Solitude - Karel Gott

The cover of this single says 'Soledad', but the single contains the French version of Karel Gott's 1968 Eurovision entry for Austria, 'Tausend Fenster'. This is because the Spanish had the slightly irritating habit of translating song titles despite the fact that the actual song is not in Spanish. 

This sleeve is in a bad state, which caused the seller to drop the price significantly, despite the fact that a good copy easily fetches an amount well into the double digits. Fortunately the disc itself plays very well!

My collection: 7" single no. 7055
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 11 November 2023
Tracks: 'Solitude' / 'Raina'

Through the eyes of a child - Frida Boccara

One of the most beautiful songs ever performed on the Eurovision stage is Frida Boccara's 'Un jour, un enfant'. No wonder, then, that I am after every version of that song. I found 'Un dia, un niño' four years ago at a record fair, and now the English version also turned up duing a record fair. 

The single comes in a standard Philips sleeve, as picture sleeves weren't that common in the UK back in the Sixties. 

What's next? The German and Italian versions. That's not going to be easy.

My collection: 7" single no. 7054
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 11 November 2023
Tracks: 'Through the eyes of a child' / 'So fair'

Peccato che sia finita cosi - Udo Jurgens

When Udo Jürgens represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1964, he did so with the song 'Warum nur, warum'. The song was a big success for him despite not winning the Contest: fellow contestant Matt Monro recorded the song in English as 'Walk away' and the song became an international hit. 

Udo recorded 'Walk away' himself too, as well as a version in Spanish and in Italian. It is the Italian version that is listed here, with the impressive longer title 'Peccato che sia finita così'. It means 'Too bad it ended like this', in case you're wondering. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7053
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 11 November 2023
Tracks: 'Peccato che sia finita così' / 'Finito l'amore'

Ora che io ti amo - Udo Jurgens

Udo Jürgens represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 with 'Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüssen'. I bought the French EP back in 2019 when the twice annual record fair was still held in Utrecht. The fair moved to Den Bosch after a little incident when the venue in Utrecht closed the fair a day before it was supposed to open, due to a Covid lockdown which the government was planning a few days after that. A lot of dealers lost a lot of money that weekend.

Anyway, Udo recorded his Eurovision song in Spanish and Italian as well, and it is the Italian version that I managed to pick up this weekend. It comes in a very different sleeve and it is a charming version.

My collection: 7" single no. 7052
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 11 November 2023
Tracks: 'Ora che io ti amo' / 'Se non ti capira'

Die Liebe geht - Françoise Hardy

Françoise Hardy represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1963 with 'L'amour s'en va', and I was already aware that she recorded that song in Italian and German eight years ago when I bought that single. However, getting them was quite difficult.

I was happy to come across a copy during the record fair last Saturday. This was no coincidence: the dealer had a big Eurovision collection and that's why I checked out his stand first. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7051
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 11 November 2023
Tracks: 'Die Liebe geht' / 'Ich sag' ja'

Poupée de cire, poupée de son - Dominique

Eurovision songs were popular in the Sixties, so much so that many artists tried to have success with cover versions of songs - even artists that were virtually unknown. 

Dominique was married to French trumpet player George Jouvin (19 June 1923 - 24 October 2016), who released 70 albums, recorded 3.000 tracks and sold 25 million records. Dominique appears on plenty of sleeves of Jouvin's records, but she also recorded no less than 33 singles together with her husband. On a few of these, she is credited along in a series of EP's called 'Dominique chante...'. 

This EP features two Eurovision songs: the winning song of 1965, France Gall's 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' and the French entry of that year, Guy Mardel's 'N'avoue jamais'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7047
Found: Discogs.com, received 23 October 2023
Tracks: 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son', 'Viens danser le Letkiss' / 'Comme on change', 'N'avoue jamais'

Brez besed - Berta Ambrož

Berta Ambrož was born on 29 October 1944 and was working as a typist while also performing live in the Slovene area of Yugoslavia. In 1966 she represented Yugoslavia with the song ‘Brez Besed’ (‘Without Words’). It was the first song to be sung in Slovenian at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The single is, once again, one of those hard to find ones, since it was released in former Yugoslavia only. But after many months I have finally been able to order a copy online. The EP features three more songs, including two cover versions. The second song, 'Moja baby', is a cover of the song 'My baby', which was created by the American songwriter and singer Sir Mack Rice. The closing track 'Ostani se nocoj' is a cover of the English piece 'And so we meet again', which was sung by the English singer Danny Williams in 1965. Berta's version of the song leans significantly more towards the musical arrangement sung by Cilla Black, who is actually credited as one of the writers of the song on the back cover of this single.

