Who Was The Captain? I’m Still Confused

Dan Gibson | October 14, 2008 6:00 am
I think it’s clear Swiss pop duo Double’s (pronounced doo-BLAY) track “Captain of Her Heart” is the greatest pop song of all time (or, at least, the official soundtrack for your shopping trip to the local pharmacy). But the question I’ve been haunted by is which version is better–the American version I grew up with (above), or the band’s original mix for its European audience (below the cut). I just can’t decide.

Part of the weird charm of this song is how anonymous it seems. Most one-hit wonders have some elaborate backstory, or some reason for the song flying up the charts, but even Wikipedia is oddly vacuous about the band’s history. They’re Swiss, they had one hit and a followup record that didn’t do well, and they broke up. Double member Felix Haug died of a heart attack in 2004, while his former partner Kurt Maloo has a blog that recounts his Double days and his current work.

“Captain Of Her Heart” still gets airtime on the radio here, with a play here or there on adult contemporary stations (likely during some sort of ’80s block), although KWAV in Salinas, Calif., seems to be championing a resurgence on its own with nearly 100 spins so far this year. But even after hearing the song a thousand times, I’m not sure it ever really occurred to me to even think about the band’s other material, or even if there was a band at all, until today. “Captain” floats along as background music so well that the fact that people actually composed and produced this music disappears into the scenery as well.

Double City [homepage]