B.A. Robertson - Bang Bang • TopPop

“Bang Bang“ is a song performed by BA Robertson. Co-written by Robertson with Terry Britten and produced by Britten, it was released as the second single from his third album Initial Success in 1979. Brian Alexander Robertson is a Scottish musician, actor, composer and songwriter. He had a string of hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s characterised by catchy pop tunes and jaunty humorous lyrics, including “Knocked It Off“, “To Be or Not to Be“ and “Bang Bang“, a tongue-in-cheek commentary on famous historical and fictional couples. He wrote with Mike Rutherford of Genesis the Grammy-nominated and Ivor Novello Award-winning “The Living Years“. It was a number one hit in the USA, Canada, Australia and Ireland and reached number 2 in his native UK. He has also written music for films and been a television presenter. Lyrically, “Bang Bang“ is a humorous commentary on the pitfalls of love. It uses the examples of famous couples such as Romeo and Juliet, Samson and Delilah, Horatio Nelson and Emma, Lady Hamilton and Mark Antony and Cleopatra. There is also a reference to John Fruin, who was head of Warner Music Group at the time. The song features the Glaswegian Robertson affecting an Estuary English accent. Many have considered this an impersonation of Ian Dury, whose “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick“ had topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1979. Robertson has also spoken of comparisons to Squeeze, whose 1979 hit single “Cool for Cats“ features a lead vocal performance from cockney-accented Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford. Robertson says the vocal was in fact an impression of session bass player Herbie Flowers. “Bang Bang“ was Robertson’s second single with Asylum Records after the flop ’Goosebumps’, and Robertson’s future with the label would have been in doubt had it failed. Watch our great music videos ❯ More TopPop? Subscribe here ❯ More info on Wikipedia ❯ Broadcast date: 6 September 1979 This is to let you know that the video recording of the video clip was originally recorded by AVROTROS Broadcasting. AVROTROS Broadcasting hereby warrants and represents that it is the sole and exclusive owner of the physical film and/or videotape footage in this video clip. The performance of the artist(s) in the clip was filmed and recorded with the written consent of the artist(s) and their representatives. AVROTROS is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster, founded in 2014 from a merger of AVRO and TROS. From January 1st, 2014 the name of the merged broadcaster was used in joint programmes. AVRO was founded in 1923 as the Netherlands first public broadcaster. TROS started broadcasting in 1964. Toppop was a weekly AVRO pop program that was aired between 1970 and 1988. AVROTROS Broadcasting PO Box 2 1200 JA Hilversum The Netherlands TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 1970 to 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years. World famous music artists performed on TopPop: ABBA, 10CC, Bee Gees, The Jacksons with Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Earth & Fire, Queen, Golden Earring, Boney M, KC & The Sunshine Band, Chic, Donna Summer and many many more.