The Bowling Balls - God Save the Night Fever 7" (1979)
A - God Save the Night Fever
B - Dreadlock'N'Lol (Chinese Reggae)
The Bowling Balls - Visco Video 7" (1980)
A - Visco Video
B - When You Walk in the Room
The Bowling Balls - The Boys 7" (1981)
A - The Boys
B1 - The Girls
B2 - Goys and Burls
The Bowling Balls - You Don't Know What it's Like to be Alone in the House 7" (1981)
A - You Don't Know What it's Like to be Alone in the House
B1 - R-Dance
B2 - Oh I Miss You
Billy Bertrand's journalistic talent is evident in the song "The Girls" where each line is subliminally a girl's name. Some are obvious but others are less so. Even the lyric "I'm looking for a single girl" is clever in its context.
I don't know all of the lyrics but here's what I pieced together. I will appreciate any suggestions that help me fill in the blanks.
I always grow so weak in the knees (Denise)
When I ring ringy the bell (Isabel)
I need some kind of release (Lisa)
Pull muscles from the shell (Michelle)*
I never say (?)
When I ain't got a Penny
She'd say that I can't cheat her (Conchita)
I want her for her money (Wanda)
All around me
I see beautiful girls
They don't look at me
I'd be happy with just one girl
I'm looking for a single girl
I'll travel down to Vienna
I'll find true love in Virginia
(???? something something the fairer?")
As long as I can Priscilla
I don't care if she's a deadbeat (Debbie)
(???)
Just need some heavy petting (Betty)
(????)
All around me
I see beautiful girls
They don't look at me
I'd be happy with just one girl
I'm looking for a single girl
All day long I watch TV (Stevie)
I really love I Love Lucy
I keep on counting the days (Daisy)
Someday I'll show my true aim (Amy)
I'll drink a whole litre (Alita)
Would I die for Diana?
(????)
When I kiss and I hold her (Holga)
All around me
I see beautiful girls
They don't look at me
I'd be happy with just one girl
I'm looking for a single girl
* "Pulling Muscles from the Shell" is from the Squeeze song that was released that same year.
Either YouTube or Blogger isn't letting me post the only video they made. It's for the song "You don't Know What it's Like to be Alone in the House" but you can see it HERE.
DOWNLOAD all four singles
Actually it’s Bert Bertrand (real name Bertrand Delporte). He was a well-known rock critic in Belgium during the punk heydays and the beginning of so-called New Wave. He committed suicide at the very beginning of the 80s.
ReplyDelete‘Germain et Nous’ was a popular comic in the late 70’s early 80’s. It was published in the magazine Spirou. The artist was Frédéric Jannin and the author Thierry Culliford but the series made some apparitions in ’En Attendant' (rock magazine).
Jannin and Culliford introduced a band named ‘The Bowling Balls’ in their comics. All of the characters of the series being huge fans of the band.
Thierry Culliford and Frédéric Jannin pushed the joke further by bringing the band to life. Besides them both, the Bowling Balls included Bert Bertrand and another one whose name I can’t remember. I do remember that all band members were called ‘Ball’, in a Ramones way (Averell, Elton, Billy and Fernand Ball).
Peyo was not their manager. Peyo is the pseudonym of Thierry Culliford’s father : Pierre Culliford a famous comic artist who is no one else that the creator of the Smurfs.