Baccara's most famous hits were "Sorry I'm a lady" and "Yes sir, I can boogie", both of which topped the charts during 1977 in some European countries, including the United Kingdom. In 1978, their song "Parlez-Vous Franรงais?" got the seventh place at the Eurovision Song Contest. Curiously, the duo were representing Luxembourg. After releasing four albums, Baccara ceased to exist in 1982. Up from this moment, Marรญa and Mayte have followed their musical careers separately, either solo or with new reformations of the duo like Baccara 2000 or New Baccara.
Mayte Mateos graduated as a teacher from the Royal Spanish Academy for Arts, Drama and Dance in Madrid and then joined Spanish Television's Ballet Company. While there she met fellow performer Marรญa Mendiola. In 1976 the two women formed a singing and dancing duo (using the title Venus) and left the Ballet Company. Initially the duo's act was simply that of variety show dancers. Their first television appearance was on the Palmarรฉs light entertainment programme[1] and they were engaged at a nightclub in the Aragon city of Zaragoza, but their contract was cancelled when the club manager decided that they were "too elegant" for the style of show.[2] Mateos and Mendiola relocated to the Canary Islands in search of work. Here they found that there was an audience for the performance of traditional Spanish music and dance in a form that was adapted to suit international tastes.
The duo were spotted by Leon Deane, manager of the German subsidiary of record company RCA, whilst performing flamenco dance and traditional Spanish songs for tourists (mostly German) in the Tres Islas Hotel on the island of Fuerteventura. He invited them to Hamburg in order for them to meet the 30 year old Dutch producer/composer Rolf Soja.[3] Soja was the prime mover behind what became Baccara.
He developed their stage performance and recruited their instrumental support. Mateos and Mendiola were retitled Baccara, after the name of the black rose, in reference to the women's dark Spanish appearance.
Together with fellow writer Frank Dostal, Soja penned their dรฉbut single โYes Sir, I Can Boogieโ and most of their other 1970's hits. Recorded in Holland and released in 1977, โYes Sir, โฆโ proved to be a huge success, reaching the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Israel, and Switzerland, and number three in France.[4] Later that year a self-titled album, written and produced by Soja and Dostal, was released. Soja is generally credited with the Baccara formula - consisting of breathy lyrics, lush backing, a disco beat and the striking image of two women (one dressed in black and the other in white) dancing. While drawing lightly on Spanish flamenco song and dance tradition, the formula was very much rooted in 1970's disco music. Soja's song arrangements generally used Mateos as the lead singer while Mendiola contributed with backing and refrains.
โYes Sir, I Can Boogieโ was an enormous pan-European hit and was a prime example of the phenomenon that is known as the "summer hit".[5] The song was heard everywhere over the summer of 1977 and it is still evocative of that moment in time. It is also one of the best known examples of the Eurodisco genre : โ[โฆ] this mind-bending Common Market melding of foreign accents, bad diction, bizarre arrangements and lightweight production, usually top-heavy with stringsโ - The Independent, 10th April 1999.
Baccara sold more than 16 million copies of โYes Sir, I Can Boogieโ and featured in the 1977 edition of the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling female musical group to date. They were the first female duo to reach number one in the UK, and had the only number one by a Spanish artist in the UK until Julio Iglesias, four years later. A follow-up single, โSorry, I'm A Ladyโ, was also an international hit, peaking at the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and reaching the top ten in the UK, Sweden and Switzerland.[4] Most of Baccara's recordings were sung in English although they did also record in Spanish, German and French. They recorded different language versions of some songs (see Discography below).
Touring in Europe during the late 1970's helped the band establish a firm fan base in Germany (where their records continued to be produced) and the Scandinavian countries, and their Spanish-flavoured interpretation of the disco sound also brought them recognition in Japan and Russia. Baccara represented West Germany at the eighth World Popular Song Festival held in November 1977 โ until it ended in 1989 the largest such contest in the world. Their song, โMad In Madridโ, came 14th out of 37 participating countries.
In 1978 the second Baccara album, โLight My Fireโ, was released across Europe, and whilst not matching the international success of the first, it spawned the single โParlez-vous franรงais?โ which was selected as Luxembourg's entry in that year's Eurovision Song Contest.[6] Despite full marks from Italy, Portugal and Spain the duo finished in 7th place. However high sales, particularly in Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, meant that the single was a commercial success.
