The Smurfs music

The Smurfs is a Belgian comics series, created by Peyo in 1958, and popularized in the English speaking world mainly through the 1981-1989 Hanna Barbera cartoon series. Over the decades, many singles and albums of Smurf music have been released in different countries and languages, sometimes very successfully, with millions of copies sold.

Music recordings

Several popular Smurfs LPs were released, the first of which was created by Dutch musician Pierre Kartner who sings under the alias Father Abraham. His single The Smurf Song reached the #1 position in 16 countries. (While held off the top spot in the UK by You're The One That I Want, the single broke a record for most consecutive weeks at number two, which was only equalled in 1991 by Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy.) Subsequent albums included Smurfing Sing Song, The Smurfs All Star Show, Christmas in Smurfland, and Best of Friends. In 1996 there was a release titled The Smurfs Go Pop! which had a hit UK single titled "I've Got a Little Puppy". The same year, the Smurfs' album Techno is Cool - Volume 1 received a platinum award for sales in excess of 1 million in Europe. This was repeated in 1999 when the German language album Alles Banane (by Die Schluempfe) also sold more than 1 million copies.

Both the Father Abraham song and the theme song for the 1980s cartoon series have been released in local versions around the world, like the 1981 Japanese Silly Little Song of the Smurfs.

In 1984, the album Best of Friends by The Smurfs received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Album for Children.

In Finland, there has been so far (2007) fifteen Smurf CDs (mostly featuring smurfy versions of pop hits). The first of them sold 170,000 copies in Finland. They're also popular in German language area. Worldwide, more than 10 million CD's have been sold between 2005 and 2007 alone.

Italy

In Italy, most of the Smurfs cartoon anthems were sung by Cristina D'Avena.

Germany

Since the 1970s, many Smurf records have been made in Germany, some of them turning out to be bestsellers. This started with the Father Abraham single Das Lied der Schlümpfe and the album Vater Abraham im Land der Schlümpfe, both of which went platinum. Apart from many later gold records, the Smurfs again were certificated platinum for the 1981 album Hitparade der Schlümpfe, the 1995 albumTekkno ist cool (double platinum) and the 1996 Alles Banane volume 3, Megaparty volume 2 and Voll der Winter volume 4.

The Netherlands

The success of the Smurfs music in the Netherlands started with the Dutch artist Father Abraham, whose single 't Smurfenlied stayed at the number 1 position on the Dutch charts for seven consecutive weeks, and the followup single Smurfenbier reached #5. More Smurf records followed in the decades, with Irene Moors as one of the main artists. In 1995, three different Smurf albums went platinum, with Smurf the House, Smurfen Houseparty, and the double platinum Ga je mee naar Smurfenland. The single No Limit, based on the 2 Unlimited hit No Limit, also went platinum and topped the Dutch charts for six weeks in 1995.

Finland

Since 1996, EMI Finland has released a total of 15 Smurf CD's: one album has sold multi-platinum, one album has sold double-platinum, eight albums have sold platinum, five albums have sold gold and one single has sold gold. The total of their certified sales exceeds 790,000 copies.

Norway

In 1978, actor/comedian Geir Børresen recorded a Norwegian version of Father Abraham's "The Smurf Song", which went on to top the Norwegian singles lists for 7 weeks in 1978/79. The accompanying album, "I Smurfeland" became even more popular, for a long time the bestselling Norwegian album ever until overtaken by Åge Aleksandersen's "Levva Livet" in 1984. There were also two sequel albums released throughout 1979, and those three albums sold a total of no less than 380.000, which is a lot on such a small market as the Norwegian one.

In Norway, like in a lot of other countries, the smurfs also did a comeback in the Norwegian hitlists in the 90s, this time without Geir Børresen contributing. A number of "Smurfehits" albums, consisting of popular (mostly "Eurodance") songs performed with sped-up voices, entered the Norwegian charts between 1996 and 2000, particularly popular among kids and in drunken parties one must presume..

Hungary

From 1996 to 2004 13 "Hupikék Törpikék" (the Hungarian name for "The Smurfs") albums were released. The songs on these albums are covers of (non-Hungarian) popular songs, sang in Hungarian, with lyrics related to the cartoon "The Smurfs".

The Smurf dance

The Smurf is a dance that originated with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

The Smurf is mentioned in "The Frug", a song by the band Rilo Kiley. It appeared on both their debut album, The Initial Friend E.P., and on the soundtrack to the movie Desert Blue. The Smurf is also mentioned in "The New Style" and "Posse In Effect", songs by the band Beastie Boys on their album "Licensed to Ill"; in "Turn Me Loose" as recorded by the collaboration of Eminem and Limp Bizkit; and in the song "I'm Through With White Girls" written by Jim Diamond and recorded by the band The Dirtbombs. The rapper Nas referenced The Smurf in the song "Made You Look", along with two other fad dances, (the Wop and the Baseball bat). That same Nas line was used in the song "88" by the rap duo The Cool Kids, which is also featured on the video game "NBA Live 08". The band Flobots mentions the Smurf in their song "The Effect."

Parodies

• Comedy Band The Barron Knights' 1978 UK #3 hit single A Taste Of Aggro, a medley of parodies, included a version of The Smurf Song featuring, in place of the Smurfs, a group of bank robbers from Catford who have escaped from Dartmoor Prison.
• In 1979 the pop impresario Jonathan King scored a minor hit single under the pseudonym Father Abraphart and the Smurps entitled 'Lick a Smurp for Christmas (All Fall Down)', a parody of Father Abraham and the Smurfs. The title of the song referred to the fact that some Smurfs toys had been painted using lead paint, and that young children had been falling ill from placing them in their mouths.
• Australian disc jockey Rick Melbourne released a parody called "The Slurp Song" in 1980, sung in a spoof German accent under the name "Pork Fritz".
• Another parody of Father Abraham's song was performed by German comedian Otto Waalkes, who made the Smurf puppets give very rude or socially questionable answers to his inquiries.
• German band Die Ärzte has a song about the smurfs, "Schlümpfe" ("Smurfs"), and others that make references to this song, such as "Leichenhalle" ("Mortuary"), in which the lead singer asks the smurfs where they come from, to which they answer: "Aus Schlumpfhausen, bitte sehr!" ("From Smurf Town, if you please!").
• Around the late seventies, Sandford & Saker released a parody single entitled 'Stamp on a Skurf Today' which ran along the same lines as the original Father Abraham track, but played on the monotony of the 'theme chorus' and the indestructible nature of the little blue beasties (eventually driving the male singer insane!)
• Australian musical comedy act Tripod performs a song titled The Ballad Of Floor Buffer Smurf.
• Oasis refused permission for the release of the song "Wondersmurf", a parody of their song Wonderwall.

External links

• The Smurfs official site
• Happy Smurfday: Official Smurfs 50th Anniversary site