Bonny St. Claire – "I Surrender" (1968)

I surrender!

I surrender!

I surrender to you!

I had never heard today’s featured record – which was released in 1968 – until one of the DJs on the Sirius/XM “Underground Garage” channel played it last week.

That’s not all that surprising given that Bonny (or Bonnie) St. Claire’s recording of “I Surrender” was originally released only in the Netherlands.  (In 1974, it was released in Belgium, Germany, and Scandinavia – but not the U.S.)

Bonny St. Claire

The Fleshtones heard the Dutch record while touring in Europe years later, and released a cover of “I Surrender” in 2018.  But I had never heard their version either until last week.

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I can’t tell you how much pleasure it gives me to discover a great record like “I Surrender.”  That’s why you’ll have to pry my Sirius/XM subscription from my cold, dead hands.

The best “Underground Garage” DJ is The Price Is Right host Drew Carey, who hosts a three-hour show on Friday nights.  He’s not the DJ who played “I Surrender,” but I’ve discovered a lot of new records listening to his show.

Carey also plays a lot of great records that I know but which have fallen off my radar for some reason.  For example, tonight he played a set that included “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors, “My Sharona” by the Knack, and “White Punks on Dope” by the Tubes – three fabulous songs that I haven’t heard in a long time.

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Bonny St. Claire (née Bonje Cornelia Swart) was born on a Dutch barge in 1949.  (Her father was the barge’s skipper.)

She was discovered by Peter Koelewijn – who many consider to be the father of Dutch-language rock and roll – when she was a teenager.  Koelewijn wrote a number of songs that St. Claire recorded, including “I Surrender.”

Click here to listen to “I Surrender.”