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'