Pigtrådsgruppe dannet af Jørgen Wulff Krabbenhøft og Benny Qvotrup i 1960 i… Read Full Bio ↴Pigtrådsgruppe dannet af Jørgen Wulff Krabbenhøft og Benny Qvotrup i 1960 i København. Havde fra 1961 følgende besætning:

Jørgen Wulff Krabbenhøft (født 20. april 1942) (lead-vo, rhythm-g)
Benny Qvotrup (dm)
Steen Bergstrøm (født 6. oktober 1942) (lead-g)
Erik Grønfeldt Hansen (el-b).

Hitmakers' første optræden var på Garderhusarkasernen i Næstved. Spillede herefter i ungdomsklubberne rundt omkring i Københavns-området. Havde i 1962-63 bl.a. engagementer på Geels Kro, Resi, Granada samt i Jomfruburet. Spillede i starten Cliff Richard & Shadows-inspireret musik (således kom Krab-benhøft i finalen i en Cliff Richard-konkurrence i 62), men ændrede som et af de første danske orkestre stil påvirket af de nye Liverpool-strømninger. I 1963 erstattedes Qvotrup og Hansen af

Torben Orla Weinholt Sardorf (født 22. November 1942) (dm)
Bjarne Hørup Hørman de la Motte (født 10. april 1943) (el-b) (begge tidligere Cliffters).

Plade-debuterede i sommeren 1963 med Beatles-kompositionen I Saw Her Standing There. Turnerede i 1963-64 meget i Finland med stor succes og udsendte her bl.a. Let's go, som aldrig blev udsendt i Danmark. De var opvarmningsband for Beatles i K.B. Hallen, den 4. juni 1964. Hitmakers gik på umiddelbart før hovednavnet og blev klappet ind til et ekstranummer. De valgte Little Richards Long tall Sally, uafvidende at Beatles nettop havde indspillet den og planlagde at spille den. På grund af Hitmakers' succes sprang de over den ved første koncert, men gav så nummeret ved den anden koncert efter at have aftalt, at Hitmakers ikke spillede sangen! Trods masser af job, bl.a. som husorkester i Jomfruburet i København, måtte Hitmakers dog vente med et egentligt dansk gennembrud til Stop the Music, december 65, som lanceredes i TV's »Klar i Studiet«. Havde i 1966 stor succes med parodipladen Træd an ved makronerne. Gruppen var i november 1966 på kort turne i England, hvor de indspillede (15).
I sommeren 1967 lagde Hitmakers stilen om til en blødere flower-power-inspireret pop. Udvidedes i efteråret 1967 med

Mogens »Django« Petersen (lead-g) (ex-The Cliffters),

og gruppen ændrede navn til The Floor. Trods to singler og den meget ambitiøse 1'st Floor-LP (21), som havde været en af de dyreste danske rockproduktioner til dato, så lykkedes det ikke gruppen at bibeholde den tidligere popularitet. Steen Bergstrøm forlod Floor i slutningen af 1967, og (19) indspilledes som kvartet. Floor opløstes i sommeren 1968. Krabbenhøft havde sideløbende med Hitmakers indspillet en single med Nalle (se denne) i 1967. Hitmakers var ubetinget blandt pigtråds-epokens topgrupper, og spillede udover i Danmark også i Tyskland, Finland og Sverige. Optrådte flere gange i TV. Sardorf fortsatte med Sir Henry, og Krabbenhøft indspillede i 1969 en single, og forsøgte nostalgisk comeback i 1975 med 2 plader, hvor bl.a. Mogens Petersen medvirkede og Pete Quaife (ex-The Kinks) havde tegnet coveret. Hitmakers var gendannet for en enkelt aften ved rockspillestedet »Alexandra«'s åbning 13.11.83, og de medvirkede i 1994 live i tv-programserien Hit, hærg & hentehår. Ved denne lejlighed var truppen udvidet med Rudolph Hansen (lead-g). Krabbenhøft gik siden over i restaurationsbranchen, blev tjener og er i dag restauratør i Café Lindevang på Frederiksberg. 'Django' gled over i bag-landet som producer, studiemusiker og musikpædagog, men har også udgivet en håndfuld LP'er, fortrinsvis med instrumental guitarmusik uden egentlig rockrelevans, og døde i 1991. Steen Bergstrøm har siden drevet planteskole.

Last Train to Clarksville
The Hitmakers Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Take the last train to Clarksville
And I'll meet you at the station
You can be here by four-thirty
Cause I made your reservation
Don't be slow
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Cause I'm leaving in the morning

And I must see you again
Well, I've one more night to do camp here
Till the morning brings my train
And I must go
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
And I don't know if I'm ever coming home

Take the last train to Clarksville
I'll be waiting at the station
We'll have time for coffee-flavoured kisses
And a bit of conversation
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Take the last train to Clarksville
And I must hang up the phone
I can't hear you in this noisy railroad station
All alone I'm feeling blue
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
And I don't know if I'm ever coming home

Take the last train to Clarksville
And I'll meet you at the station
You can be here by four-thirty
Cause I made your reservation
Don't be slow
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
And I don't know if I'm ever coming home

Take the last train to Clarksville

Take the last train to Clarksville
Take the last train to Clarksville.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Hitmaker's song Last Train to Clarksville is a tale of a man who is taking one last chance to see his love before he leaves town. The man is urging his love to take the last train to Clarksville and meet him at the station by 4:30 in the afternoon. He has made the reservation and is urging her to hurry up as he is leaving in the morning and has only one more night before he leaves. He doesn't know if he would ever be returning, and he wants to make the most of the remaining time he has with his love.

The song is an allusion to the Vietnam War, and the line "And I don't know if I'm ever coming home" was particularly noteworthy. The song captures the feeling of the time when men were forcibly drafted into the war and given little choice but to serve. Many didn't know if they were ever coming back, and the uncertainty of the situation left them feeling panicked and unsure. The story told in the song is a common one of a soldier who knows he has to leave and is trying to see his love one last time.

Line by Line Meaning

Take the last train to Clarksville
Board the final train departing to Clarksville

And I'll meet you at the station
I will be waiting for you at the train station

You can be here by four-thirty
Arrive at the station by 4:30 pm

Cause I made your reservation
I have reserved a spot for you on the train

Don't be slow
Don't be late

Cause I'm leaving in the morning
I am departing in the morning

And I must see you again
I need to see you one more time

Well, I've one more night to do camp here
I have one more night to spend here

Till the morning brings my train
Until the train comes in the morning

And I must go
I need to leave

And I don't know if I'm ever coming home
I am unsure if I will return home