Een beetje - John de Mol

The Dutch national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 took place on 17 February of that year in Hilversum. It was a complicated affiar: seven different songs were performed by two artists each. Previous winner Corry Brokken was one of the performing artists, as well as Greetje Kauffeld, who would go on to represent the Netherlands in 1961. 

The winning song was, of course, ''n Beetje', in the version of Teddy Scholten. She would also go on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes on 11 March. However, 'Een beetje' was also performed by John de Mol, who as a singer released several singles between 1958 and 1961. This single was a recording of his version of the song.

After his music career, De Mol founded the Conamus Foundation in 1962 to represent the interests of other Dutch artists. In 1964 he started working as a sales representative for music publisher Strengholt. In 1987 he founded the Academy for Light Music in his position as director of Conamus. In the early 1970s, De Mol was director of the offshore radio station Radio North Sea International (RNI). He was also the father of John and Linda de Mol, who would plague Dutch TV until this day.

My collection: 7" single no. 6531
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Een beetje' / 'Luna napoletana'

Auf der grossen Himmelsstrasse - Margot Eskens

Here's another single I didn't buy for the A-side, but for the B-side! 'Damals war alles so schön' is a great German version of Corry Brokken's winning Eurovision song 'Net als toen', and unsurprisingly this single was released in 1957, the year of this song's success.

Margot Eskens (born on 12 August 1939 in Düren) was most popular in the 1950's and 1960's. She continued to be a frequent guest on television programs into the 2000s. In 1966, she represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Die Zeiger der Uhr'.

My collection: 7" single no. 6503
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 12 November 2021
Cost: €1,5
Tracks: 'Auf der grossen Himmelsstrasse' / 'Damals war alles so schön'

Een sprookje - De Spelbrekers

De Spelbrekers represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 with 'Katinka'. However, this wasn't the first brush with Eurovision repertoire. In 1959, they released the single 'Een sprookje' ('A fairytale') with on the B-side a cover version of 'Oui, oui, oui, oui', Jean Philippe's entry for France at Eurovision. Obviously, this is what drew me towards this single, which I could buy for almost nothing from a Dutch seller. 

Between 1950 and 1968, the duo released many singles, but it didn't give them any chart placings. However, their song 'Katinka' remains a classic in the Netherlands. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6500
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 12 November 2021
Cost: €1,5
Tracks: 'Een sprookje' / 'Oui, oui, oui'

Das Schiff geht in See heute Nacht - Gunnar Winckler & Bibi Johns

This is an extremely old single, but it's also in an unusually fine state. You won't find that many 64 year old singles sounding this good. It's also in its original record company sleeve. Online purchases can be disappointing sometimes, but this certainly exceeded my expectations.

What this single is, is a German version of a Danish entry to the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest. On stage, Gunnar (a.k.a. Gustav) Winckler and Birthe Wilke performed 'Skibet skal selje i nat', but for this German version Birthe made way for Bibi Johns, a Swedish singer and film actress. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6493
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 November 2021
Cost: €4
Tracks: 'Das Schiff geht in See heute Nacht' / 'Gin und Rum'

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'

Oui, oui, oui, oui - Sacha Distel

The sleeve of this single proclaims that 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' is a song from the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, and that is correct - however, on the Eurovision stage this song was performed by Jean Philippe, not Sacha Distel. However, Distel recorded this song, presumably to profit from the Contest's popularity at the time. After all, the song ended up in a respectful third place at the time.

There's another remarkable thing about this EP: although 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' is listed as the first song, it is actually on the B-side of this EP. There are more cover versions on the EP: 'Dis! O Dis!' is a cover version of 'Everybody loves a lover', a hit for Doris Day in 1958, and 'Oh! Quelle Nuit' is a version of 'Lonesome me', which was released by Don Gibson, also in 1958. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6395
Found: 33|45 Records, Den Haag, 12 June 2021
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Dis! O Dis!', 'Quand Tu Es Partie...' / 'Oui, oui, oui, oui', 'Oh! Quelle nuit'

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'

I got stung / One night - Elvis Presley

Another icon from the past that hasn't featured much on this blog is Elvis Presley. Important though he was, his music never touched me quite the same way as pop music from the late Seventies and first half of the Eighties did. But as I am reaching a certain age, my interest in his work has increased slightly, and there was another good reason for buying this single: 'One Night' was covered by none other than Kim Wilde back in 1987. 

This single is, apparently, quite sought after, because to my surprise it was listed for a mere 30 euros on Discogs. I got my copy for considerably less, so who knows, I might sell it one day. But for now, I am quite pleased to own this - even if it is a reissue of these two songs from 1969. They were originally released in 1958!

My collection: 7" single no. 6359
Found: Kringloop Den Haag, 20 March 2021
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'I Got Stung' / 'One Night'

Rhapsody in blue - Leonard Bernstein

As you can gather from this blog, my collection focuses on pop music, but I do enjoy a bit of classical music now and then. Whether George Gershwin's compositions are actually classical music is another debate, because his work borders on the modern and has even been turned into pop songs by the likes of Kate Bush and Fun Boy Three.

