Little Green Bag
| "Little Green Bag" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Pretty Little Dreamer" |
"Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians Jan Visser and George Baker (born Hans Bouwens), and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The track was released as the George Baker Selection's debut single by Dutch label, Negram, with the B-side being "Pretty Little Dreamer".[2][3]
The track's original title was "Little Greenback",[4] in reference to the color of the US dollar. The first line of the lyric, "Lookin' back on the track for a little greenback", has three rhymes (underlined); "green bag" would not be a true rhyme. However, the single was given the erroneous title, "Little Green Bag", which some took to be a "bag of marijuana". The "Little Green Bag" title was then retained for all subsequently released versions of the single as well as the group's 1970 debut album, also titled Little Green Bag.[3] This is an example of a mondegreen.
The song's single peaked at #9 on the Dutch Top 40 singles chart and #3 in Belgium. In the United States, the single reached #16 in the summer of 1970 on the Cashbox chart and #21 on the US Billboard Top 100. In 1992, when the song was used in the Quentin Tarantino film, Reservoir Dogs, it became an international cult classic. Also in 1992, the song reached #1 in Japan after being used in a Japanese whiskey commercial.[2][5]
Cover versions
- In 1970, the group I Punti Cardinali released a version titled "La borsetta verde".
- In 1970, the Italian singer Nada recorded an Italian-language version with translated lyrics by Luigi Albertelli under the title "Un passatempo".
- In 1999, Tom Jones released a cover version of the song recorded with Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies, on his album Reload.[2]
- In 2007 The Ventures released their version in their album "THE VENTURES – ROCKY!"
References
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. Paloma Blanca at AllMusic. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
- ^ a b c "George Baker biography". hollandrocks.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2004. Retrieved 26 May 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Various worldwide releases of the George Baker Selection single, "Little Green Bag"". 45cat.com. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=21174
- ^ "George Baker Biography". www.georgebaker.com. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
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