies of more mainstream musical genres, all delivered in ...

group

The Wurzels The Wurzels are an English Scrumpy and Western band from Somerset, England, best known for their number one hit " The Combine Harvester" and number three hit "I Am a Cider Drinker" in 1976. They are known for using British West Country phrases ...

had a No. 3 UK hit with their parody of the song, "I Am a Cider Drinker", which was covered in 2003 by North London

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band Bad Manners, for their album ''

Stupidity Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit. It may be innate, assumed or reactive. The word ''stupid'' comes from the Latin word ''stupere''. Stupid characters are often used for comedy in fictional stories. Walter B ...

'', and in 2011 by Scottish

pirate metal Pirate metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by its incorporation of pirate mythology within the music and sometimes in stage performances. Lyrics often use piratical jargon and various musical genres, such as thrash metal, speed ...

band Alestorm as a bonus track for their album ''

Back Through Time ''Back Through Time'' is the third studio album by Scottish heavy metal band Alestorm. It was released on 3 June 2011 by Napalm Records and is the first Alestorm recording to feature Gareth Murdock on bass and Peter Alcorn on drums.

''. A remake by

themselves was released in 2007 with a video. A similarly titled parody, "We Are the Shumba Drinkers", by Mike Westcott and Leprechaun, gained popularity in Afrikaaner and White Rhodesian communities. George Baker re-recorded a solo version of the song in 2005, for the film ''

Too Fat Too Furious ''Too Fat Too Furious'' ( nl, Vet hard) is a 2005 Dutch action comedy film. It is a remake of the Danish film '' Old Men in New Cars'' and received a Golden Film for 100,000 visitors. Plot Bennie, a clumsy criminal who's touchy about his weig ...

''; the song had earlier been used in the 1982 film ''

The Executioner's Song ''The Executioner's Song'' (1979) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. The title of the book may be a play on "The Lord Hi ...

''. In 2011, it was given a rap make-over on the song-exchange-programme ''

Ali B op volle toeren ''Ali B op volle toeren'' (literally "Ali B at full speed"), abbreviated as ''ABOVT'', is a Dutch television programme hosted by Moroccan-Dutch rapper Ali B for broadcaster AVROTROS (previously TROS).The name refers to '' Op volle toeren'', an ea ...

''; George Baker returned the favour by performing a rewritten version of rapper Dio's "Tijdmachine".