Anyway, whatever: this single was interesting enough to warrant a place in my collection. It's an outtake from an album that presents 'Rhapsody in blue' and 'An American in Paris', released in 1959 by Philips in the Netherlands. This single cuts 'Rhapsody in blue' in two and presents the two parts on a 7" single, to be played on 33 rpm, in order to offer the full 16 minute work.

My collection: 7" single no. 6294
Found: Plato, Leiden, May 30, 2020
Cost: 0,5 euro
Tracks: 'Rhapsody in blue (part 1)' / 'Rhapsody in blue (part 2)'

Im Wartesaal zum grossen Gluck - Walter Andreas Schwarz

German singer Walter Andreas Schwarz was born on June 2, 1913. In 1956, he was one of two performers representing Germany during the first ever Eurovision Song Contest. His placing is not known, but it is rumoured that he finished second. The song was released as a single but commercially, it was not very successful. Other notable records were not released.

Schwarz went on to become a successful author of novels and especially radio dramas. One of his last contributions was an adaption of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' in 1990 and 1991. In 1985, he appeared – along with many other former German representatives – in the interval act of the German national final, which was a medley of all German entries until that year. For many years, he lived in London before he moved back to Germany. He died on April 1, 1992 in Heidelberg.

When you listen to this song, you can hear how different music for Eurovision Song Contests was at the time. It is one of the many attractions of getting a collection of Eurovision singles together.

My collection: 7" single no. 6287
Found: Discogs.com, received May 26, 2020
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Im Wartesaal zum grossen Gluck' / 'Fur 300 Francs'

Uh jeg ville ønske jeg var dig - Birthe Wilke

Birthe Wilke was born on March 19, 1936. When she was in her teens, she won a talent competition at the National Scala Theatre in Copenhagen, sang as soloist with Bruno Henriksen's Orchestra at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, made her first recording, and was named "Denmark's Doris Day" and recorded 'Que sera sera' in 1956. She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957 where she sang 'Skibet skal sejle i nat' ('The ship is leaving tonight') with Gustav Winckler. They ranked third of 10 competitors at the end of the voting, and stunned television audiences with a 13-second long kiss at the end of their performance.

Birthe returned to the Contest two years later with the song 'Uh jeg ville ønske jeg var dig' ('Oh - I wish I were you'). This time, she finished in fifth place. In 1961, she won the award for best singer at the first international song festival in the Gdansk shipyard hall, the forerunner of the Sopot festival and Intervision Song Contest. In 1966 she retired from public life, but made a short-lived return in 1973. In addition to her recording successes, she participated in radio, television, advertising and commercial film.

My collection: 7" single no. 6189
Found: Discogs.com, received November 12, 2019
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: 'Uh jeg ville ønske jeg var dig' / 'Augustin'

Heimweh auf grosser Fahrt - Freddy Quinn

Freddy Quinn was born as Franz Eugen Helmut Manfred Nidl on September 27, 1931 in Niederfladnitz, Austria. His popularity as a singer soared within the German-speaking world in the late 1950s and 1960s. Quinn's Irish family name comes from his Irish born salesman father, Johann Quinn. His mother, Edith Henriette Nidl, was an Austrian journalist.

He was "discovered" in St. Pauli, Hamburg, and was offered his first recording contract in 1954. Two years later he represented Germany at the first Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano, Switzerland with the atypical song, 'So geht das jede Nacht', about an unfaithful girlfriend who dates many men. He did not win, and the full results of the contest were never released so his placement is not known. This EP features four tracks by Freddy, and 'So geht das jede Nacht' is one of them.

My collection: 7" single no. 6122
Found: Ebay, received June 12, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Heimweh (Memories are made of this)', 'Sie hiess Mary-Ann (Sixteen Tons)' / 'Rosalie', 'So geht das jede Nacht'

Li´ per li´ / Piove...! - Teddy Reno

Released in 1959, this single features cover versions of two wellknown songs of that time: Li' per li' (also covered by Teddy Scholten and Willy Alberti that year) and 'Piove', the song made famous by Domenico Modugno when he represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Teddy Reno was born as Ferruccio Merk Ricordi in Trieste on July 11, 1926. The Italian singer and actor started his career in the Fifties and took part in several San Remo Music Festivals in Italy. In 1948 he founded one of Italy's first record companies, CGD (i.e. Compagnia Generale del Disco), which he later sold to Ladislao Sugar. In the 1960s he focused his career on discovering and producing new talents, mainly through the Festival degli sconosciuti (Festival of the Unknowns) which he created in 1961. Some or Reno's discoveries at the Festival include The Rokes, Dino and Rita Pavone, whom he married in 1968.

My collection: 7" single no. 6098
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, May 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Li' per li'' / 'Piove...!'

