Eins, Zwei, Polizei
"Eins, Zwei, Polizei" is a song co-written and recorded by Italian dance music|dance] musician Mo-Do and released in 1994, by label Expanded Music, as the debut single from his first and only album, Was Ist Das?. The song got its inspiration from "Der Kommissar" by Austrian singer Falco and "Da Da Da" by German band Trio, both released in the early 1980s. It was co-produced by Claudio Zennaro and Fulvio Zafret, and achieved great success in many European countries. "Eins, Zwei, Polizei" reached the number-one position in Austria, Germany and Italy. Giuseppe Capotondi directed the accompanying music video. The song has been remixed and re-released several times. In 1995, it was remixed by DJ XTC of Chile, in 2000, it was re-released in a remix by Maurizio Ferrara, in 2008 with remixes by German DJ Blutonium Boy and Floorfilla, and in 2019, the song was reworked by Dutch-Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan.
Background and release
The song was born out of a chance meeting of Italian dance music producer Einstein Dr. DJ and Italian model and musician Fabio Frittelli at a rave party in Frankfurt, Germany. The lyrics Eins, Zwei, Polizei come from a nursery rhyme Einstein's Austrian grandmother used to sing to him. The track's sound epitomized European dance trends at the time and managed to break big without English lyrics, but was not a big hit in the UK. According to ZYX UK manager John Richards, "Eins, Zwei, Polizei" got little response in the UK "mainly because of the German vocal". However, it became a European-wide success and was also released in the US on 15 August 1994. Mark Dezzani from Billboard magazine described the song as a "techno-lullaby".Chart performance
"Eins, Zwei, Polizei" was a commercial success across Europe, remaining Fabio Frittelli's biggest hit. It peaked at number-one in Austria, Germany and Italy, with a total of 18, 22 and 23 weeks inside the singles charts. In Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, it peaked at number two, being kept off the number-one position by Wet Wet Wet's "Love Is All Around", Rednex' "Cotton Eye Joe" and Marco Borsato's "Dromen Zijn Bedrog". The single was a top-10 hit also in Finland, France, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it reached number four in September 1994, after 16 weeks on the chart. In the United Kingdom and Scotland, "Eins, Zwei, Polizei" reached numbers 81 and 76 in its first week at the UK Singles Chart and the Scottish Singles Chart on 9 October 1994. In Austria and Belgium, it ended up at numbers six and 18 on the countries' year-end chart.The single earned a gold record in both Austria and Germany, with a sale of 25,000 and 250,000 units.