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'

The world keeps turning - Heddy Lester

Heddy Lester represented the Netherlands with the song 'De Mallemolen', with a fairly depressing lyric. I wrote about that nine years ago. I didn't know back then, that there was also an English version of the song. It seems to have a more positive stance: even the title is 'The world keeps turning', which seems to offer a glimmer of hope.

Heddy recorded her song in four different languages: in Dutch, English, German and France. The latter two are very hard to come by, but who knows... as long as the world keeps turning there might be a chance for those to turn up in my collection and on this blog.

My collection: 7" single no. 5923
Found: Discogs.com, received August 28, 2018
Cost: 2 euro
Tracks: 'The world keeps turning' / 'Never saw him laughing'

De mallemolen - Heddy Lester

Heddy Lester was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands on June 18, 1950 as Heddy Affolter. Her biggest claim to fame is her appearance in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'De mallemolen', written by her younger brother Frank Affolter. She finished 12th in a field of 18 competitors.

The lyric of the song uses a merry-go-round as a metaphore for life. For some reason, the quote 'The merry-go-round goes along without you / your horse doesn't stay empty for long' always seems mighty depressing to me. But the B-side makes matters even worse: it's about a man who doesn't hear a bird sing, kills a bug under his feet and hates children. Such negativity!

My collection: 7" single no. 3695

Found: Empire Records, Den Haag, May 5, 2009

Cost: 2,5 euro

Tracks: 'De mallemolen' / 'De man die voorbij kwam'