Merci Cherie - Tino Rossi

Constantin "Tino" Rossi (29 April 1907 – 26 September 1983) was a Corsican French singer and film actor. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, he was gifted with a voice well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret-style. Later, he appeared in various movies. During his career he recorded hundreds of songs and he appeared in more than 25 films, the most notable of which was the 1953 production, 'Si Versailles m'était conté' directed by Sacha Guitry.

He remains the only French singer to have sold more than 700 million records. His disc "Petit Papa Noël" alone sold 80 million copies worldwide. This cover version of Udo Jürgens' 1966 Eurovision winner is less wellknown, but it's a beautiful rendition nonetheless.

My collection: 7" single no. 5777
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Merci Cherie', 'Bye, bye, bye (moi je reste)' / 'Parle-moi d'Ajaccio', 'Teresa'

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Un tout petit pantin - Les Parisiennes

Sandie Shaw didn't just record her Eurovision hit Puppet on a string in Spanish, a French version also exists. She recorded that version as Un tout petit pantin. And that version, of course, was covered by French artists.

In this case, Les Parisiennes, a group of four singers clad in sexy minidresses. Brought together by one Claude Bolling, they sang original songs written by him and Frank Gérard, but in 1967 they tried their hand at the Eurovision winner. During the Seventies the group broke up, but two of the ladies remained active in the entertainment business. Raymonde Bronstein had a solo career as a singer and Anne Lefébure was a presenter on the French TV channel FR3.

My collection: 7" single no. 5776
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Un tout petit pantin', 'Ah! Vivement ce soir qu'on s'couche' / 'Y'a comme un défaut', 'Grand prix'

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Popcorn - Mister K

You'd almost forget, through all these Eurovision postings, that I have several other sub-collections within my record collection. And this is an addition to one of them: the many versions of 'Popcorn', the instrumental tune composed by Gershon Kingsley.

This single comes from the Czech Republic, where I ordered a few CD-singles, but this 7" single was a nice addition with almost no extra shipping costs. This version was actually released all over Europe, but this is my first 'Made in Czechoslovakia' single - and it is likely to be my last as well, because I don't know too many places to get such pressings. Mister K seems to be a certain Mathias Camison, a French guy who remains active in music to this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 5787
Found: Discogs.com, received May 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Popcorn' / 'Synthetic sister No. 1'

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Elle était si jolie - Alain Barriere

Alain Barrière (born Alain Bellec, 18 November 1935 in La Trinité-sur-Mer, Morbihan) is a French singer, who has been active since the Fifties and is known for participating in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. His song, 'Elle était si jolie', turned out to be by far the biggest seller of Barrière's career to that point.

He released his first album, 'Ma vie', a year later, and the title-track became a huge hit. In 1965 he was offered, and accepted, a leading role in a heist thriller, 'Pas de panique', alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing career reached its peak in the latter part of the decade with a string of hits making him one of France's biggest stars and a sell-out live attraction. He remained popular until a decade later, when he got married and moved to the USA. Upon returning four years later, his popularity had waned and he had difficulty getting successful again. However, he continues to release albums to this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 5775
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Elle était si jolie', 'Le temps d'une valse' / 'Plus je t'entends', 'La route'

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'k Zen liever lui as muug - De Strangers

When Toto Cotugno won the 1990 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Insieme: 1992', the Belgian band De Strangers was quick to record a parody in their native language. Thus, ''k Zen liever lui as muug' was born.

The title roughly means 'I prefer to be lazy rather than tired', and is another stab at Eurovision songs done in a different way. And yes, it's another addition to my growing collection of Eurovision covers.

My collection: 7" single no. 5773
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: ''k Zen liever lui as muug' / 'Den baas hee altijd gelijk'

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Marionetas en la cuerda - Sandie Shaw

After winning the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Puppet on a string', Sandie Shaw recorded many of her tracks in Spanish, her record company probably smelling success in that region.

This EP features four tracks in Spanish, and is surprisingly titled 'Sandie Shaw canta en español'. The title was borrowed for a 2004 CD release, which features all of her Spanish language recordings. An astounding amount: 25 tracks.

My collection: 7" single no. 5765
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, April 11, 2015
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Marionetas en la cuerda', 'A los chicos les diras' / 'Otra vez sone', 'Dile a cualquiera'

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Waterloo - Abba

Abba have released ten albums during their career - give or take a few - and literally hundreds of compilation albums. No excuse is too weird to release yet another picking of their classic tracks. Forget the love songs compilations, jubilee albums, greatest hits, best album tracks and even the box sets though: here's the real deal: another re-release of their classic Eurovision single 'Waterloo'.

This time, it's a picture disc released exactly 40 years after they won the Eurovision Song Contest with THAT song. I was hesitant to buy it because, well, I already have the song a few times - but this really is a pretty record. It's just so damn irritating that fans of Abba have to buy the same songs over and over and over again. Fortunately, I'm not an Abba fan in that sense of the word.

My collection: 7" single no. 5781
Found: Amazon.co.uk, received April 24, 2015
Cost: £ 5
Tracks: 'Waterloo (Swedish version)' / 'Waterloo (English version)'

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