Heli Deinböck is an Austrian Blues musician. We caught his show in November in the Schutzhaus.

The show we saw was in a “Heuriger”, a big Austrian pub and it was like a traditional Austrian concert is usually like. Meaning the people were seated at tables, there was a little room in front of the stage to dance and the concert was really long [we had to leave early, unfortunately, but when we left they had been playing for almost three hours (with a break) and no intention to stop].

He has a huge repertoire of songs, most of which he’s written himself, but sometimes he takes well known songs and gives them new lyrics. [What made him famous, btw, was an entire album with Randy Newman covers.]

One of those retexted songs is this one [title means, “hey babe, I only work part-time”]:

In any case, Deinböck’s music is totally awesome, but about 3/4s of its charme come from the amazing lyrics, sung in Viennese dialect. It’s really hard to capture that in a translation. So, I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna try. I just don’t feel up to the task.

Just let it be said that Heli Deinböck is great, but he’s totally and completely awesome when you understand him.

But back to the concert. Deinböck didn’t play alone but had some special guests. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the name of one of the guys. But one was Deinböcks stepdaughter, who has a very good voice, if a little underdeveloped. Since she’s only 16, that’s perfectly alright, I guess. Room for further development. ;)

And one special guest was absolutely amazing. Her name was Sülval and unfortunately, I can’t find her anywhere on the intertubes. So, let me tell you this: Her singing was great. She was dressed like a drag queen (though I don’t think she was). And she sang a saucy song about sperm and an old chanson. I would totally go see a concert she does on her own – if I could only find any information about her.*le sigh*

This just goes to say that if you have the chance to see Heli Deinböck live, you should do so. And if you have any info about Sülval, do let me know.

Let’s end this with a song that’s at least partly in English. And not a cover.