Brown Girl in the Ring (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Brown Girl in the Ring


Artist = Boney M.
from Album = Nightflight to Venus
Released = 3 April, 1978
Format = 7" single, 12" single
Recorded = 1978
Genre = Pop, Disco
Length = 4:03
Label = Hansa Records (FRG)
Sire Records (USA)
Atlantic Records (AUS)
Writer = Frank Farian
Producer = Frank Farian
Last single = "Belfast"
(1977)
This single = "Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl in the Ring"
(1978)
Next single = "Rasputin"
(1978)

Brown Girl in the Ring is a song first recorded in 1978 in Boney M.. It was originally featured in the game of the same name. Arguably the most popular version of the song, Boney M.'s version of "Brown Girl in the Ring" was originally a single B-side to the group's #1 hit single "Rivers of Babylon" (1978). When "Rivers of Babylon" had slipped to #20 in the UK charts, radio stations suddenly flipped the single, seeing "Brown Girl in the Ring" going all the way to #3 and becoming a hit in its own right. Liz Mitchell had previously recorded the song in 1975 with the group Malcolm's Locks her ex-boy friend Malcolm Magaron as the lead singer, and arranger Peter Herbolzheimer accused Frank Farian for stealing his arrangement for the song [http://www.lizmitchellfanclub.com/malcolm.html] . The court case ran for more than 20 years in Germany. The early single pressing features the full-length 4:18 version with a chorus bit being edited out. The single mix is also slightly different from the album version which features steel drums on the outro riff of the song, the single mix doesn't.

1993 Remix

Infobox Single
Name = Brown Girl in the Ring (Remix '93)

| Artist = Boney M.
from Album = Gold - 20 Super Hits
Released = 1 April, 1993
Format = 7" single, 12" single, CD single
Recorded =
Genre = Pop, Disco
Label = BMG Records (FRG)
Writer = Franz Reuter (Frank Farian)
Producer = Frank Farian
Last single = "Megamix"
(1992)
This single = "Brown Girl in the Ring (Remix)"
(1993)
Next single = "Ma Baker (Remix)"
(1993)Following the successful sales of the compilation album "Gold - 20 Super Hits", Frank Farian remixed "Brown Girl in the Ring" for a single release, April 1993. The remix featured new lead vocals by Liz Mitchell and reached #6 in Denmark, #38 in the UK charts while failing to chart in Germany. The single also included a new remix of "The Calendar Song".

Releases

12" Single
* "Brown Girl In The Ring (Remix '93)" (MCI/BMG 74321 13705 1, 1993)Side A

# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Funny Girl Club Mix) - 5:35
# "The Calendar Song (January, February, March...)" (Remix '93) - 3:14 Side B

# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Club Mix - Rap Version) - 5:35
# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Radio Version) - 3:58

CD "Brown Girl In The Ring (Remix '93)" (MCI/BMG 74321 13705 2, 1993)
*# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Radio Version) - 3:58
*# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Funny Girl Club Mix) - 5:35
*# "Brown Girl in the Ring" (Club Mix - Rap Version) - 5:35
*# "The Calendar Song (January, February, March...)" (Remix '93) - 3:14

Other recordings

Austrian Waterloo & Robinson covered the song in German, using Boney M.'s original backing track and backing vocals.

Other versions have been done by Raffi, Dan Zanes and the Minipops.

Jurassic 5, a Southern California based hip-hop group, has a song titled "Brown Girl" which refers to the original song in its chorus.

The song is featured in the film "Touching the Void" when mountaineer Joe Simpson worries he is succumbing to madness or death. He recalls: "I remember thinking, "bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M".

The Australian children's group, The Wiggles, sing and dance to "Brown Girl" during a segment of their syndicated show. In true Wiggles fashion, where the main characters are often identified by the color of their shirt, the "brown girl" is in fact Caucasian, but clad in brown.

Lord Invader, a calypsonian from Trinidad, recorded a version circa 1946-1947 in New York. The recording is now part of the Smithsonian Folkways collection and was only released in 2000 on Lord Invader "Calypso in New York" CD.

Bibliography

"There's a Brown Girl in the Ring" - Alan Lomax, J.D. Elder and Bess Lomax Hawe, Random House, New York, 1997

External links

* [http://www.cocojams.com/there_is_a_brown_girl.htm Coco Jams]