Whistling Dave; Scooter

“Scooter is a German hard dance band founded in Hamburg, who have sold over 25 million records and earned 80 gold and platinum awards. Scooter are considered the most successful single-record German act with 23 top ten hits. The band is currently composed of members H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan and Michael Simon. Although most of the band’s early recordings are in the styles of happy hardcore or hard trance, Scooter have experimented with other dance genres such as hardstyle and jumpstyle, and occasionally hip hop, hard rock and house.”¹



“‘Whistling Dave’ [is an instrumental song that] samples the Russian folk song ‘Korobeiniki’, known as the theme music from the video game Tetris, specifically the Nintendo Game Boy version.”²

 

do you remember this?

“Music A in the Game Boy edition of Tetris has become very widely known, to the point that Level 20 in Tetris DS is based on the Game Boy version of Tetris and uses that theme. It is an instrumental arrangement of a Russian folk tune called ‘Korobeiniki’ (with various Latin spellings), which has been covered by UK dance band Doctor Spin, US alternative rock band Ozma, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Basshunter the Swedish Eurodance DJ, and also the German techno group Scooter on their 2007 album Jumping All Over the World. It was also sampled in ‘21 Concepts’ by MC Lars. Music A and B are also remixed and arranged for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and can be selected for the stage ‘Luigi's Mansion’, as well as being used in custom stages. The song has also been remixed for two dance games, under the name ‘Pumptris Quattro’ in Pump It Up NX2 and ‘Happy-hopper’ in Dance Maniax 2nd Mix.”³



“The song ‘Korobeiniki’ is based on a poem with the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, written and printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861. Due to its increasing tempo and the dance style associated with it, it quickly became a popular Russian folk song.

“Korobeiniki were peddlers with trays, selling fabric, haberdashery, books and other small things in pre-revolutionary Russia. The song tells the story of a young Korobeinik trying to sell his goods to a dark-eyed girl named Katya, eventually kissing her which leads them to disappear into a rye field, and she mysteriously ends up taking a turquoise ring from him. The events that lead to her getting this ring are expressed through metaphor. ⁴