Fort Lauderdale – Jack Hammer

Anthology – Piet Botha & Jack Hammer

The subtitle of this Jack Hammer classic is ‘Ballad Of Andre Stander’. For those who may not know it, Andre Stander was a South African policeman who was also one of the countries most notorious bank robbers. He would sometimes go out during his lunch break while working as a policeman, and rob a bank, later returning to the scene as the investigating officer. His life is captured in the 2003 film ‘Stander’.

But what has Fort Lauderdale got to do with all this, you may well ask (unless of course you know the story). Well the law eventually caught up with Stander in South Africa, but he managed to escape to the US. He was eventually found out and ended up being killed by a policeman in Fort Lauderdale.

That is probably why Piet Botha and his Jack Hammerers sing ‘don’t go to Fort Lauderdale’ in this song which tells the story of Stander in 3 minutes and 40 second, while the film takes nearly 2 hours. There is something about Stander, the barefaced cheek of what he did, that seems to appeal in the same way that Bonnie & Clyde and Ma Baker have intrigued people for years. And Jack Hammer tell the tale in their typical raw-edged guitar and growling vocals way. Although it has a similar subject matter, one can’t compare ‘Fort Lauderdale’ to Georgie Fame’s honky tonk ‘The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde’ or Boney M’s disco ‘Ma Baker’. This is a completely different genre. I wonder what it would sound like if The Police did it.

Where to find it:
Anthology – Jack Hammer (January 2000), Wildebeest Records, WILD020

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