Fernando y Felipe - Milly Scott

The Dutch Eurovision entry in 1966 was called 'Fernando en Filippo' and was performed by Milly Scott, the first black singer to ever enter the Eurovision stage. 

She also recorded her song in English and Spanish. 'Fernando y Felipe' is the Spanish version, released by the Spanish record company Belter in a surprisingly sturdy cardboard sleeve. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6799
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Fernando y Felipe' / 'Ya no me quieres'

Le monde tourne comme un manege - Heddy Lester

In 1977 Heddy Lester represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'De mallemolen'. The song was also recorded in English, German and French, and although I haven't been able to find a copy of the German version yet, here is the French one!

It was released in France - obviously - with a different sleeve than the other three. The German version, 'Karussel des Lebens' has a different sleeve entirely - also in colour - but the only copy that is available online right now costs €150. I'm not that crazy. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6798
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Le monde tourne comme un manege' / 'Ce monsieur qui passe'

Jennifer Jennings - Louis Neefs

Why would I buy yet another copy of Louis Neefs' 1969 Eurovision song 'Jennifer Jennings'? As I pointed out recently, he recorded his song in several languages. I already own the Spanish version, and although the sleeve of this single does not explicitly state it, here is the French version of the song. The B-side, 'Au risque de te perdre' is also a beautiful song, worth listening to. 

There's only the German and Italian versions of this song to go, and I am pretty sure that I will get those if I am patient enough. After all, this is one of Belgium's better entries of the Sixties. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6797
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Jennifer Jennings' / 'Au risque de te perdre'

Kuin silloin ennen - Jarkko & Laura

Jarkko & Laura are a Finnish pop-duo, consisting of Jarkko Antikainen (born 9 August 1950) and Laura Ruotsalo (born 12 August 1949). They were chosen to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 in Spain with the song ‘Kuin silloin ennen’ (‘Like in those times’). The song sounds very oldfashioned when you hear it now, but like most Finnish entries at the time it is very charming. 

What's interesting is that the single was released in Finland without a picture sleeve, but the Spanish version comes with a picture sleeve. It is usually hideously expensive on places like Ebay and Discogs, but I was lucky enough to find a copy at a more reasonable price.

My collection: 7" single no. 6796
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Kuin silloin ennen' / 'Et mennä saa'

 

Angelique - Gunnar Wiklund

Dario Compeotto represented Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 with the song 'Angelique'. The Swedish singer Gunnar Wiklund saw an opportunity and recorded his own version of the song - and filled an EP with two other Eurovision songs from the same year: 'Are you sure?' and 'April, April'. The fourth track, 'Spela på regnbågen' was the song that finished in second place at the Swedish national final for Eurovision in 1961, behind 'April, April'. 

Gunnar would record more Eurovision covers in 1966 on this EP.

My collection: 7" single no. 6794
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Angelique', 'Du kan vara säker på' / 'April, April', 'Spela på regnbågen'

Song for a friend - Maxi & Chris Garden

The funny thing about Eurovision singles is that there were often many editions and versions in different languages. I already owned Maxi & Chris Garden's 'Lied für einen Freund' in two languages, but there was also a version in English. Best of all, this version was released in a different sleeve. 

Maxi was actually called Meike Gärtner.When she grew up she acquired a solid music education. She appeared in several major musicals and had a big hit in Austria with ‘Ich Kann Dich Heilen’ as part of the group Aschenputtel in 2005.

My collection: 7" single no. 6793
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 12 November 2022
Tracks: 'Song for a friend' / 'Chant pour un ami'

SloMo - Chanel

At the beginning of this century it was quite a task to acquire all the physical releases of Eurovision Song Contest entries. Around 25 CD-singles from various European countries was not easy to get hold of. Flash forward to 2022 and there are just a handful of physical releases of Eurovision songs - and some of them were only released on vinyl in the confusing trend to release more on vinyl than on CD, despite a shortage of vinyl.

And so it happened that 'De diepte' was released two weeks ago, and the Spanish entry 'SloMo' followed last week - both six months after the Contest took place. Granted, this release is an interesting one: it's a shaped picture disc that functions as a 7" vinyl but still contains four tracks. The weird shape of the disc was caused by a mango, pictured on the A-side of this disc, because of the lines "Te gusta to' lo que tengo / Te endulzo la cara en jugo de mango" ("You like everything I have / I sweeten your face in mango juice"). Chanel's song loses some of its appeal without the engaging stage show, but this is still a nice pop song. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6792
Found: FNAC Spain, received 11 November 2022
Tracks: 'SloMo (single version)', 'SloMo (acoustic version)' / 'SloMo (Eurovision's Dancebreak Edit)', 'SloMo (Karaoke version)'