"Zabadak!" is a song by British musical group
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich are an English rock band active during the 1960s. Formed in Salisbury in 1964, the band consisted of David Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Ame ...
, written by
Ken Howard
Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' (1972) and as high school basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the televisi ...
and
Alan Blaikley
Alan Tudor Blaikley (23 March 1940 – 4 July 2022) was an English songwriter and composer, best known for writing a series of international hits in the 1960s and 1970s in collaboration with Ken Howard, including the UK number one hits " Have ...
. It was released as a single in September 1967, peaking at number 3 on the
UK Singles Chart and becoming the group's only single to chart on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 52.
[ It was their fifth of seven to chart in Canada.
The song uses pseudo-African style percussion (created in the studio by the group) and a nonsense lyric in its repetitive chorus, to highlight the meaning of its two verses (sung in English). This use of an African motif was typical of the group's dabbling with other world styles of music, such as the Latin style of " Save Me" and the Greek style of " Bend It!"
The group also recorded a version of "Zabadak!" in Italian, which was released as a single there backed with an Italian-language version of "Save Me". However, the single failed to chart. Both tracks were later included as bonus tracks on the 2003 CD release of '' If No-One Sang''.
]
Reception
Reviewing for ''New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'', Derek Johnson described "Zabadak" as "loaded with appeal and yet completely different from anything they have previously waxed. The basic influences are a blend between Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cubans () or Black Cubans are Cubans of full or partial sub-Saharan African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba associated with this community, and the combining of native African a ...
and Peruvian Incan
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...
. Add to this a catchy and continually-repeated chorus, some very attractive counter-harmonies, a pulsing beat with throbbing conga drums, and a lush string section in the background – plus a haunting tune that nags at the brain – and you've got a Hit". ''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 advertis ...
'' wrote that this "African flavored rhythm item has much of the feel of " Pata Pata". In a guest column for ''Disc and Music Echo
''Disc'' was a weekly British popular music magazine, published between 1958 and 1975, when it was incorporated into ''Record Mirror''. It was also known for periods as ''Disc Weekly '' (1964–1966) and ''Disc and Music Echo '' (1966–1972).
...
'', Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...
DJ Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's ...
praised "Zabadak!" as "a well-produced record and a different sound".
Track listing
7": Fontana / TF 873
# "Zabadak!" – 3:35
# "The Sun Goes Down!" – 2:48
7": Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...
/ 148 595 STF (Germany)
# "Zabadak" – 3:35
# "Nose for Trouble" – 4:01
Charts
Weekly Charts
Year-end charts
Cover versions
* In 1967, German pianist Horst Jankowski released an instrumental version of the song on his album ''And We Got Love''.
* In 1967, British band The Sorrows
The Sorrows are a rock band formed in 1963 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, by Pip Whitcher, and were part of the British beat boom of the 1960s. They were a fixture in the English mod scene and are sometimes referred to as freakbeat.
C ...
released an Italian-language version of the song as a single only in Italy.
* In 1979, German band Saragossa Band released a cover of the song as a single, which peaked at number 6 in Germany and number 8 in Austria.
* In 1980, German organist Franz Lambert released an instrumental version on his album ''Pop-Orgel-Hit-Parade 6''.
* In 2000, Czech band Těžkej Pokondr released a Czech-language version, titled "Zabávať", on their album ''Ježek v peci''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zabadak (Song)
1967 songs
1967 singles
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich songs
Songs written by Alan Blaikley
Songs written by Ken Howard (composer)
Fontana Records singles
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Song recordings produced by Steve Rowland