Venus (Shocking Blue song)
| "Venus" | ||||||||||
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One of cover arts for Dutch releases
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| Single by Shocking Blue | ||||||||||
| from the album At Home | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Hot Sand" | |||||||||
| Released | 2 October 1969 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" vinyl | |||||||||
| Genre | Folk rock, psychedelic rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:06 | |||||||||
| Label | Pink Elephant, Metronome, Colossus, Poplandia, Joker, Yugoton, Minos | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Robbie van Leeuwen | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Robbie van Leeuwen | |||||||||
| Shocking Blue singles chronology | ||||||||||
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| "Venus" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Bananarama | ||||||||||
| from the album True Confessions | ||||||||||
| B-side | "White Train" | |||||||||
| Released | 19 May 1986 | |||||||||
| Format | ||||||||||
| Recorded | December 1985 | |||||||||
| Genre | Dance-pop | |||||||||
| Length | 3:50 | |||||||||
| Label | London | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Robbie van Leeuwen | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | ||||||||||
| Bananarama singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Venus" is a 1969 song written by Robbie van Leeuwen. In 1970, the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue took the song to number one in nine countries. In 1981 it was sampled as part of the Stars on 45 medley. In 1986, the British female pop group Bananarama returned the song to number one in seven countries. The composition has been featured in numerous films, television shows and commercials, and covered dozens of times by artists around the world.
Released in late 1969 as a single from the group's third album Scorpio's Dance (later also on reissues of the second album At Home), Shocking Blue's single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 7 February 1970. RIAA certification came on 28 January 1970 for selling over one million copies in the US, garnering a gold record. Worldwide, the single sold over 7.5 million copies.
The song's lead vocals are performed by Mariska Veres. The song's music and lyrics are written by Robbie van Leeuwen, the band's guitarist, sitarist and background vocalist, who also produced, Mr. Klaasje van der Wal was the (bass guitar), Mr. Cor van der Beek was on (drums). along with record producer Jerry Ross. Van Leeuwen originally miswrote the line "...the goddess on the mountain top..." as "...the godness on the mountain top...". This was corrected in later versions. The Hohner electric piano on the release was played by .
Van Leeuwen was inspired by "The Banjo Song", a composition by Tim Rose that set Stephen Foster's lyrics to "Oh! Susanna" to a completely new melody.
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