An old thrift shop score, of the type that makes me wonder about the travels this old 45 has taken over the years...
Peter Hinnen's talent for yodeling gained him a degree of fame as a child performer in his native Switzerland.
By the age of twenty he'd broadened his focus to apply his gift to Cowboy-Schlager
(Country & Alpine?), which brought much success on the pop charts in Europe's German-speaking countries in the 1960's.
The A-side of this hit single takes the familiar 'Mexican vaquero' song, 'Alla en el Rancho Grande' and changes it to 'On my Ranch, I am the King'.
I like the picture sleeve, and I love that the packaging includes a ready-made tag for juke boxes! ⬇
⬅ The copy I found of this record also contained a postcard-sized
hand-autographed promo photo!
(Again, it gets me curious about how many hands this record has passed through.)
That ballpoint signature has faded a bit, but it looks like Mr. Hinnen may have had his own insights on how to spell
"Hü-a-hoh". Hard to tell...
Probably it's just me, but I also enjoy the quiet creepiness of the promo photo being a simple mirror-image of the shot from the picture sleeve.
- - Like it's either the image of Peter Hinnen or perhaps it's his evil twin...
Click here to read the text from the back of the autographed photocard.
If you read German, you can learn the tale of how Hinnen was discovered by 'American Show-Boss' Jack Paar. (At least I think that's what it says)
- - And please feel free to correct (and hopefully forgive) any ignorance on my part in this post. Likewise, I'd love to hear from you if you've got any more info to share about this record and/or
Peter Hinnen.
Listen to: Peter Hinnen, with Charles Nowa and his orch. - Auf meiner Ranch bin ich König
Listen to: Peter Hinnen, with Charles Nowa and his orch. - Hü-a-hoh alter Schimmel
Ariola 45, 1962
(click for audio)
