Jutta Gusenberger and Norbert Berger were a married couple from the western border of the BRD (West Germany) who were staples of the German pop scene in the 1970s. They went by Cindy und Bert, representing West Germany in the Eurovision Pop Contest in 1974 with “Die Sommermelodie.” In a strong year that included Olivia Newton-John and ABBA as competitors, Cindy und Bert finished 14th. Oh well.
They had a run of charting singles from 1972 to 1979 on the German Top 40 but before all that, in 1971, they turned in a delirious cover of “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath with completely different German lyrics that were all about the hellhound invented by Arthur Conan Doyle in one of his few long-form Sherlock Holmes narratives, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
This clip comes from a show called Hits à Gogo, which was actually a Swiss show and produced in cooperation with Norddeutschen Rundfunk (NDR). Elton John and David Bowie appeared on the show, which ran from 1967 to 1973.
Here are the German lyrics, with a translation provided by me:
Nebel zieht in dichten Schwaden
übers Moor von Forest Hill,
grüngespenstisch grinst ein Irrlicht,
es ist Nacht in Baskerville.Wer verbreitet Angst und Schrecken,
wer vernichtet, was er will?
Jeder sucht sich zu verstecken
vor dem Hund von Baskerville.Wen er anfällt,
dieser Hund von Baskerville, oooh yeah,
hat verloren
in dem Kampf um Baskerville, oooh yeah!Und es traut sich keine Seele
in das dunkle Moor hinein,
jeder zittert um sein Leben,
wer wird wohl der nächste sein?Bald ist die Mission beendet,
die sein irrer Herr ihm gab,
lautlos wie er einst gekommen
schleicht er sich ins Moor hinab.Nebel zieht in dichten Schwaden
übers Moor von Forest Hill,
und verbirgt des Rätsels Fragen
von dem Hund von Baskerville.Translation:
Fog sweeps in dense swaths
Over the swamp of Forest Hill,
Green-ghostly grins a jack o’ lantern,
It is night in Baskerville.Who spreads fear and terror?
Who destroys whatever he wants?
Everyone wants to hide
from the Hound of the Baskervilles.When he attacks
This Hound of the Baskervilles, oooh yeah,
You have lost
In the struggle for Baskerville, oooh yeah!And no soul dares
Venture into the dark swamp,
All tremble for their lives,
Who will be the next victim?Soon the mission is completed,
That his crazed master gave him,
Silently as he first approached
He creeps down to the swamp.Fog sweeps in dense swaths
Over the swamp of Forest Hill,
And hides the puzzle’s questions
Of the Hound of the Baskervilles.
There’s something strange about this clip, however. A commenter on a German-language forum thread about the show insists that the clip actually mixes together footage from 2 different appearances, wth the people actually dancing to “Indian Giver” by the 1910 Fruitgum Company. It’s probably funnier this way, honestly.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Black Sabbath’s 1972 cocaine budget: $75,000
Life imitates comedy: Spinal Tap uncannily anticipated Black Sabbath’s very own Stonehenge debacle