Paloma Blanca - George Baker Selection (1975-76) 3/10/23

Several "Great Songs of the '70s" were worldwide hits, but today's song, "Paloma Blanca" by The George Baker Selection really defines the category.

The song was written by Dutch singer/songwriter Johannes Bouwens (aka George Baker) with a Spanish title that means "white Dove," and sung in English.

According to Johannes, the song is about a poor South American farmer who works hard all day, then sits by a tree and dreams of having the freedom of a white bird or dove that flies by.

The flutes in the song are meant to depict the bird.

In 1975/1976, "Paloma Blanca" took the world by storm, topping the charts in 12 countries (including the US & Canada), and reaching the Top 10 in 7 others...while selling more than 2 million copies in the process!

This led to a number of cover versions by several different artists in several different languages--including German, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian, and Afrikaans! (For fun, I've included a link to the Afrikaans version below.)

Worldwide hit indeed!

"Paloma Blanca" by The George Baker Selection: definitely a "Great Song of 1975/1976--Worldwide!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl0KCW-l_rI

Afrikaans version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MTBQYSOApw