THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

937-Golden Earring-Radar Love.

1973-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 0.19. The best driving song in the world ever, it’s almost worth getting a speeding ticket for.

Golden Earring were formed in 1961, in The Hague, Netherlands, initially calling themselves ‘The Tornados,’ but on realising that there was another, and at that time much more famous group who were already established with that name, they instead chose the ‘The Golden Earrings.’ which was taken from a 1961 instrumental song by the British group ‘The Hunters,’ whom they had toured with. They dropped the ‘The’ in 1967, and the plural ‘s’ was discarded in 1969.

Golden Earring were formed by 13 year old George Kooymans, (guitar and vocals) and his 15 year old neighbour Rinus Gerritson (bass.) They were joined later by Frans Krassenburg, (vocals) and Jaap Eggermont, (drums) initially paying a mixture of ‘Pop/Rock,’ and scoring a 1965 Number 8 hit in the Netherlands with their first single ‘Please Go.’ Jaap Eggermont left the group in 1969, and would find his greatest success in the early 1980’s with his ‘Stars on 45’ project. In 1968 Krassenburg was replaced on vocals by Barry Hay, and Eggermont was replaced in 1969 by Cesar Zuiderwijk on the drums, these four of Kooymans, Gerritson, Hay, and Zuiderwijk who played on ‘Radar Love,’ and have performed together since 1970, are considered the classic lineup. In 2021 Kooymans announced that he was suffering from ‘amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,’ (ALS) and would retire. Shortly afterwards, Golden Earring announced that they would officially disband. In total over their 60 year career, there have been 15 different members come and go.

The discography of Golden Earring includes 25 studio Albums released between 1965-2012, and 74 singles issued between 1965-2019, there are also eight official live Albums, and two compilation Albums available. On the Dutch top 40, Golden Earring have achieved 51 hit singles, with five of those tracks reaching Number 1, including ‘Radar Love.’ In the UK, ‘Radar Love’ remains the groups only top 40 hit single, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100, they have charted within the top 40 twice, with ‘Radar Love’ making Number 13, and ‘Twilight Zone’ from 1982, reaching Number 10. Golden Earring started out life as a ‘Pop/Rock’ outfit, but since 1970 they transformed themselves in to a ‘Hard Rock,’ and ‘Progressive Rock’ group.

‘Radar Love’ is track 4 on ‘Moontan,’ which was the ninth studio Album release by Golden Earring, from July 1973. The song was written by George Kooymans, and Barry Hay, with the production being credited to Golden Earring. ‘Radar Love’ tells the story of a driver who has a very long drive ahead of him. He senses that his girlfriend needs him by her side, so he puts his foot down on the accelerator. In the days before mobile phones, there was no way of being able to communicate instantly, but the driver thinks he has a psychic relationship with her, which he calls ‘Radar Love.’ He switches on the radio to pass the time, and it is playing the 1966 Billboard Number 11 hit ‘Coming On Strong,’ by Brenda Lee. Brenda Lee (see also best songs 522) has said that she was flattered to be mentioned in such a great song.

There is a school of thought that suggests ‘Radar Love’ hasn’t got a happy ending, with some thinking that the narrator has driven in a reckless manner to get to his girlfriend quicker, and by doing so has crashed and been killed, highlighted by the lyrics,’And the line of cars drove down real slow,’ suggesting that the narrator is now watching his own funeral, but I prefer to think that the cars are slow because he has reached the end of his journey, and he can now embrace his girlfriend.

‘I’ve been drivin’ all night, my hand’s wet on the wheel, there’s a voice in my head that drives my heel. It’s my baby callin’, says I need you here, and it’s a half past four and I’m shiftin’ gear.’