What exactly was it with European artists covering obscure English-language songs in the 60s?
First we had a Polish cover of a Bill Haley rock-and-roll adaptation of a nursery rhyme.
Now i've found two German covers of obscure songs...
"Yummie Yama Papa" - originally appeared as the B side of "Baby, What's Wrong" by The Fireballs, which didn't chart at all
"Motorcycle" by Tico and The Triumphs, which barely cracked the hot 100 (#97). The band is somewhat notable today for being the start of Paul Simon's music career, but they only released 4 singles and none ever made much of a splash.
Was it more that these obscure songs somehow found an audience overseas, or was it just "That's catchy - let's do a cover of it and see if we can have a hit"?