When Is a Smurf Not a Smurf?

Enough with the song poems already… although if you are interested in song-poems, especially those from Ted Rosen’s hallmark stable, I urge you to check out Bob Purse’s latest post and then this fascinating blog from Bruce Baryla which offers some fascinating info that could go some way to clearing up the mystery of the two Bob Storms AND the origin’s of Ted’s music beds. [UPDATE 4/9/21: link dead... I'll fix as soon as I can!]

 

But back to today.

 

Papa, Schenk Mir Einen Teddybär (Father, Give me a Teddy Bear), released by Die Schlümpfe in Germany in 1975 is notorious: the sleeve turns up in all of those ‘terrible record art’ lists, but few people have actually heard it. In fact, the sleeve is so ridiculously bad that for a long time I assumed it was a fake. But no, not only does it exist, but here are both sides for you to enjoy (or endure).

 

The duo’s name, Die Schlümpfe, may seem familiar to you. That’s because Die Schlümpfe is the German name for The Smurfs, although as far as I can ascertain these two Smurfs have no connection to Peyo or to Father Abraham… in fact, the only thing that seems to connect them is their love of blue and white and the ridiculous, cartoonish voices employed on the disc.

 

Doris Kocks, author of the A-side (and co-author of the flip) worked in children’s television in what was then East Germany. She was one of the producers of the popular kid’s puppet show Das Spielhaus (The Playhouse) throughout the 1980s. Kai Holland, the co-author of B-side, Der Kaiser Mitschliki, would later find fame as an artist, specialising in collage. However, the male voice on the disc, and the man pictured on the front of the single sleeve, was a singer known only as Felix, who was still performing and recording well into the mid-2010s.

 

5,000 copies of the disc were pressed and issued on the Blackfield Tonstudio label, based in Kirchhellen, In what was then West Germany. Blackfield specialised in custom recordings and pressings, so the chances are that Doris, Kai, and Felix funded production themselves. Felix recalled (in 2013) that although the disc received no publicity at the time, it sold well at the duo's performances.

I have read that there was supposed to be a second single by Die Schlümpfe, but this has been denied by Felix. However, while writing this blog I discovered an earlier release from Die Schlümpfe, issued in 1974 on Storec Schallplatten, of Munster. This 45 features a different recording of Papa, Schenk Mir Einen Teddybär, backed with another song, Nichts Gegen Liebe, also penned by Doris Kocks. To me the male vocalist on both versions of Papa, Schenk Mir Einen Teddybär sounds the same, but I guess it is possible that Felix only sang on the second version, which would explain why he was unaware of the existence of a second Die Schlümpfe single.

Anyway, here are all four Die Schlümpfe tracks. Enjoy!

 

Download Papa 75 HERE

Download Kaiser HERE

Download Papa 74 HERE

 

 Download Nichts HERE