โThink what you like about Baccara, seen today their 1978 Eurovision performance has a certain style while their competition from that event looks dated and amateurishโณ - New Musical Express, May 2002
Further recognition came in 1978 when Baccara was granted Germany's most prestigious media award, Burda Publishing Group's Bambi prize. This is offered annually to โcelebrities whose abilities have impressed, moved and enthused the people in Germanyโ.[7] The duo made regular television appearances, becoming weekly guests on Sacha Distel's show in the UK, and on Musikladen in Germany. 1978 was the high point of Baccara's artistic and commercial success.
Late that year the duo released the single โThe Devil Sent You to Loradoโ[8] with โSomewhere in Paradiseโ[9] as its B side. Both of these Baccara recordings have become iconic. โSomewhere in Paradiseโ (with its allusions to life after death) is regularly played by Christian radio stations while โThe Devilโฆโ (with its background pistol shots) is sometimes identified with the gay community. A Spanish language version of the โThe Devilโฆโ (โEl diablo te mandรณ a Laredoโ) was released at the same time as the English one.
1979 saw the album โColoursโ and the separately-recorded single โEins plus eins ist einsโ, released to mark the United Nations' International Year of the Child and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UN adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
Baccara's fourth and final album (in the band's original incarnation) was โBad Boysโ, released in 1981. By this time the disco sound had been overshadowed by newer music movements (such as punk, new wave and synthpop) in much of Europe and interest was largely confined to those countries where the duo had an established fan base, notably Germany. The album was not released in the UK or US.
Baccara have been (possibly unfairly) described as โone hit wonderโ in the UK, while they never achieved any recognition in the US despite some of their songs being given significant airplay. One music critic suggested that the Baccara formula lacked artistic depth but had been โmined for all it was worthโ over two years until public interest moved on to other things.[10] The same critic also drew attention to an element of โanti-feminist subservienceโ in the lyrics of some Baccara songs.
The 1980 single release of โSleepy-Time-Toyโ led to disagreement within Baccara over the vocal mix used. Mendiola complained that her voice was not given sufficient prominence in the song's arrangement and sued RCA for breach of contract.[11] A court hearing in Munich resulted in 250,000 records being recalled from dealers. The dispute fatally damaged relationships. One consequence of this was that Soja and Dostal were not involved with Baccara's final album. The duo recorded โBad Boysโ with Bruce Baxter and Graham Sacher. Neither the album nor its spin-off single โColoradoโ were successful. In 1981, after RCA declined to renew their contract, Mateos and Mendiola ended their professional partnership and both launched solo careers.
By 1983 both artists had released albums of their own โ Mateos with โSpanish Dreamsโ and Mendiola with โBorn Againโ โ which saw moderate success amongst Baccara's original fan base. However there remained a demand for Baccara's music, particularly on the European television circuit, and by the middle of the decade both Mateos and Mendiola had formed their own versions of Baccara with new singing partners. Despite a series of name and line-up changes, both Baccara duos continue to perform around Europe and have released new albums. Both have also made re-recordings of their hits for various minor record labels, which are regularly re-packaged and re-issued under the original Baccara name. However, the original song versions (those recorded between 1977 and 1981) remain the property of Sony-BMG, which holds the rights to the RCA back catalogue.
On the occasion of Baccara's 30th Anniversary, Sony-BMG Germany released a very complete 3 CD box set on August 31 2007. This collection includes 50 RCA original recordings. Several songs such as โMad In Madridโ, โAmoureuxโ, โBaila tรบโ, โEn el aรฑo 2000โ, โEins plus eins ist einsโ and โCandidoโ made their debut on CD.
Call Me Up
Baccara Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You came to me- a shadow in the Night
a Love Connection hiding from the Light
In Darkness here again-true Agents of the Wind
Conspiracy is never out of-never out of sight.
We'll rendezvouz in Paris or L.A
Beneath the Velvet Moon
the time will pass real soon
before we part I have to say to you
Call me Up-
Right away
I'll do anything you want or say
Secret Love
Hidden Doors
And the Night Time will become our Day
Let me into your Heart-promise me that we'll never part.
