This is Lady Skate and the Skateboard Kids, from the Barcaly Records 1977 release. The A side is Skateboard Baby, and the B-Side is The Skateboard Lesson. This skateploixtation record is a French production, but I swear I’ve heard of that label in conjunction with some other skateboard music titles.
– Oh yeah, Thanks to Matthijs for tipping me off to the auction.
The song title appears courtesy of Offroad Skateboard, whatever that was, and there’s an address to write to if you want more information on skateboards. I’d hate to putt to much faith in that.
The lyrics in the first one are kind of funny. The big refrain, I’m pretty sure translates to “I skateboard,” although it might literally be “I’m making skateboard.” Don’t quote me on that, it all fades after high school. The B-Side is where they gave up. It’s basically an instrumental with a toast over the beginning. For your listening enjoyment.
https://youtu.be/WrP91KIpKs0
19 comments
taras
This song is a cover (with different lyrics… so more of a ‘repurposing’) of ‘Do the Swim’ by Little Nell, who had a short-lived pop career after starring as Columbia in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGw8kAt3GVQ
Kilwag
Ah, nice! How did you happen to make the connection?
Bevilacqua
More Plastic Bertrand here:
http://sakaroule.blogspot.com/2010/03/banana-banana-banana-nananana.html
(and some Lio too – Belgian pop singers, unite !)
Bevilacqua
Look down the post, just over the old Orange Kickers board :-)))
skaterdave
Never dreamed I’d read about Plastic Bertrand and Elton Motello on a skate blog…weirdos….good job.
Bevilacqua
“Off-road” was originally a motorbike shop – it turned out to be a major dealer of US skate stuff in 1977-1979.
You can find rebranded Warptails (or Hobie ?) with the big Off-Road logo in Sean Cliver’s Bible – probably among the very few european decks he features in his Bible.
(So there is room for another tome filled with wheels and European made decks)
Bevilacqua
Off-Road was the Kryptonics dealer before V7 (Jean-Marc Vaissette) – look at the old french ads here:
http://sakaroule.blogspot.com/2009/09/kryptonics-foamcore-teasing-1978.html
and youl’ll see it!
houseofneil
Barclays also release some Sex Pistols stuff in the late 70s in Europe. It was on the Glitterbest/Barclays label.
RH
THIS is why people didn’t tend to realize that Plastic Bertrand (who was actually Belgian) was joking.
RH
But wow, I just discovered that the English song that Bertrand ripped his big “French” hit (and even the backing musicians) off of sounds every bit as dorky, in its original, non-French-gibberish form, as this here “Skateboard Baby” does. (Though Chron Gen did a cover of “Jet Boy, Jet Girl” that isn’t as dorky… just penisy.)
RH
I’m sure all the versions (except Ca Plane Pour Moi, which has nothing to do with the English lyrics) are ALL inescapably penisy, but I can’t imagine any are as DORKY as Elton Motello’s (who did indeed record the original). Wikipedia even informed me that the same batshit lawyer who once filed assault charges against my aunt, (after he’d demanded that she declare whether she was a lesbian or not, cuz her response had been to put her hand on his forearm and say “I like big, strong, intelligent men, and I can see why you wouldn’t understand”), actually WON an FCC complaint case against a Miami talk radio “personality” for playing the Elton Motello version once, and got them to fine the guy. (So, watch out?)
RH
Lot of disinformation about this on the web, probly mostly disseminated by the producer of Ca Plane Pour Moi, who insisted that he did the actual singing on that recording, but seems to have been the only one who was truly fake. Turns out the guy who styled himself as Plastic Bertrand was not a fake musician, and actually played drums in the studio band of the guy who styled himself as Elvis Motello… who himself had been in a proto-punk band with Brian James before the Damned. This source seems to have the real story: LINK
kc
My kids have the Presidents version of that song playing constantly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0S5sYbbixY
I looked the song up on youtube and it seems that every band out there these days has covered it, including these Spice Girl clones.
https://youtu.be/CzXBfk6xlsI
kilwag
The Damned covered it too, but I believe the “penis-y” version is actually the original.
https://youtu.be/dQlsfsypBi8
kilwag
So share the wealth, who did the original?
sheabones
this is so rad…I seriously think it would behoove you to make a S&A compilation of all cheesy 70s skate-themed bubble-glam songs!
Steve Turner
I’m not home right now to check the details, but I’ve got another 7″ from France by The Skateboard Rollers (I think that’s the name of the band and song?) from the 70’s…
Seems they were trying hard to make it the new version of disco roller skating…
talentlessquitter
Wow! Where did you find that? 😉
You’re pretty dead on with the refrain: the french put the verb ‘faire’ (=to do) in front of a lot of things to make the whole verb.She means I skateboard but it could be translated litteraly to ‘I do the skateboard’.
Also dug up from my high school memory so any french readers may ferify this.
Bevilacqua
No problemo – you’re right.