damont

(To be crossposted to Diaspora*)

Same tune, vaguely different lyrics, so two earworms for the price of one.

Some folks who read this won't remember the original. Some won't remember the later one either. So links are being provided to Youtube videos (the first one is a single still with the song playing).

We start with the first hit for surf group Ronny and the Daytonas back in 1964:

Ronny & the Daytonas -- G.T.O.

Fast-forward twenty years, and somebody on the VW ad crew came up with the bright idea of adapting the song for a commercial for the Volkswagen (Rabbit/Golf) GTI, with lyrics *in German*:

VW GTI commercial

What I hadn't known is that they actually wrote TWO verses in German, corresponding to the first and last verses of the song (the last verse has two extra lines). Here are the German lyrics, thanks to Hemmings Daily:

German lyric		English translation

Kleiner GTI		Little GTI
Du siehst prima aus		well, you look so fine
Ich liebe, dich zu fahren		How I love to drive you
Hol' die Leistrung 'raus		Let the performance shine
Hoer nur, wie er sich anlasst,		Listen when I start it
Steck' den Schluessel 'rein		Stick the key in the ignition
Er ist bereit zum Start,		And it's ready to go.
Wie Er braust		How it zips
Wie Er saust,		How it zooms,
GTI.		GTI.

Werde bargeld, sparen		I'll save up some money
Kauf' den GTI,		Buy a GTI
Er faehrt mit mir laessig		'cause it drives so easy
An den Andren vorbei,		past the other cars
Ueberholt Benzinfresser		passes all the gas-hogs
Macht mir Spass dabei		Makes me smile a while
Und Jedermann sagt sich dann bloss		And everyone thinks to themselves
"Kleiner wagen - du bist gross"		"Little car - you're grand,"
Er ist bereit zum Start,		It's always ready to go
Wie er braust		How it zips
Wie er saust, GTI.		How it zooms, GTI.