The song is about a bus driver who escapes Brixton, London for the tropical island of Barbados, where he's going to see his girlfriend. The song has a tropical feel and a reggae vibe, but the Typically Tropical duo of Jeffrey Calvert and Max West are from a very different climate: Wales.
They were engineers at Morgan Studios in London when they wrote this song. Calvert had been on vacation in Jamaica, and they wanted to write a reggae song. They came up with "Barbados" in two hours on a guitar and piano.
Calvert and West didn't have a record deal when they wrote this song, but they were able to record it at Morgan Studios, where they worked, after sessions for clients were over. They used backing tracks and instruments that were lying around the studio, but when Gull Records signed them, they re-recorded the song using top studio musicians, including guitarist Chris Spedding, The Tornados' drummer Clem Cattini, and Blue Mink's Roger Coulam on keyboards.
Jeff Calvert and Max West provided the vocals, with West's alter ego Tobias Wilcock providing the voice of the captain of the song's ubiquitous Coconut Airways.
"Barbados" went to #1 in the UK in August 1975, giving the small Gull Records label a surprise hit and an influx of cash. At the time, Gull had a promising rock band on their label called Judas Priest, whose first album, released a year earlier, went nowhere. Gull knew they needed a different producer, so they assigned the task to Typically Tropical (Jeffrey Calvert and Max West). The band wasn't thrilled with the decision, but it worked out very well for them: Calvert and West knew their way around a studio and didn't try to alter their sound of the second album 'Sad Wings of Destiny'. Judas Priest had co-producer role, giving them creative control and valuable studio experience that came in handy - they co-produced every subsequent album they recorded as well.
(from: Song Facts)
"Barbados" was later successfully covered by the Vengaboys in 1999 as "We're Going to Ibiza".
Typically Tropical sold 381,456 copies of "Barbados" (as of November 2019) compared to the cover, "We're Going to Ibiza" by the Vengaboys which has sold 1,862,451 (as of November 2019).
This Toppop recording was first broadcast on August 8, 1975.
This song reached #10 in the Dutch Top 40 on 6 September 1975.
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Broadcast date:
August 8, 1975
This is to let you know that the video recording of the video clip was originally recorded by AVROTROS Broadcasting. AVROTROS Broadcasting hereby warrants and represents that it is the sole and exclusive owner of the physical film and/or videotape footage in this video clip.
The performance of the artist(s) in the clip was filmed and recorded with the written consent of the artist(s) and their representatives.
AVROTROS is a Dutch radio and television broadcaster, founded in 2014 from a merger of AVRO and TROS. From January 1st, 2014 the name of the merged broadcaster was used in joint programmes. AVRO was founded in 1923 as the Netherlands first public broadcaster. TROS started broadcasting in 1964. Toppop was a weekly AVRO pop program that was aired between 1970 and 1988.
AVROTROS Broadcasting
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The Netherlands
TopPop was the first regular dedicated pop music TV show in the Dutch language area. Dutch broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 1970 to 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted the show for its first fifteen years.
World famous music artists performed on TopPop: ABBA, 10CC, Bee Gees, The Jacksons, David Bowie, Earth & Fire, Boney M, Smokie, KC & The Sunshine Band, Chick, Donna Summer, Rod Stewart, and many many more.