My collection: 7" single no. 7039
Found: Discogs.com, received 5 October 2023
Tracks: 'Brez besed', 'Moja baby (My baby)' / 'Jesenski ognji', 'Ostani se nocoj (And so we meet again)'

Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt - Peter Horten

On 22 September Austrian singer-songwriter Peter Horton passed away, aged 82. His 'Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt' was on my wishlist for some time now and this fact caused me to buy this single the same evening. You could expect that the man's singles would only become more expensive, and this one wasn't particularly cheap to begin with. But I lucked out, because I found a French copy for a reasonable price.

Why 'Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt', you ask? Well, because it was the song he performed on the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967. It is perhaps his biggest claim to fame, because the rest of his career brought him mainly fame in Austria and surrounding countries. His Eurovision song is marvellously oldfashioned.

My collection: 7" single no. 7034
Found: Discogs.com, received 27 September 2023
Tracks: 'Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt', 'Lass sie laufen' / 'Nur im traum', 'Ich weiss nicht wie'

Albatross - Fleetwood Mac

'Albatross' was released on a red vinyl 12" single for Record Store Day earlier this year. Obviously this was on the occasion of the fact that the single was originally released 55 years ago. It's a curious choice because both tracks aren't especially long, so why press a 12" single? It must have been inspired by the higher price you could give the item. Record companies simply think that way. 

To be honest, I am more content with this original single of 'Albatross', which features the same two tracks. I already own this single, with two of the band's early hits, but nothing beats the original release, of course. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7026
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 10 September 2023
Tracks: 'Albatross' / 'Jigsaw puzzle blues'

Erotica - Man

Man is a rock band from Wales. Formed in November 1968 as a reincarnation of the Welsh vocal group the Bystanders, Man is renowned for the extended jams during their live performances. Man was initially signed to Pye Records, for which it recorded its first two albums with John Schroeder. Their debut album 'Revelation' (January 1969) was noted for the simulated orgasm on the track 'Erotica'. 'Erotica' was released as a single, amazingly, and caused a stir in the UK, where it was banned.

I heard this track some 30 years ago for the first time, and searched for the single for some time. I wasn't successful and forgot all about it... until last week when I suddenly saw a copy during an outdoors record fair! Sometimes life throws you some unexpected surprises.

My collection: 7" single no. 7025
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 10 September 2023
Tracks: 'Erotica' / 'Don't just stand there'

Light my fire - Jose Feliciano

Nothing beats the original by the Doors, of course, but Jose Feliciano still made some waves when he recorded his version of 'Light my fire' in 1968. The Puerto Rican vocalist and guitarist got to number 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts for three consecutive weeks, and also peaked at number 6 in the UK singles chart and number 24 in the Dutch Top 40.

In a 1969 interview, Feliciano said that he liked the song when he first heard it, but felt that he should wait a year before releasing the song. Songwriter Robby Krieger said in an interview about the cover: "It's really a great feeling to have written a classic. I think I owe a big debt to Jose Feliciano because he is actually the one, when he did it, everybody started doing it. He did a whole different arrangement on it." 

My collection: 7" single no. 7024
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 10 September 2023
Tracks: 'Light my fire' / 'California dreamin''

Al di la - Umberto Marcato

I actually found two versions of 'Al di la' on one day, both in the original record company sleeves, which I guess is a plus. Umberto Marcato appeared on this blog once before, with his version of 'Volare', so it's no surprise that he would cover 'Al di la' a few years later. 

In contrast to the Peter Kreuder version this is not an instrumental version, but actually sung - and sung very well too. For me it's one of the better versions of this particular song.

My collection: 7" single no. 7012
Found: Bennies Fifties, received 18 August 2023
Tracks: 'Al di la' / 'Il nostro concerto'

Al-di-la - Peter Kreuder

Some of the standard phrases I use when I buy records online are 'Volare', 'Piove' and 'Al di la', because you never know if a seller has some extra singles that might be of interest. And these three songs have been covered many times.

One of those covers is this instrumental version by Peter Kreuder. He was an German-Austrian pianist, composer and conductor. Born on 18 August 1905, he started his career as a very young man, playing his first compositions as a teenager. He passed away on 28 June 1981.

My collection: 7" single no. 7011
Found: Bennies Fifties, received 18 August 2023
Tracks: 'Al-di-la' / 'Einmal sehen wir uns wieder'

Ljiljana Petrovic - Ljiljana Petrovic

In 1961 Yugoslavia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest as the first country from Eastern Europe. Back then there was still an iron curtain between the capitalist west en and socialist east. Yugoslavia was always more focused on the Western European countries than other Eastern European countries and joining in on the song competition was one way to get closer to them. 

Petrovic, who was just 21 years old at the time, competed with the song 'Neke davne zvezde' ('Some distant stars') and it was only ever released on this album on 10" vinyl. The album is a bit of a mixed bag, with covers of 'Itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini' and 'Les enfants de Piree' two songs with a 'Cha cha cha' theme and very different sounding songs alltogether. In between the eight songs 'Neke davne zvezde' stands out as a more classic chanson - albeit in the Serbo-Croatian language. The song reached eighth place in a field of 16 competitors.

