This was a bit of a departure for me. In a more Euro-friendly, why-not-try-something-different vibe, I bought Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus. ‘Ooh, Rock Me Amadeus.’

Of course, there’s only one person that the song is about, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – perhaps Vienna’s most famous son. Falco himself was a Viennese. So too was Sigmund Freud, but after that, I’m struggling…

As the song had it, Mozart:

Er war Superstar
Er war populär
Er war so exaltiert
Because er hatte Flair
Er war ein Virtuose
War ‘n Rockidol
Und alles rief
„Come and rock me Amadeus“

This was an absolutely huge worldwide hit in English and German-speaking countries. It made #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was also number one in the UK singles chart – thus making him the first Austrian to have a UK number 1 single.

In a pointless piece of pop trivia, I feel obliged to tell you that Rock Me Amadeus was succeeded at number 1 in the UK singles chart by Spitting Image with their Chicken Song.

Sadly, Falco died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic in February 1998. Ruhe in Frieden.