Only you know that I am your undercover Love.
In Gaslight avenues we have our Fun-
With Jungle Heat-and tigers on the Run
Is Life too short to play-
The secret Agent Way-
Can Lovers on the Airways be as one
Call me up...
The song "Call Me Up" by Baccara tells a tale of a clandestine love affair between two people who seem to have a knack for secrecy and adventure. The singer speaks to a lover who came to them "a shadow in the night" and "a love connection hiding from the light," indicating right away that their love is kept out of sight from the public eye. The lyrics describe the lovers as "true agents of the wind" who are always concocting new schemes and taking part in elaborate conspiracies. Despite the thrill of their covert romance, the singer seems to worry about the consequences of their actions, noting that "conspiracy is never out of sight."
The lovers' escapades take them to exotic locales like Paris and L.A, where they rendezvous in secret bars and midnight cafes beneath the velvet moon. They share a passion for intrigue and adventure, reveling in the excitement of a life lived fully under cover. The singer longs for their love to continue forever, promising to do anything their partner wants or says and to keep their secret love hidden from the world. The song ends with the singer urging their lover to "call me up," suggesting that they will continue their adventures together for as long as they can.
Line by Line Meaning
You came to me- a shadow in the Night
You appeared to me like a shadow, hidden and unclear, in the darkness of night.
a Love Connection hiding from the Light
Our connection is a secret, away from the watchful eyes and judgment of society.
In Darkness here again-true Agents of the Wind
Once again, we meet in the dark, where the wind carries whispers of secrets and mystery.
Conspiracy is never out of-never out of sight.
We are always aware of the possibility of forces that wish to keep our love hidden and separated.
We'll rendezvouz in Paris or L.A
Let us meet in secret and exotic places such as Paris or Los Angeles.
In secret Bars or in Midnight Cafes
Let's meet in hidden and dimly-lit establishments to ensure our love goes unnoticed.
Beneath the Velvet Moon
Our meetings will take place under the enchanting and calming glow of the moon.
the time will pass real soon
Our time together will fly by quickly.
before we part I have to say to you
Before we say goodbye, there's something important I must tell you.
Call me Up-
Don't hesitate to contact me.
Right away
As soon as possible.
I'll do anything you want or say
I'm willing to go to any lengths to make you happy and keep our love hidden.
Secret Love
Our love is a secret to all but us.
Hidden Doors
Our meetings will take place in hidden and secret locations.
And the Night Time will become our Day
Our love will thrive in the darkness and become our own personal haven during the day.
Let me into your Heart-promise me that we'll never part.
Let our love be strong and last forever.
Only you know that I am your undercover Love.
Only you know that I am the one you love secretly and despite the dangers of society.
In Gaslight avenues we have our Fun-
We enjoy our time together in the dimly-lit and shadowy streets of the city.
With Jungle Heat-and tigers on the Run
Our love feels passionate and wild like the heat of the jungle and the running of tigers.
Is Life too short to play-
We question if our time together is too short and fleeting.
The secret Agent Way-
We embrace the secrecy and mystery of our love, living like secret agents.
Can Lovers on the Airways be as one
We wonder if our love can survive the distance and separation that comes with being apart.
Call me up...
Contact me when you need me or miss me.
Contributed by Jordyn V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@tunacangirl5140
Iโve been trying to find this song for several years, ๐๐๐๐๐. I first heard it when I was 15 and never knew who the artists were. YouTube is amazing!!!
@ivyarms4121
Listen to Ivy Arms Italo-Disco playlist. I'm sure you will find more songs you've missed.
@niedolistek46
@@ivyarms4121 0000ppโฐ0
@juancarloscalvodies9532
โ@@ivyarms4121๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
@lienhoa6686
โ@@ivyarms4121
Thanks You ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐
@lienhoa6686
โค๐ถ๐๐
@MITCHELL....
Que linda epoca cuando se escuchaba musica de verdad. Es todo un placer poder disfrutar de esta mรบsica tan maravillosa.โค๐ต
@lienhoa6686
โค๐
@natalietran1997
Miss the 80s do much.
@MrJerrymok
Where U was Yung.........life was different.Still love your song