Geluk - Verona

When I recently saw a report about Dutch presenter Harry Vermeegen on television, anouncing his comeback to television, I immediately thought of this single. Together with Henk Spaan he formed a satyrical duo making programmes in the Eighties. Initially their programme was called 'Pisa', but when they moved to a different broadcaster (Veronica) they changed the name of their programme to 'Verona'.

Under this name they released the 1986 single 'Geluk' ('Happiness'). The lyric of the song refers to a man who is searching for happiness. ('I've searched everywhere, it's making me unhappy'). The lyric cannot be translated without loss of a lot of Dutch wordplay, but the music, produced by Henk Temming from Het Goede Doel, is strong and transcends all language barriers.

My collection: 7" single no. 1407

Found: Concerto, Amsterdam, April 3, 1991

Cost: 2 guilders

Tracks: 'Geluk' / 'Geluk (instr.)'

Zarah (Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn) - Nina Hagen

'Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn' was originally performed by Zarah Leander in the first half of the 20th century. Nina Hagen recorded this cover version in 1983 for her album 'Angstlos', produced by Giorgio Moroder.

Although not a hit in the Netherlands, I heard the song pretty soon after its release thanks to my sister. It was a remarkable cover, because for all its disco stomp in the second half, the first half of the song is a pretty faithful cover of the original version.

My collection: 7" single no. 1676

Found: Parkpop, Den Haag, June 28, 1992

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Zarah (Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehn)' / 'Frühling in Paris'

This heart of mine - Anders Frandsen

Anders Frandsen was born ub Denmark on December 8, 1960. Although not a trained actor, he made his stage debut during the Eighties in theatre performances. In 1991 he represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Lige der hvor hjertet slår', a jazz-influenced lovesong composed by Michael Elo. The song didn't do well at the Contest, and placed 19th with only 8 points. That didn't hurt his popularity however, and the following year at the Danish national final, he was the host.

This single features the English-language version on the A-side. The song sounds rather more intruguing in Danish, though.

My collection: 7" single no. 1837

Found: Record fair, Utrecht, January 23, 1993

Cost: 10 guilders

Tracks: 'This heart of mine' / 'Lige der hvor hjertet slår'

Flash - Duke of Burlington

Nothing beats a good instrumental track from time to time. This 'golden oldie' appeared as background music in a commercial on a local radio station I listened to a lot during the Eighties. In time, I found out the name and artist behind the music, and then I found out that it was actually released when I was just born.

I have no idea who hides behind the stage name Duke of Burlington, but this track was a success in the Netherlands nonetheless: it peaked at number 11 in the autumn of 1970.

My collection: 7" single no. 382

Found: Disco Market, Den Haag, 1985

Cost: 3,5 guilders

Tracks: 'Flash' / 'Viva Tirado'

Say you'll be mine - Amy Grant

I'd just discovered Amy Grant's albums 'Lead me on' and 'Heart in motion' when she started to release singles from her new album 'House of love'. One of those singles was 'Say you'll be mine'. I bought it on the hunch that this material might be just as good. I was not too disappointed: the songs were a bit on the bubblegum pop side, but still nice and melodic.

Grant didn't score a big hit with this: it roamed the UK singles chart for only two weeks in the autumn of 1994, peaking at number 41.

My collection: 7" single no. 2227

Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, December 17, 1994

Cost: 6 guilders
Tracks: 'Say you'll be mine (radio mix)' / 'Life's gonna change'

Rock me - Riva

I wouldn't be surprised if this song was responsible for the war in Yugoslavia that would break out a couple of years later. It must rank as one of the worst winners in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Riva, a group of five fronted by singer Emilija Kokić debuted on Zagrebfest in 1988. They performed their song 'Rock me' in Serbo-Croatian as the last act on the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest. When they unexpectedly won the Contest, BBC TV commentator Terry Wogan described it as 'the death knell' for the Contest. The group parted ways in 1991 after being unable to build on their sudden success with this unlistenable song.

My collection: 7" single no. 3599

Found: Record fair, Rijswijk, March 14, 2009

Cost: 0,5 euro

Tracks: 'Rock me baby (Original version)' / 'Rock me baby (English version)'

Slow emotion replay - The The

In 1993, it became increasingly difficult to find 7" vinyl singles of songs that were released as a single. More often than not, I could only find a cd-single version. It became quite a challenge to still find vinyl singles and I always had a sense of victory when I succeeded. This was one of those proud achievements.

Taken from the album 'Dusk', The The released 'Slow emotion replay' as the second single from that album. While 'Dogs of lust', single number one, was released as a limited edition 7" single in the UK, this one was only released on two different cd-singles. I found this Spanish promotional 7" with just one track on one side: the other side was not even playable. Which made this item all the more desirable, because a one-sided 7" single is a rarity in itself.

My collection: 7" single no. 2654

Found: London, June 29, 1996

Cost: 2 pounds

Tracks: 'Slow emotion replay'