George Baker Selection was a Dutch pop-rock band formed in the late 1960s in Assendelft, evolving from the soul group Soul Invention. Fronted by Hans Bouwens (who adopted the stage name George Baker after a detective-novel character), the band scored international success with a string of hits, including the later worldwide smash “Paloma Blanca.”
Their debut single “Little Green Bag” (originally intended as “Little Greenback,” slang for a U.S. dollar) was released in 1969 and became a surprise hit, reaching No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and selling over a million copies. The groovy, slightly mysterious track later gained cult status as the opening theme of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.
- Written by George Baker and bassist Jan Visser.
- Baker was still working in a lemonade factory when the song first hit the airwaves.
- The title change from “Greenback” to “Green Bag” was a record-label misprint that stuck.
- It also topped charts in Japan years later thanks to a whiskey commercial.
More than fifty years on, “Little Green Bag” remains a cool, laid-back classic that still turns heads whenever it plays.