Det' lige det - Hot Eyes

There's something decidedly camp about the Danish entries for the Eurovision Song Contest during the Eighties, and the epitome of that was the duo Kirsten & Søren, known internationally as 'Hot Eyes' (also a very dodgy name). I remember I didn't like their songs at all back then, but with age comes a lot of longing for the past, I guess.

'Det' lige det' isn't necessarily a very good song, but the fact that the duo decided to record multiple versions shows attitude. I already owned the single with the English version on the B-side, and now here's the one with the German version on the B-side. The sleeve is almost identical, so I was quite lucky not to scroll past it online when I bought this.

My collection: 7" single no. 7905
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 December 2025
Tracks: 'Det' lige det' / 'Mit dir will ich zusammen sein' 

Love gives - Hoffmann & Hoffmann

I wasn't actively searching for this single, but I was ordering a few singles from a German seller and this promotional single from the UK just leapt out at me. Of course, I already own the German pressing of 'Love gives', but a promotional single always has its own special appeal.

'Rücksicht', of course, was the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1983. Günter Hoffmann died a year after the Contest, after hurling himself out of a hotel window in Rio de Janeiro on 15 March 1984. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7908
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 December 2025
Tracks: 'Love gives' / 'I need you now' 

 

Fernando - Abba

Rumour has it that Abba's old hit 'Fernando' is getting a resurgance because of the appearance of the song in the latest series of Stranger Things (you know, the one with the 'open marriage' adept David Harbour). I haven't noticed any chart placings for the song yet, but who knows. 

Of course I have a few copies of this single (some of them have appeared on this blog already) but this is an original German pressing. I thought it would be nice to feature it here while the song is hot, so to speak. Some people are still hoping for new Abba songs - I think they won't appear anymore. Thanksfully I still have a backlog of Abba singles to feature on here for a while yet. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7103
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 2023
Tracks: 'Fernando' / 'Tropical loveland' 

Popcorn essen ist gesund - Fausti

The very definition of a novelty single is when a badly sung song is based on a popular melody. And this single is a good example of that. Everybody knows the tune 'Popcorn' by Gershon Kingsley, and the person hiding behind the pseudonym Fausti decided to make a song from it, titled 'Popcorn essen ist gesund' ('Eating popcorn is healthy').

The single was released in 1972; the lyrics were apparently written by Hans Podehl, a German drummer. The singer goes uncredited. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7907
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 December 2025
Tracks: 'Popcorn essen ist gesund' / 'Schalalaleila, ich bin 'ne kleine Maus' 

Amiga Quartett - Hot Chocolate

It's time for another one of those delicious Amiga Quartett EP's, this time featuring Hot Chocolate, the successful band fronted by Errol Brown. They had a lot of hits in the Seventies, and four of them were collected on this disc.

The fact that this product was German is underlined by the sleeve photograph, taken by Hartmut Schorsch, a German photographer who was born on 26 March 1936. HIs photographs appeared on a lot of Amiga products between 1973 and 1981. In fact, this EP, released in 1981 was the last to feature one of his photographs.  

My collection: 7" single no. 7906
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 December 2025
Tracks: 'So you win again', 'Emma' / 'Every 1's a winner', 'Going through the motions' 

Thank you for the music - Abba

After about a decade of people sort of resenting Abba (God knows why) the Swedish band had their revenge when the compilation album Abba Gold came out in 1992. The album sold millions.

Quite unique for this compilation album, consisting of old Abba hits, was that a handful of singles were released from it. The first one was 'Dancing queen', the second one was 'Voulez-vous' and the third one was this one: 'Thank you for the music'. I had to search for a long time to find one! This single was released near the end of 1992, and so 'Happy new year' ended up on the B-side. The 'Promo only - Not for resale' sticker on the front sleeve makes this copy a little bit more special.

My collection: 7" single no. 7901
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 December 2025
Tracks: 'Thank you for the music' / 'Happy new year'

Ding-a-dong - Teach-In

For the longest time I have wanted to buy a few Japanese singles of winning Eurovision songs. A few of the most famous ones have become very expensive - and one of them was this one. Luckily this copy was sold for a reasonable price!

Teach-In won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975 with 'Ding-a-dong', a single that I now own in various different versions. This Japanese version has a unique sleeve with a photograph that, as far as I know, wasn't used on sleeves in other countries. It doesn't beat the Italian sleeve, but I think that one can't be beaten anyway.

