Rattles – "Devil's Son" (1972)

Well, don’t you know you make me mad?

’Cause you treat me oh so bad

There are a lot of great rock songs that don’t have great lyrics.  Case in point: today’s featured song.

But let’s not be too hard on the Rattles.  After all, they weren’t native English speakers – they were German.  

So if you find the lyrics to “Devil’s Son” rather pedestrian, why don’t you write a song with German lyrics and send it to me?  I have a funny feeling your German lyrics will be even lamer than the Rattles’ English lyrics.

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The Rattles formed in Hamburg in 1960.  That’s the year the Beatles travelled to Hamburg for a two-year apprenticeship that prepared them to become the world’s greatest boy band.

The Rattles played some of the same Hamburg venues that the Fab Four played – including the legendary Star Club – and I’m guessing that the Rattles saw the Beatles perform . . . probably more than once.  

Click here to see a video of the Rattles playing a somewhat Beatlesque song titled “She’s the One” on a German TV show in 1965.

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The group’s records sold well in Germany, but they didn’t have an international hit until 1970, when they re-recorded a song called “The Witch” – which they had originally recorded in 1968.

Edna Bejarano (circa 1970)

That re-recording of “The Witch” featured vocals by Edna Bejarano, who had only recently joined the group.  

Bejarano – the daughter of a concentration-camp survivor who played accordion in the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz – left the Rattles in 1973, shortly after the group released today’s featured song on an album titled Tonight Starring Edna:  

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Not surprisingly, most of the records Steven Lorber played on his “Mystic Eyes” show in 1980 were by American or British groups.

But Lorber played a fair number of records by Dutch bands (like the Rousers), French bands (like the Dogs), and German bands (like the Rattles).

Today’s post is the fifth 2 or 3 lines post in a row to feature records (all with English lyrics) recorded by those groups.

Click here to listen to “Devil’s Son.”