Så går vi til enkebal - Katy Bødtger

I haven't suddenly developed a taste for bizarre Danish songs (and the A-side surely is one), but this single by Katy Bødtger has a special attraction: as you can see, the B-side is called 'Popcorn'. And it is indeed a version of the Gershon Kingsley track, but, and this is where it gets interesting, with Danish vocals. 

Gustav Winckler wrote the lyrics for this version, but my Danish isn't good enough to understand what Katy is singing about. The single isn't very rare - it has already been listed on the Popcorn-song website, for instance - but it is surely one of the more quirky versions I've ever had the pleasure of owning. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6416
Found: Ebay, received 15 July 2021
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Så går vi til enkebal' / 'Popcorn'

Break away - Bill van Dijk

Although Bill van Dijk wasn't very successful at the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest with 'Jij en ik', he still recorded the song in English. It's even more remarkable when you think the single wasn't even a hit in the Netherlands, the country he represented.

The song was composed by Dick Bakker and the lyrics were written by Liselore Gerritsen, a Dutch singer and songwriter who died last year on 25 November 2020, aged 83. Bill van Dijk went on to become a successful performed in musicals.

My collection: 7" single no. 6415
Found: Ebay, received 15 July 2021
Cost: 6 euro
Tracks: 'Break away' / 'Blame it all on love'

Festival Eurovision 1967 - Los Stop

The Spanish band Los Stop consisted of Maria Del Carmen (Cristina) Arévalo Latorre (vocals), Juan Comellas (organ), José Maria Serra (guitar), Fernando Cubedo (bajo) and Andrés Gallego (drums).In 1967 they released no less than 10 singles, and even slightly more in 1968. They specialized in cover versions, and this EP of four songs from the 1967 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is a good example of just how well executed their tracks were.

There were, of course, some liberties in their cover versions. Sandie Shaw's 'Puppet on a string' was covered in Spanish ('Marionetas en la cuerda'), just like 'Quel coeur vas-tu briser' (which became 'Que corazon sera'). The beautiful Spanish song 'Hablemos del amor', originally performed by Raphael, takes on a different guise when it is sung by the female lead singer of this band. The four tracks on this EP are worth a spin, and certainly aren't inferior to the original versions, which all became immortal in their own way.

My collection: 7" single no. 6414
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 July 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Marionetas en la cuerda', 'Boum badaboum' / 'Hablemos del amor', 'Que corazon sera'

Siempre hay algun milagro - Katja Ebstein

Katja Ebstein represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 with 'Wunder gibt es immer wieder'. She recorded the song in various languages, and this Spanish version was one of them. Even the B-side was recorded in Spanish, too. 

Other versions in Italian, Japanese, French and English also exist - but those singles are very rare and very hard to come by. So if you're reading this, and you have the inclination to do me a favour, send me one of them and I'll feature it on this blog. Deal? Miracles do happen, Katja said it herself.

My collection: 7" single no. 6413
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 July 2021
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Siempre hay algun milagro' / 'Yo le quiero'.

E5 - Emiliana Torrini

Try as you might, it's not exactly easy to like these remix 7" singles, credited to Emiliana Torrini. It's as if remixers got the thought to cut up the vocals and put weird sounds underneath it. The practice leads to experimental, but also annoying tracks. It's a bit of a nightmare for a collector, to be honest.

The tracks on this single, number 5 in the series, were created by Lucky Kitchen and Team Doyobi. Lucky Kitchen apparently consisted of Aeron Bergman, Alejandra Salinas and Daniel Raffel, but it looks like they quit after just one album (and rightly so). The British electronic music duo Team Doyobi, comprised of Christopher Gladwin (born 1976) and Alexander Peverett (born 1976), stuck it out a little longer, releasing three albums between 2001 and 2006. They never managed to produce anything coherent, though, either.

My collection: 7" single no. 6404
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 June 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Unemployed in summertime (Lucky Kitchen remix)' / 'Tuna fix (Team Doyobi remix)'

If you do like my music - Stella

I bought the single 'Si tu aimes ma musique' almost 12 years ago, but I never knew there was an English version until quite recently. I also found out that Stella, who was born in the Netherlands, but represented the French-speaking part of Belgium in 1982, didn't speak French very well, so she learned the lyrics of that song by having it written out phonetically. One would presume she had less trouble with the English version, since she already participated with French language song 'A million in 1, 2, 3' as part of Dream Expess five years earlier. 