My collection: 7" single no. 7900
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 December 2025
Tracks: 'Ding-a-dong' / 'Let me in' 

Djurgårdsfärjan / Äntligen har jag kommit hem (De mallemolen) - Small Town Singers

One of the most revered Dutch Eurovision entries ever is Heddy Lester's 'De mallemolen', in my humble opinion of course. 

That's why I had a look at cover versions of the song, and it turns out that the song made some impression in Europe. This single presents a Swedish version, with Swedish lyrics by Ingela Forsman. She is no stranger to Eurovision, of course: she also wrote the lyrics to 'Casanova', 'Främling' and 'Kärleken är', Swedish entries between 1977 and 1998.

My collection: 7" single no. 7899
Found: Discogs.com, received 2 December 2025
Tracks: 'Djurgårdsfärjan' / 'Äntligen har jag kommit hem (De mallemolen)'

Take on me - A-ha

Last Friday was apparently 'Black Friday', and the people who invented Record Store Day gleefully participate in this day too. It's a second annual opportunity (besides Record Store Day itself) to sell overly expensive records to people who then put it on Ebay to sell it for even higher prices. 

I checked out the list of 'limited collectable records' recently and there was only one disc I really wanted to have. It was this 40th anniversary compilation of A-ha's 'Take on me', pressed on red vinyl, with eight versions of the classic track. The most important one is the first one: a new remix by Jos Leene and Vinny Vero. 

When I went to the local book and record shop yesterday (because no, I won't stand in line for hours just to get a record!) I checked out the Black Friday records, but one man stood before me, holding this very record in his hands. While he stood there, looking at the sleeve, I just thought 'Don't buy it! Don't buy it!', until finally he put the record back and walked away. I immediately grabbed the record and bought it. 

What can I say? It saves a lot of postage costs (because to my surprise a few shops are offering this disc online now for more or less the original price) and it felt like a small victory.  

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Paagman, Den Haag, 29 November 2025
Tracks: 'Take on me (40th anniversary extended version)', 'Take on me (1984 single version)', 'Take on me (1985 single version)', 'Take on me (1984 instrumental version)' / 'Take on me (2018 Symphonic version)', 'Take on me (2017 acoustic version)', 'Take on me (2017 MTV Unplugged)', 'Take on me (1991 Live in South America)'

Krøllet eller ej - Østjydsk Musikforsyning

Tommy Seebach represented Denmark (together with Debbie Cameron) at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 with 'Krøller eller ej'. This single seems to be a cover version of that song, but it is really short (just over two minutes) and I get the feeling, looking at the sleeve, that it might be a parody of the song. Who's to say? My Danish really isn't good enough.

From Wikipedia I learned that Østjydsk Musikforsyning was a Danish entertainment orchestra, known, among other things, from the revues at Hotel Pejsegården in Brædstrup, in which the orchestra participated from 1983 to 2008. In 1988, Østjydsk Musikforsyning was awarded the Honorary Prize by the Danish Musicians' Association for its "untraditional composition of festive musicians to prove that disharmonies also have their place in Danish music life".

My collection: 7" single no. 7898
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Krøllet eller ej' / 'Dit hjertes dunkle dyb'

Det' lige det - Kirsten & Søren

Although obviously I own a copy of the single 'Det' lige det' by Kirsten & Søren, this flexidisc piqued my curiosity when I spotted it online. It was probably given away with a copy of Se og hør, the leading Danish TV guide, back in 1984. 

The sleeve is a thin paper gatefold, featuring the lyrics of the song inside. The flexidisc is red and plays only the couple's Eurovision song, with a Se og hør jingle at the beginning and the end. You can hear it here of course, but the nature of flexi discs combined with my record player means that the speed is not very consistent throughout. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7896
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Det' lige det' 

A Teenager in love - Marty Wilde

You're looking at a Danish release of Marty Wilde's 'A Teenager in love', but this one is coupled with another hit single, a cover version of Ritchie Valens' 'Donna'. In the heady days of rock 'n' roll, Marty Wilde was a successful artist both in the UK and in Europe, but in the absence of official charts it's not easy to tell how popular he was in Denmark back then. 

