Andreas Boose

 How SAILOR became my favourite band!
Written by Andreas Boose (the old-fashioned dreamer) ©

It all started way back in 1976.
It was shortly before my 9th birthday, at the end of February or early March. At that time there weren't as many radio stations as nowaddays. In the area of Germany where I lived, Nordrhein-Westfalen, most people listened to WDR radio (1 - 4). WDR 2 was my favourite radio station because they used to play the best and newest music with the American DJs Dave Coleman and Mel Sondock. One day, having sat down in our kitchen in order to paint some pictures, I suddenly noticed the beginning of a song on the radio that should later have a big influence on my whole life!!!
I only thought: "They are really hammering on their keyboards." When also the rhythmic hammering synthesizer-bass joined into the song (although I didn't know this instrument yet as a nine-year-old), I really started to love this song after only one minute!!! I had never heard a song that was comparable to this one before. And I only knew one thing: That was going to be my new favourite song.
Later I got to know that most of this extraordinary sound came from an instrument named "Nickelodeon", which had been created by Georg Kajanus, the charismatic singer, founder and creative leader of SAILOR!!!
While "A Glass Of Champagne" was played on the radio I asked my mother: "Can you please take the frying-pan off the stove, I want to listen to this song!" Surprised and curious at the same time she did what I told her. She turned the radio loud and said: "They have got great voices. Who is this band?" I said: "SAILOR, but what does that mean?" She answered: "Seemann or Matrose!"
You can probably guess what followed now: Of course I sat in front of the radio - same time, same radio station - on the next day and... yes... "A Glass Of Champagne" was played again. I was on music-cloud number 9.
Then came the special day, my 9th birthday. My father behaved quite mysteriously and asked me whether I would like to go to the city together with him. I knew my father very well, and so I also knew what he had in mind. On the way to the shopping centre "Horten" I became nervous. When we reached the music section he said: "I hope you know why we are here?" I felt my heart beating up to my throat. He gave me the piece of paper on which I had written down the title and the name of the band. I went to the shop assistant, who smiled at me and asked: "Can I help you, young man?" I didn't say anything and just gave him the piece of paper. He read it and said: "Well, you've picked the number-one hit. This one is very famous at the moment." Suddenly I wasn't shy anymore. I asked the shop assistand whether he liked the song as well. He answered: "Of course, there's a great rhythm in it." I laughed because I knew what he meant: the synthesizer bass of Phil Pickett, one of the two guys who played the Nickelodeon. Then the great moment came, he fetched the single and gave it to me. For the first time I saw the guys who had created this acoustic extasy inside of me during the last weeks (to describe it with the words of a meanwhile 35-year-old)!
And right from the beginning I especially liked our "master" - Georg Kajanus - whose captain's outfit impressed me very much. My second favourite was Phil Pickett who smiled that cheeky on the "Champagne"-cover. If I hadn't been a fan of pirate-movies, ships and captains already I would have started to like them immediately.
I think it's not necessairy to mention that I listened to the song several times each day. I did not like the B-side "Panama" very much at the beginning. It was a different style. But the more I listened to it the more I liked it.

Autumn 1976:
There was a fair in our town. I spent a lot of time near my favourite ride ("Hully Gully") and spent my whole pocket-money there. When I was out of money I stayed, watched the people and listened to the music. Suddenly a new song started, and I heard Phil's great bass-synthesizer again. I got the shock of my life. This sounded familiar (very familiar, indeed!), but I couldn't remember where I had heard sounds like those before. I hadn't listened to "A Glass Of Champagne" for quite a while. And now... this new great song. I liked this one even more than "Champagne". And this didn't change until today. I still wasn't sure who sang this new song. It wasn't played on the radio yet, so I ran to the fair and waited at my favourite ride at the fair every day in order to listen to this unique and unmistakable sound. It was not easy to get there because I was still a child, trying to get through all those people. At the end of the week the fair was over.
A short time later I walked through the music section of the shopping centre "Horten" again and discovered a new single from SAILOR. I had 5 or 6 DM left for such "emergencies", so that I decided to buy it. At home I immediately listend to the song and.... I nearly got a heart attack, it was the song I had heard at the fair - "Stiletto Heels". It was even better than "Champagne". From this day on they were the band for me. Yes... and today "Stiletto Heels" is still the SAILOR song for me. I ran into the kitchen, hugged my mother and shouted: "It's the song, it's the song...!" She asked: "The song from the fair?" "Yes!".......
Christmas was the right occasion for my parents to give me the best present of the year. Under the Christmas tree I found my first SAILOR album, the marvellous "The Third Step" - the German version promoted by the magazine "Bunte". I listend to it all the time and it helped me to fight against the flue in winter. I discovered the extraordinary musical range of the band. I also noticed that I didn't only like the songs in the style of "A Glass Of Champagne" and "Stiletto Heels". Very funny: At "Two Ladies On the Corner" I had to think of those old black and white movies with Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, where the boys danced with dress coats and top-hats accros the screen. Really great. At "Hanna" I imagined our boys, in the complete SAILOR outfits, on a ship sailing to Santiago.

So, greetings to my dear fellows (Karsten - Cap K and Katrin - Marinero). I hope my story was entertaining and some of you enjoyed reading it.

Andreas Boose (the old-fashioned dreamer) ©

(originally written by Andreas Boose, 08 May 2002 - translated by Katrin Wagner, May 2002)

29 May 2004... Andreas visits the MARINERO-crew in Kassel and gets SAILOR's original Charango which he won at the SAILOR auction:

SAILOR in Egmond aan Zee (Holland) 20 November 2004...

Last updated: 12 November 2006

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