Rock Me Awake

I've always liked Falco.
I can't lie.

There was a time when I couldn't get out of bed until Terry Wogan had played Rock me Amadeus.
As soon as the punchy rhythms started I was energised.

I bought a few of his cassettes.
I auditioned them, and found a few discoveries, but the singles that you may know are the songs worth knowing. Vienna Calling and the fantastic 'Jeanny' completing the trio.

But...

I'd always remembered an introduction. Spoken in English prior to the beginning of the song.
It wasn't on any of my recordings.

So I just checked it out.
The song being a big international hit, it has its own Wikipedia page.

And it has a chapter on this voice-over.
It closes with the words

"1791: Mozart composes The Magic Flute.
On December 5 of that same year, Mozart dies.

1985: Austrian rock singer Falco records....

those words lead to the opening bars tearing out of the traps.....

"Rock Me Amadeus.... Amadeus....Amadeus"

Apparently it was called the (short) Salieri mix and appeared on the US release.

And then, modern times being what they are, I found it on the Internet.

Within seconds I'm listening to it again.

Amazing.
These times we're living in.

Falco remains the biggest selling Austrian singer of all time.
He died in a motorbike crash aged 40 in 1998 after a few drinks, (enough to cause impairment), a bit of marijuana and a lot of cocaine.