ウィークエンド (アース・アンド・ファイアーの曲)

"ウィークエンド" は1979年発表のオランダのポップバンドであるアース・アンド・ファイアーの歌である。キーボード担当のGerard Koertsによりアルバム「Reality Fills Fantasy」のために書かれた。
アース・アンド・ファイアー版.
「ウィークエンド」はアース・アンド・ファイアーにより1979年の11月にリリースされ、オランダ、スイス、ドイツ、デンマーク、ポルトガルでシングルチャートの1位を獲得した。日本では未発売。
Chips 版.
1997年にはスウェーデンのグループ、Chipsによりカバーされた。B面はインストゥルメンタル版の「Tokyo」が収録されている。
Scooter 版.
"Weekend" was covered by German techno group Scooter as "Weekend!". It was released in February 2003 as the first single from their 2003 album "The Stadium Techno Experience". The single reached number 2 in the German Media Control Charts and was also a top-10 single in Norway, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden.
The Scooter version features the lyrics, "What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly" (a quote from the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery), and ""Respect to the man in the ice cream van"," a reference to The KLF.
The video for the song takes place on an illuminated part of a loam-covered floor encircled by dark. While Scooter are performing the song, there are Buddhist and Christian monks, nuns, Asian martial artists, topless women, traditional Indian female dancers and Ganesha dancing around them. H. P. Baxxter can also be seen wearing a costume resembling those worn by the Roman centurions. The video was censored in the multimedia part of the CD single released in Germany.
Other versions.
In 1980 the Belgian band De Strangers released a Dutch-language version of the song under the title "Pluchke".
The song was released in German version as "Kein Mädchen für das Wochenende" which was first sung by Conny Morin and later was covered by Daniela Dilow.
In 2002 Kid Q released the single "This Feeling", which contains a sample of "Weekend".
In 2008 Bloodhound Gang release a cover version of the Scooter cover for "Weekend!"
In 2012, Belgian electro producer Mickey release a cover version of the original track featuring Sylvie 'Billie' Kreusch.