German pop duo Cindy & Bert had a long and successful career, representing their country at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 – the year Abba's Waterloo took home the big prize – and visiting the Top 20 with songs like Everytime On Sundays, But In The Evening The Gypsy Plays and When The Roses Bloom In Malaga.
It's not their own songs that have given the pair extended life, but an unlikely cover version. In 1971, before they'd become famous, Cindy & Bert released the single Holly Holy, and hidden away on the b-side was Der Hund Von Baskerville, which retold Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles, but, in an unlikely turn of events, was set to the tune of Black Sabbath's classic Paranoid.
Long after Cindy & Bert's career ended in real-life divorce, footage of the pair performing the song on the Swiss TV show Hits à Gogo in 1972 made its way to the internet, complete with swirling Hammond organ, horror-themed backdrop, and a cute dog. And if this sounds like a recipe for disaster, fear not, for Der Hund Von Baskerville is a giant of a version, ramping up the psychedelia and giving an insight into what Black Sabbath might have sounded like if they, rather than Deep Purple, had hired Jon Lord. And it's continued to delight viewers ever since.
As if to recognise the song's brilliance, Der Hund Von Baskerville appeared on the couple's 1995 greatest hits compilation Gib Mir Zeit, while 2022 saw the well-deserved rerelease of the original single for Record Store Day. Holly Holy was now relegated to the b-side, with Der Hund Von Baskerville promoted to its rightful position as the lead track. Both versions now sell for silly money.
And if you're curious about those lyrics:
Nebel zieht in dichten Schwaden
Übers Moor von Forest Hill
Grün-gespenstig grinst ein Irrlicht
Es ist Nacht in Baskerville
Wer verbreitet Angst und Schrecken
Wer vernichtet, was er will
Jeder sucht sich zu verstecken
Vor dem Hund von Baskerville
Roughly translates as:
Fog rolls in thick clouds
Across the moor at Forest Hill
A ghostly green grins
It's night in Baskerville
Who spreads fear and terror
Who destroys what he wants
Everyone is trying to hide
Before the Hound of the Baskervilles
You get the idea.