It is a fact, however, that it's not easy to find those early singles these days, so every time I find a copy with a half decent sleeve I am quite happy. (Even if I had to eliminate some blemishes to make this sleeve attractive for this blog!) 

My collection: 7" single no. 7897
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'A Teenager in love' / 'Donna' 

Manic Monday - The Bangles

I bought a copy of the Bangles' 'Manic Monday' in 1993 during a holiday in London, and I was pleasantly surprised by the sleeve design, because it looked a lot better than the slightly dull European version that lay in Dutch shops back in 1986. I never bothered to buy the European version, of course.

But then I found this version recently, and I never knew it existed! It is the European version of 'Manic Monday', but in a poster sleeve. The picture on the poster is similar to the one on the sleeve of 'If she knew what she wants', the single that followed 'Manic Monday'. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7894
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Manic Monday' / 'In a different light' 

Romantica - Dario Campeotto

When Renato Rascel represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960, I doubt that he knew he'd written a classic song with 'Romantica'. But that's what it was, because many artists subsequently recorded the song - not only in Italy but also abroad.

This single by Dario Campeotto (complete with a spelling error on the sleeve!) contains a Danish translation of the song by Annelise Bredsdorff. The B-side is a Danish version of 'Libero', the winner of the San Remo festival in 1960 by Domenico Modugno.

My collection: 7" single no. 7895
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 November 2025
Tracks: 'Romantica' / 'Libero (Jeg er fri)' 

Goodbye Lucille #1 - Prefab Sprout

There was a point in time in the second half of the Eighties when I was frankly obsessed with this song. I bought it was 'Johnny Johnny', when it was re-released in the UK, but it was originally called 'Goodbye Lucille #1', a title that was also used on the Golden hits volume 2 EP.

But this is the French release, presumably released earlier than that UK re-released. It features another track from the album Steve McQueen on the B-side. I haven't played the song in a while, but it is still as wonderful as it was when I first heard it.

My collection: 7" single no. 7891
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Goodbye Lucille #1' / 'Moving the river' 

No. 1 - Chaz Jankel

I don't know why Chas Jankel is suddenly called Chaz Jankel on this single, it might just be a typo. I have a few of his singles, but I'd never seen or heard this one.

'No. 1' was written by Jankel with Ian Dury and bassist Norman Watt-Roy. The single was released in 1985 as a track from his fourth album Looking at you. That album didn't sell that well. Jerry Moss, the recording executive of A&M, subsequently rejected the release of his fifth studio album, and terminated his recording contract with the label.

My collection: 7" single no. 7890
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'No. 1' / 'Tonight's the night' 

Under attack - Abba

So I bought a lot of Abba singles at the record fair last week, but only one came from Japan - my favourite country for singles. And this was the last one from Abba: 'Under attack', released after their The first ten years compilation album. 

The sleeve of this single is gorgeous and much better than other versions that were released elsewhere in the world. It just shows that the love and care that Japanese record companies had for their releases.

My collection: 7" single no. 7888
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Under attack' / 'You owe me one' 

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight) - Abba

When I saw this sleeve of 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!', I instantly knew there was something different about it, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Initially I thought the photograph was cropped differently, but when I compared it to the other singles I own at home, I saw what was wrong with it: the photograph was mirrored! 

This version of the single comes from New Zealand. I don't have a lot of singles from that part of the world, and so it is quite nice to own one.

My collection: 7" single no. 7887
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A man after midnight)' / 'The king has lost his crown'

Dancing queen - Abba

If the photograph on this sleeve looks familiar, it's because it also appeared on this Spanish sleeve of 'Honey, Honey'. But this single was released some time later, when Abba released 'Dancing queen'. 

The single was made in Hungary, and features 'Fernando' on the B-side. As far as I know only six Abba singles were made in Hungary. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7886
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Dancing queen' / 'Fernando' 

Fernando - Abba

While I bought the Spanish single of 'Fernando' I also found the Italian version. And again, the sleeve came with a different design. Just like on the Spanish one the Abba logo has gone missing, and is replaced by a certain custom font. 

There is no info on how many copies were sold of this single in Italy, but it reached number 3 in the chart run by the oldest music industry publication Musica e dischi. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7885
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 15 November 2025
Tracks: 'Fernando' / 'Tropical loveland'