In October 2011 I went to see Caravan playing live at Canterbury. After the show I had a very brief chat with Geoffrey Richardson, the viola player. He gave a very succinct answer. It’s from a BASF tape – bobine vide.
I’ve just received further details in a Facebook message from Geoffrey

I can tell you! It’s not very exciting… We were in Decca Studios no2 West Hampstead and Pye was looking for a title. He spotted a box in the studio containing an empty 7”’ plastic BASF tape spool marked ‘bobine vide’ – ‘empty spool’ in English! The French words became an instant evocative title for a piece of music! Perhaps not a dramatic, romantic story but eccentric and very Caravan! We’re very proud that you’ve used the name… X

So there you have it! And here it is… reproduced with kind permission of Pye Hastings
[wpaudio url="http://www.bobbingwidewebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/04-Bobbing-Wide.mp3" text="Listen to Bobbing Wide, by Caravan" dl=0]

Now I have to find out about Very Smelly Grubby Little Oik – since it’s that song that decided the name for my oik(...) plugin: Often Included Key-information