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'

Waterloo - Swedish Group

Swedish Group is the name of an anonymous band that recorded a cover version of 'Waterloo' right after Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with that song. You would think that Swedish Group was founded especially for this purpose, but dig a little deeper and you'll find that they also recorded Abba's 'Ring Ring' the year before, just after they didn't win the national finals in Sweden and narrowly missed out on representing Sweden internationally.

The fact that both singles were released in Italy makes one wonder whether the Swedish Group was a Swedish group after all. Some riddles will never be solved, I guess.

My collection: 7" single no. 6368
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 April 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Waterloo' / 'Down down down'

Dio, come ti amo - Domenico Modugno

The name of Domenico Modugno is forever linked to the legendary Eurovision song Volare. That was his first Eurovision appearance. People tend to forget that he represented Italy three times in the contest, following up his appearance in 1958 with the song Piove in 1959 and returning in 1966 with 'Dio, come ti amo'. His last attempt was also his least successful one: he ended in last place with zero points.

So is this a bad song? Well, not really, although I tend to think that the version by Gigliola Cinquetti is a bit more charming. But you know how cruel competitions can be - especially music competitions. Modugno died on 6 August 1994, at the age of 66, from a heart attack, on the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, while he was in his home by the sea.

My collection: 7" single no. 6367
Found: Discogs.com, received 8 April 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Dio come ti amo' / 'Io di piu'

The spirit of Joe Hill - Laurie Dryden

Laurie Dryden only ever released one single, this 'The Spirit of Joe Hill', a song written by Mike Hawker and Marty Wilde. Hawker also produced the two tracks on this single. It was released on 10 March 1972, after which many cover versions followed, particularly in Scandinavia, where the song 'Legenden om Joe Hill' was recorded by a.o. Stein Ingebrigtsen, Göran Hagwall, Bruno Skogmann and Inge Birgersson & Lasse Kenth's.

The song is all about Joe Hill, a Swedish-American labor activist and songwriter, who lived between 1879 and 1915. Hill, an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular songwriter and cartoonist for the union. His most famous songs include "The Preacher and the Slave" (in which he coined the phrase "pie in the sky"), "The Tramp", "There Is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab", which express the harsh and combative life of itinerant workers, and call for workers to organize their efforts to improve working conditions.

My collection: 7" single no. 6365
Found: Ebay.co.uk, received 3 April 2021
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'The spirit of Joe Hill' / 'Half of me'

At Veani - Schlomo Artzi

Schlomo Artzi was born on November 26, 1949, in Moshav. When Artzi was eight years old, his family moved to northern Tel Aviv. Artzi's schoolmates thought he would become an actor, not a musician, as he was known for his acting skills at elementary school. However, at the age of twelve he started playing the guitar and singing in a boy scouts group and at friends' parties. At age 16, he began writing and composing songs. 

In 1970, Artzi had the opportunity to take part in the Israel Song Festival, a prestigious song contest held every year. Still in military service and wearing a military uniform, he sang Pitom Achshav, Pitom Hayom (Suddenly Now, Suddenly Today), also known as Ahavtiha (I loved her). The song, written by Tirza Atar and composed by Ya'akov Hollander, won first prize. It was included in his first album, Shlomo Artzi, which came out in 1970. Artzi was voted Singer of the Year. 

In 1975 he was selected to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. The selected song was 'At Veani', written by the legendary Israeli songwriter Ehud Manor, and composed by Artzi himself. To seize the moment, Artzi's record label pressured him to record a completely new record in less than 2 weeks. However, when At Veani ended up in 11th place in a field of 20 competitors, the album became a big disappointment and started a less successful period in Artzi's career. However, his career recovered and he is still active in music to this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 6360
Found: Discogs.com, received 30 March 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'At Veani' / 'Hey Liza'