Falco - Amadeus (Rock Me) 1986

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Midi playing "Amadeus (Rock Me)" by Falco. To download midi click on title. DO NOT directly link to this file. When in doubt view the TERMS OF USE

He was the first punk ever to set foot on this earth. He was a genius from the day of his birth. He could play the piano like a ring and a bell And ev'rybody screamed: Come on, rock me Amadeus. He was a superstar, he was dynamite and whatever he did (it) Seemed to be alright. And he drank (and) he cursed and he fooled around But when the women would shout: Rock me Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus, Amadeus, Oh oh oh Amadeus. With a bottle of wine in one hand and a woman in the other 'Cause he was a ladies man He never stopped to worry what the next day would bring Because the girls would sing: Rock me Amadeus, etc... His mind was on rock and roll and having fun Because he lived so fast he had to die so young. But he made his mark in history. Still ev'rybody says: Rock me Amadeus

Brief biography courtesy of Wikipedia
Johann (Hans) Hšlzel (February 19, 1957 Ð February 6, 1998), better known by his stage name Falco, was an Austrian classical music prodigy turned hip hop, pop and rock star. His albums and singles have sold about 60 million copies worldwide. Born in Vienna, the only survivor of a triplets birth, Falco was recognized as a child prodigy and schooled in classical music. Graduating from the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977, he lived for a short time in Berlin, West Germany, singing in a jazz-rock band. When he returned to Vienna he was calling himself "Falco", reportedly in tribute to the German skier Falko Wei§pflog, and playing in the Austrian bands Spinning Wheel and Hallucination Company. En route to becoming an international rock star in his own right, he was bass player in the Austrian hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl (from 1978 until 1983). With Drahdiwaberl he wrote and performed the song Ganz Wien, which he would also include on his debut solo album, Einzelhaft. Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar", from the 1982 album Einzelhaft. A German language song about drug consumption that combines rap verses with a sung chorus, Falco's record was a number-one success in many countries but failed to break big in the U.S. The song, however, would prove to have a life of its own in two English-language versions. British Christian rock band After The Fire recorded an English cover version, loosely based on Falco's lyrics and also called "Der Kommissar" (with "uh-oh" and "alles klar Herr Kommissar" the only other lyrics held over from the original). This time, the song shot to number three in the United States (their only major hit there) in 1983, though it failed to crack the UK Top 40. Ironically, the bandÑwho had been together more than a decadeÑbroke up almost immediately thereafter. That same year, American singer Laura Branigan recorded a version of the song with new English lyrics, under the title "Deep In The Dark", on her album Branigan 2. After a second album, Junge Roemer, failed to provide a repeat to his debut single's success (outside of Austria and Germany, where the album topped the charts), Falco began to experiment with English lyrics in an effort to broaden his appeal, and chose a new production team. The result would be the most popular album and single of his career. Falco recorded "Rock Me Amadeus" inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, and the song became a worldwide hit in 1986. This time, his record reached #1 in the U.S., bringing him the success that had eluded him in that major market a few years earlier. The song remained in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and his album, Falco 3, fittingly peaked at the number three position on the Billboard album charts. Unheard of at the time for a white performer, much less a European one, the Austrian rapper's single climbed to the upper reaches of the Billboard Top R&B Singles Chart (only a few years earlier called the "Black Singles" chart), peaking at number 6. It would be two more years before a white artist, George Michael, would momentarily break the reverse-color barrier to top that chart, and it would be a feat not repeated until Robin Thicke in 2007. (Both men did it with blue-eyed soul ballads; only Eminem has peaked higher on that chart with a rap song, and only once, reaching number four in 2002.) Falco 3 peaked at number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Ultimately, "Rock Me Amadeus" went to the #1 spot in over a dozen countries including Russia and Japan. Follow-up single "Vienna Calling" was another international pop hit, peaking at #18 of the Billboard Charts and #17 on the U.S. Cash Box Charts in 1986. A double A-side 12" single featuring remixes of those two hits peaked at #4 on the U.S. Dance/Disco charts. "Jeanny", the third release from the album Falco 3, brought the performer back to the top of the charts across Europe. Highly controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, the story of "Jeanny" was told from the point of view of a rapist and possible murderer. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the ballad, which was ignored in the U.S., although it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired two sequels on later albums. In 1986, the album Emotional was released, produced by Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Bolland & Bolland). On the Album were "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2)", and songs about Kathleen Turner and Robert Capa. "The Sound of Musik" was another international success, and a Top 20 U.S. Dance hit, though he failed to make the U.S. pop charts. In 1987, he sang a duet with Brigitte Nielsen "Body Next to Body" and the single was a Top 10 hit in the Germanic countries. The Album Wiener Blut was released in 1988 but it did not get much publicity outside Germany and Austria. In 1990, he made a song for Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz, "Tanja P. not Cindy C.", which appeared on the Album Data de Groove. After "Jeanny", there were a number of European hits, but Falco was rarely heard in the U.S. and the UK. His 1992 U.S. comeback attempt, with the song "Titanic", won a number of awards, but failed to chart in America. Falco died of severe injuries received following his collision with a bus in his Mitsubishi Pajero near the resort of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on February 6, 1998, just two weeks shy of his 41st birthday. The autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine. At the time of his death, he was working on a comeback into the music world. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria. Perhaps due to the perception of his style's appeal as novelty, Falco is often considered a one-hit wonder in the U.S. and UK, despite having two Top 20 songs and two Top 10 songs in those territories respectively, as well as other, lesser chart hits. In fact, from "Der Kommissar" in 1982 through posthumous releases in 1999, there are only seven years that Falco did not notch a top 10 hit in his native Austria, a total of twenty-three Top 40 hits spanning twenty-seven years, most of those releases also becoming hits in neighboring Germany. Sixteen years after he debuted the song, "Der Kommissar 2000" brought two new remixes of Falco's original back to the charts, and to dancefloors around the world. Co-opting an African-American genre but giving it an entirely German sound, he blazed a trail that few have followed, and none so uniquely with such success. At a time when most chart-topping black rappers were fairly mainstream lyrically, "Der Kommissar" and "Jeanny" were dark and daringÑand massive international hitsÑbefore his American counterparts made such avant garde doings de rigeur.

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