I love Paris / Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu) - The 'Go' Sound of the Kirby Stone Four

Domenico Modugno's 'Nel blu dipinto di blue' - better known as 'Volare' is one of the Eurovision Song Contest's best known songs ever, and it has been covered by many different artists including David Bowie and the Gypsy Kings. Collecting all those cover versions is not something I will attempt, but whenever I see a cheap one, I won't leave it behind.

And so I picked up this single by the Kirby Stone Four, apparently made in the Netherlands or Belgium. It wasn't even listed on Discogs.com yet, so that makes it rarer than most singles. As for this version, you will probably enjoy it. It's quite amazing to hear this kind of music sixty years after its original release.

My collection: 7" single no. 6097
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, May 24, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'I love Paris' / 'Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)'

Eurovision mit Hazy Osterwald - Hazy Osterwald-Sextett

Rolf Osterwald was born in Bern (Switzerland) on February 18, 1922. He began his career as a pianist. Starting in 1944, he led his own ensemble and recorded right through to the Seventies.

This EP is an interesting one for Eurovision fans, because it is a potpourri of several Eurovision songs from the Fifties. It is not very easy to find an EP like this six decades later, so I am pretty glad to have ordered this one along with a handful of other 7" singles recently. You will recognise a few melodies if you know your Fifties Eurovision stuff...

My collection: 7" single no. 6016
Found: Discogs.com, received March 13, 2019
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Potpourri: Oui, oui, oui - N'beetje - Die Gitarre und das Meer - Side Saddle - Irgendwoher - Sing little birdie' / 'Potpourri: Passion Flower - Augustin - El Millionaro - Der 3. Mann - Piove'

Piove (Ciao ciao bambina) - Domenico Modugno

While we're in a winning Eurovision mood, it's good to revisit some old goodies - and since I've bought a few good ones yesterday, I can really present to you a rare gem. Domenico Modugno represented Italy a few times in the very first decade of the Contest. In 1959 he sang the song 'Piove (Ciao ciao bambina)'. I bought a copy of this single four years ago.

Yesterday in Leiden I was in a shop that had a few coloured vinyl singles stuck to a window. Blasphemy of course, but what can you do... I spied with my little eye and saw this copy of 'Piove'... on clear vinyl! I was shocked, but didn't hesitate: I ripped it off the window, stuck it in a white sleevee and took it home.

My collection: 7" single no. 6071
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, May 18, 2019
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Piove (Ciao ciao bambina)' / 'Ventu d'estati'

Giorgio - Lys Assia

A day before another edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, let's go back in time - way back, in fact. Lys Assia was the Contest's first winner, back in 1956 and she reappeared on that stage two times: in 1957 and 1958. While I haven't found a single of her 1957 entry yet, I did find another copy of her 1958. Yes, I already owned a single of 'Giorgio', but the one I found recently comes with a picture sleeve and two more tracks. Obviously I had to have this one.

My collection: 7" single no. 6061
Found: Record fair, Den Haag
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Giorgio', 'Du gabst mir ein paar Blumen' / 'Louella', 'Die Sterne von Venezia'

Refrain - Lys Assia

It doesn't happen very often that I buy a single that I have been looking for for years, but today is such a day. I started collecting Eurovision Song Contest winners a few years ago, and I managed to buy them all on vinyl - at least until they stopped releasing winning songs on vinyl in 1995. The only one I was still missing was the very first winner of the Contest: Lys Assia's legendary 'Refrain'.

That is, until today. I found a copy on Discogs from a Belgian dealer, and after haggling just a little bit I managed to get my hands on this one. It may not be the best copy ever - the pushout centre is missing and there is no picture sleeve, although I suspect this one was released in a record company sleeve anyway - but it is mine.

My collection: 7" single no. 6021
Found: Discogs.com, received March 21, 2019
Tracks: 'Refrain' / 'Arrivederci Roma'

Sea of love - Phil Phillips & the Twilights / Marty Wilde

Phil Phillips' most famous song, "Sea of Love", peaked at the top of the US Billboard R&B chart and number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.The song was soon covered by Marty Wilde in the UK, and he had a top 10 hit with the song over there too.

In 1989, the movie 'Sea of Love', starring Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin and John Goodman was released. The soundtrack album featured both versions of the song - and they were eventually released as a single too. This is the UK pressing of that single, released in 1991.

My collection: 7" single no. 5748
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 November 2018
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'Sea of love' (Phil Phillips & the Twilights) / 'Sea of love' (Marty Wilde)

Little girl - Marty Wilde

More Marty Wilde fun with these two singles of 'Little girl'. If I am to believe the labels of these singles, they are both promotional discs. However, it probably is only the white label one that is the true promotional 7" single; the yellow label one only has a 'for demonstration use only' sticker glued onto it - a simple way to change a commercial record into a 'rare' promotional one.

Anyway, these two singles were the other two of the four American 7" singles I bought in one go a few months ago, along with the two 'Bad boy' singles. Here's hoping tomorrow's record fair in Utrecht will give me a few more of these beauties.

My collection: 7" single no. 5885 & no. 5886
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 11, 2017
Cost: 3 euro each
Tracks: 'Little girl' / 'Your seventeenth spring'