It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Bang Bang” by Equipe 84
November 29, 1966
“Bang Bang” by Equipe 84
#1 on the Musica e Dischi singles chart (Italy), November 26 – December 23, 1966 & December 31 – January 6, 1967
Sonny and Cher never really meant to be a performing duo — it only happened because the teenage Cher was afraid to sing on her own. Sonny Bono wanted to write songs and produce in the mold of his mentor, Phil Spector; Cher was meant to be the star.
So even while the pair made hits together like “I Got You Babe” and “Baby Don’t Go,” they also collaborated on Cher’s parallel solo career, built on Sonny’s songs and arrangements.
The duo cultivated a sophisticated, European image for Cher to complement her exotic looks. On her second solo album, 1966’s The Sonny Side of Chér, she added a Frenchifying accent to her name and covered a pair of songs previously recorded by Édith Piaf.
The standout of the album, however, was a song Bono had written her with a beguiling melody reminiscent of French chansons, Gypsy violins, and the folk music of her ancestral Armenian homeland.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6IdEfcsjhGE
“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” would become Cher’s biggest solo hit of the ’60s, climbing to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the UK Singles Chart. Perhaps because of its haunting, Old-World quality and its easy-to-grasp, onomatopoeic vocal hook, it became an international success as well.
Both Cher’s original rendition and an assortment of translated covers — including one by French yé-yé singer Sheila — climbed the European charts in mid-to-late 1966.
No country seemed to latch onto “Bang Bang” quite as much as Italy, however. Cher’s version, which climbed to #6 in the Italian pop charts, spawned at least two distinct translations, both of which in turn were covered numerous times and outperformed even Cher’s original. The most successful of these was by the rock band Equipe 84, the premier group of the ’60s “bitt” (or beat) movement in Italy.
While Cher’s “Bang Bang” evoked a distinctly Continental flair, Equipe 84’s is heavily influenced by the burgeoning psych-rock scenes in the UK and US. The violins are replaced by arpeggiated guitar; the castanets by a standard drum kit.
Yet for all the feints at rock ‘n’ roll, there’s also something ineffably European about Equipe 84 that goes deeper than just the Italian lyrics. Rather than a base of blues or R&B, like their peers in Britain and America, their overtly melodic, emotive sound bears traces of traditional Italian ballads and canzoni.
Of course, there’s also the fact that no self-respecting American or British rock band of the era would have covered a pop song by Cher. Groups outside of continental Europe preferred to borrow from Motown or Chicago blues — or even better, in the wake of the Beatles’ popularity, to write their own songs.
Italian bands like Equipe 84, however, relied on translated pop hits for the bulk of their singles, with the rest of their material provided by professional songwriters. Before “Bang Bang” gave the band its first#1, Equipe 84 had success with remakes of the Moody Blues’ “Go Now” (“Ora Puoi Tornare”) and the Rivingtons’ “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” (“Papà e Mammà”); the band followed up with “Ho in Mente Te” (“You Were on My Mind” by We Five) and “Resta” (“Stay” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs).
Equipe 84’s “Bang Bang” topped the Italian pop charts for five non-consecutive weeks in late 1966. The first week in January 1967, “Bang Bang” was replaced at #1 by… “Bang Bang,” this time in a version by Franco-Italian chanteuse Dalida. Her version, which held the top position for two weeks, hewed closer to the sound of Cher’s original and was derived from a different translation than Equipe 84’s.
While it may be surprising that two versions of a song could be #1 back-to-back, it also seems inevitable to complete the chain of cross-cultural influence: first, an American singer co-opting a European sound; then a European band co-opting an American sound; and finally, an Egyptian-born singer giving it her genuine Euro-style.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
