"Boten Anna" is a song by SwedishEurodance musician Basshunter, from his first studio album, LOL. Following the single's release in 2006, Basshunter gained popularity in his native Sweden, as well as Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland and the Netherlands. The song topped hit charts and, on 3 May 2006, was named Norway's official Russ-song of the year. It was also the most popular song at The Gathering demo party 2006. An English version titled "Now You're Gone", sung by Sebastian Westwood, using unrelated lyrics, was released in December 2007.
Lyrics and composition
The Swedish lyrics of "Boten Anna" tell the story of a female IRC user who the vocalist believes is a bot and later finds out she is a beautiful woman, although she will always remain a bot in his eyes. The song is based on an actual experience of Basshunter. His friend said he would create a bot with administrative capabilities to keep order in his channel, #BassHunter.se; when this happened Jonas saw a new user with administrative capabilities named "Anna" enter the channel, and naturally thought this was the bot. Months later, he learned that Anna was actually not a bot, but was his friend's girlfriend; the embarrassment, he says, inspired him to create the song. Despite the esoteric subject of the lyrics, the song was well received by mainstream media, albeit the wordbot was frequently mistaken for boat - the Swedish word bot is commonly pronounced almost the same as båt in the dialect spoken by Altberg. The double meaning of the word kanal — which can refer to an IRC channel, as well as a canal, added to the confusion. "Boten Anna" has a tempo of 140 beats per minute and is written in the key of A minor.
Music video
The video to the song deliberately plays on double meanings. It shows Basshunter riding a sightseeing pedal boat down the MalmöCity Canal. The "A" on the boat is merely a marking to differentiate from other loaned pedal boats in the canal.
Other versions
In the Dutch Top 40 in the Netherlands, a spoof of the song peaked at No. 6 in weeks 38 and 39 of 2006. It is also called "Boten Anna" and it is by De Gebroeders Ko, who also made other Dutch versions of known songs like "Dragostea din Tei". Although they knew the original song wasn't about a boat, they translated it as if it were. "Boten" is the plural form of "boat" in Dutch.
In November another spoof of the song, again by De Gebroeders Ko, charted the Dutch Top 40. In week 47 the song called "Sinterklaas Boot " charted in the Dutch Top 40 and peaked at number 7. This version of "Boten Anna" is about the boat of Sinterklaas.
An Israeli band called Chovevei Tzion spoofed "Boten Anna" with their popular single, "Rotze Banot", which was extensively spoofed in turn.
Na NachBreslov singer Hazamir put the melody to his song "Rotzeh Tisot", which is about wishing to make the thrice a year pilgrimages to Rabbi Nachman's grave.
"Now You're Gone"
An English version of "Boten Anna" titled "Now You're Gone", sung by Sebastian Westwood with the Net-Tag of Masrad, using unrelated lyrics by DJ Mental Theo's Bazzheadz which was originally released in 2006, became the music to a video by Basshunter with the same title in November 2007. The video and the track were met with world chart success and became the most requested record in summer holiday resorts around Europe in early 2008. As people returning from their holidays wanted to hear it again, TV channels in the UK were inundated with requests for the video. On 13 January 2008, "Now You're Gone" entered number one in the UK Singles Chart and spent five weeks at the top of the charts, ending Leon Jackson's three week run with "When You Believe". In the sixth week after the song's release it was knocked off the top by Welsh songstress Duffy, with her song "Mercy".