Petrovic continued to record music until the late 1970s, at which point she retired from public life until the late 1980s, when she became an author, releasing a book of poetry in 1991. She passed away on 4 February 2020.

My collection: 10" vinyl [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 23 June 2023
Tracks: 'Deca pireja', 'Jolly Jocker', 'Crni andjeli', 'Mambo cha-cha-cha' / 'Bikini sa zutim tackicama', 'Neke davne zvezde', 'Bongo cha-cha-cha', 'More u kutiji'

Congratulations - The Mertens Brothers Style

The popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest is easily measured by the amount of cover versions certain songs get. Measured by that criterium, the Sixties and Seventies were certainly the peak of the Contest's popularity. 

'Congratulations', the number 2 song of the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, was covered by various artists even in the same year. One of those cover versions was this instrumental one by the Mertens Brothers Style, a duo consisting of Albert and Theo Mertens. They recorded several trumpet-based instrumental albums and even one more Eurovision cover: 'Puppet on a string', which will appear in this blog someday as well I would think.

My collection: 7" single no. 6997
Found: Record fair, Den Haag, 3 June 2023
Tracks: 'Congratulations' / 'Jingle march'

Caracola - Los TNT

During the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, Spain was represented by Italian-Uruguayan band Los TNT with the song 'Caracola', written by Fina de Calderón. The song was chosen through a national final, while the performers were chosen internally by TVE. They received a single point from Italy, coming 12th in a field of 16 competitors.

It's not easy to find a copy with a picture sleeve for a reasonable price. This single is the next best thing: a single in an official Belter record company sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 6987
Found: Discogs.com, received 6 May 2023
Tracks: 'Caracola' / 'Camino de la felicidad'

Non ho l'eta per amarti / Près de ma rivière

This single could only be bought by those who bought Expo Bread, in Belgium during the Sixties. This combination of music and bread is one I didn't know before, but apparently it was quite successful, as this single was number 45 in a series. Without exception the singles contained cover versions of existing songs, and in the case of this single both are Eurovision tracks from 1964: the winning song and the runner-up. 

'Non ho l'eta' was the Italian winning song, and the Belgian entry 'Près de ma rivière' ended up just behind it. On this single the songs are performed by Patricia Smith and Eric Richard respectively, together with Jack Say's orchestra. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6984
Found: Discogs.com, received 2 May 2023
Tracks: 'Non ho l'eta per amarti' (Patricia Smith) / 'Près de ma rivière' (Eric Richard)

Walking the streets in the rain - Butch Moore

If you want to buy singles of Irish Eurovision entries, you're likely to find lots of Dana, Linda Martin and the unavoidable Johnny Logan. The really good songs are much harder to find. The very first Irish Eurovision song from 1965, for example, is almost impossible to find. A copy with a picture sleeve will set you back €75, apparently, so you're lucky to find a disc in a generic disc for a lower price. And so, that's what I did.

'Walking the streets in the rain' is one of the best Irish Eurovision entries ever: a ballad with lyrics that set a scene almost immediately. You can almost picture the singer walking in the rain and crying. There was fierce competition that year, but the song still ended up in sixth place in a field of 18 competitors. Butch Moore (10 January 1938 - 3 April 2001) enjoyed a successful career in Ireland until he emigrated to the USA in 1970. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6983
Found: Discogs.com, received 2 May 2023
Tracks: 'Walking the streets in the rain' / 'I stand still'

Sanremo 1965 - Los Mustang

Back in the Sixties, the Sanremo festival was a popular music festival and spawned many cover versions. This single from the Spanish group Los Mustang demonstrates just how international the appeal of the festival was. 

This EP presents four songs from the Sanremo Festival 1965, including Italy's Eurovision entry 'Se piangi, se ridi' - and this obviously explains my interest in this disc. All four songs are translated into Spanish to appeal to the Spanish record-buying public. My copy is a bit tatty but it's a great item nonetheless.

My collection: 7" single no. 6967
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 22 April 2023
Tracks: 'Yo que no vivo sin ti', 'Antes o despues' / 'Amigos mios', 'Si lloras, si ries'

Eenmaal kom je weer - Claude Lombard

It's only 16 months since I bought Claude Lombard's 'Quand tu reviendras', and even then I was aware that there was also a Flemish version of the song. (I am always tempted to say 'Dutch', but since Claude comes from Belgium the correct word is actually 'Flemish'.) 

'Eenmaal kom je weer' ('One day you'll return') is a pretty faithful translation of 'Quand tu reviendras', whereas ''t Geluk ligt verborgen' ('Happiness lies hidden') takes a bit more liberty from the original title 'Le temps ça s'invente'. Claude also recorded her song in German ('Wenn du wieder kommst') and Spanish ('Se que volveras'), but whether I can find those singles for a reasonable price remains to be seen...

My collection: 7" single no. 6962
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 22 April 2023
Tracks: 'Eenmaal kom je weer' / ''t Geluk ligt verborgen'