Voor altijd - André van Duin

During an impressive career of six decades, André van Duin started out as a comedian and did theatre shows, TV programmes, even performed as a support act for the Rolling Stones in the Netherlands. In recent years, he has reinvented himself as a 'serious' entertainer, acting in a dramatic series and presenting the Dutch version of the Great British Bake-off. 

After losing his partner Martin last year and going through treatment against a medical condition, things became increasingly serious. He made an impressive speech on 4 May on Remembrance Day in Amsterdam and, also recently, recorded this single. 'Voor altijd' ('For always') was dedicated to his late partner and benefits the Dutch Cancer Society. Although the song was co-created with the massively overrated Dutch artist Danny Vera it is actually quite beautiful. For the first time in months I had the chance to buy a single in a regular shop, and so I did.

My collection: 7" single no. 6378
Found: Paagman, Leidschendam, 8 May 2021
Cost: 9 euro
Tracks: 'Voor altijd' / 'Voor altijd (instrumental)'

Soldi - Mahmood

Alessandro Mahmood represented Italy during the 2019 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Born in Milan to an Italian mother from Sardinia and an Egyptian father, he was raised around Gratosoglio, a district of Milan.When he was five years old, his parents divorced and he was subsequently raised by his mother.

Mahmood revealed he started writing the song while hanging out with some friends. Its lyrics explore Mahmood's relationship with his father. It depicts a lying, contradictory and unreliable father, whose main priority is money instead of his own family. Mahmood explained that the song's lyrics "evoke a memory" and that "there's a lot of anger" in it. This was reflected during his performance: he looked angry throughout his appearance on the Eurovision stage, which surprisingly didn't affect the score: he finished in second place during the Eurovision final. 

This 7" single was sold together with the album 'Gioventù Bruciata' in Italy. Both the CD and this single feature two versions of the song 'Soldi'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6374
Found: Amazon Germany, received 24 April 2021
Cost: 20 euro (CD + single)
Tracks: 'Soldi' / 'Soldi (feat. Gue Pequeno)'

The wrong place - Hooverphonic

This month, the Eurovision Song Contest will finally take place in Rotterdam. Last year the Contest did not take place because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant that the Netherlands held the title of Eurovision winner for another year. The 2021 edition will still be a sad affair: although an audience will be present, it will only be half the capacity of the Ahoy hall where the event is taking place and where other countries have benefited greatly from tourists flocking in from all over Europe, Rotterdam will only host Dutch people (and perhaps a few lost people from other countries - although that seems unlikely).

To make things even worse, it seems that record companies have given up on physical products for their Eurovision acts. So far, only the Belgian band Hooverphonic have released their Eurovision song on 7" vinyl. And that, of course, is to be applauded. 'The wrong place' is an excellent song, although it doesn't seem likely that it will win this year's edition. We can only hope that the winning song will also be released on the 7" vinyl format. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6373
Found: Velvet Music, Leiden, received 24 April 2021
Cost: 8 euro
Tracks: 'The wrong place' / 'The wrong place (instrumental)'

Refrain, du goldner Traum aus meiner Jugendzeit - Lys Assia

Only two years ago I was able to buy Refrain, the 7" single of the first ever winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest. The song made Lys Assia part of history. She would continue to be a special guest in the audience of the Contest even in recent years, until she passed away in March 2018. 

I was always aware that she recorded a German version of her winning song, but like the original single it wasn't easy to get hold of a copy. After all, this is a single that is hunted after by many Eurovision fans and it's 75 years old. But I was quite surprised two weeks ago when I saw one on Ebay for a few euros. I placed my bid and waited until last Saturday, when the auction would end. As usual, the bidding went crazy in the last few minutes, but I was successful in the end - even if I had to spend just a little more than I really wanted to. Never mind - now that record fairs are a thing of the past and the next one won't happen until 2025, probably, I have some budget to spare. I am grateful to the Austrian seller of this little piece of history.

My collection: 7" single no. 6372
Found: Ebay.co.uk, received 15 April 2021
Cost: 13,20 euro
Tracks: 'Refrain, Du Goldner Traum Aus Meiner Jugendzeit' / 'Addio, Bella Napoli'

Touch my life (with summer) - Ellen Nikolaysen

Ellen Helen Nikolaysen was born in Oslo (Norway) on 10 December 1951. She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 as part of the Bendik Singers group with the song 'It's Just A Game' and as a solo artist in 1975 with 'Touch my life (with summer)'. The solo attempt wasn't very successful: she ended up in 18th place in a field of 19 competitors. The B-side song, 'You made me feel I could fly' was more successful: she won the Best Performance Award at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo in 1974 with it.

As you can see, the sleeve of this single has a name written on it. I have consulted my friend and Eurovision expert Puck about this and he confirmed that this is actually Ellen's autograph. Not bad, for a relatively cheap single I bought online!

My collection: 7" single no. 6371
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 April 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Touch my life (with summer)' / 'You made me feel I could fly'

Ding-a-dong - Teach-In

My collection already contains Teach-In's 'Ding-a-dong' in English, Dutch and German, so you might say that this addition to my collection is a bit superfluous. I could pretend that I bought this particular single for the fact that the B-side is different - 'Let me in' does not appear on any of the other three singles - but who would I be kidding? The fact is, this sleeve is just too curious to pass up on.

Quite why the Italians felt they had to release this single in such a tittilating sleeve is unknown, but perhaps they thought it wouldn't sell otherwise. I am pretty sure that a sleeve like this would be censored these days - which makes it even more amusing to own this little piece of shameless history.

My collection: 7" single no. 6370
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 April 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Ding-a-dong' / 'Let me in'

Popcorn - La Strana Societa

'Popcorn' needs no introduction on this blog: I have featured many different versions of this Gershon Kingsley composition, and they just keep on coming whenever I come across a version that I didn't already have. 

La Strana Societa is not as anonymous as the sleeve of this single might have you think. The group was formed in Torino by some musicians from I Ragazzi Del Sole, a beat band also from Turin, including drummer Valerio Liboni. The band was discovered around 1971 by club-owner and record producer Ivo Lunardi.The single 'Popcorn' was actually their debut single and reached number 1 in the Italian charts. Their career spanned ten years, five albums and fourteen singles.

My collection: 7" single no. 6369
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 April 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Popcorn' / 'Nel giardino di Tamara'