Anyway, I went looking for this single and I found one online, along with a few others, from a Spanish seller. And indeed, this is the Spanish pressing - apparently this single was only released in Spain!

My collection: 7" single no. 6412
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 July 2021
Cost: 3,9 euro
Tracks: 'If you do like my music' / 'Renegade'

E8 - Emiliana Torrini

The last single in the series of eight, 'E8', featured two remixes of Emiliana Torrini's song 'Summer Breeze'. According to a promotional sticker that I don't have, but found on the web, 'Transient Waves go for a dubbed out affair, while Di-Lacuna go for a lo-fi guitar wig out'. 

Di Lacuna was a "post-rock oriented band from Sheffield", formed in 1998. Transient Waves was formed by Eric Campbell, Loren Jackson and Sid Tucker from Dearborn, MI. They were active in the 'post rock scene' and released 3 albums and 4 singles between 1996 and 1999. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6403
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 June 2021
Cost: 4 pounds
Tracks: 'Summer breeze (Di Lacuna remix)' / 'Summer breeze (Transient Waves remix)'

夢見る想い (Yumemiru omoi [Non ho l'età]) - Gigliola Cinquetti

Japanese versions of Eurovision songs, performed by the original artist, are a rarity in themselves. I don't know if there are more, but I was aware of Gigliola Cinquetti's version for quite some time now. However, I never thought that I would own a copy! Much to my satisfaction, I found a copy online for a reasonable price from a Japanese seller, and since I could combine it with this single by Marco Polo and the Japanese single of 'Non ho l'eta' (the original Italian version, which was also released in Japan apparently) it worked out quite well. 

'夢見る想い' or 'Yumemiru omoi' was translated by Japanese lyricist Hiroshi Arakawa (Real name 牧野 剛 or Makino Gou). Quite how young Cinquetti managed to pronounce the Japanese I don't know. Perhaps the lyrics were written down for her phonetically. Anyway, it is a very nice rarity. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6408
Found: Discogs.com, 19 June 2021
Cost: ¥1,590
Tracks: '夢見る想い (Yumemiru omoi [Non ho l'età])' / 'Penso alle cose perdute'

E7 - Emiliana Torrini

Another single in the series of eight, featuring remixes of Emiliana Torrini's songs on her album 'Love in the time of science'. Nothing wrong with a bit of experimentation, of course, but again I find myself wondering if these tracks bear any resemblance to those songs at all. Getting the eight singles together is a challenge itself, but listening to them all is another challenge altogether...

The remixes are provided by Immense and Fonn. According to Discogs, Immense is a collaboration between Dave Collingwood, Mark Toghill, Matt Wiltshire, Patrick Case and Tom Davies, whereas Fonn is a stage name for a certain James McKechan (although a picture shows six people - quite a mystery there). 

My collection: 7" single no. 6402
Found: Discogs.com, received 16 June 2021
Cost: 4 pounds
Tracks: 'Easy (Immense remix)' / 'To be free (Fonn remix)'

Les amours oubliées - Michèle Arnaud

The very first Eurovision Song Contest was won by Lys Assia, but there were other contestants too, of course. Not all of the songs were released on single, but Michèle Arnaud's two songs from that edition appear on this EP. Representing Luxembourg, she performed 'Ne crois pas' and 'Les amants de minuit'. Since only the winner was announced in 1956, we'll never know what the juries thought of these two songs. 

It wasn't the only 'first' in her career: on 11 July 1962, she appeared in the first-ever live television transmission via satellite from France to the United States. Because of the orbital path of the newly launched American satellite, Telstar, the program lasted only twenty minutes. Also appearing that evening was Yves Montand.

My collection: 7" single no. 6411
Found: Discogs.com, received 23 June 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Les amours oubliées', 'Les amants de minuit' / 'Ne crois pas', 'Les mots qu'on vous dit à l'oreille'