Happy Hawaii (Why did it have to be me) - Manuela

German singer Manuela recorded a generous amount of cover versions during her career, and two of them already made their way to this blog: 'Der schwarze Mann auf dem Dach' and 'Alles und noch viel mehr'. Both these songs were cover versions of Eurovision songs, but that's not the only place where Manuela fetched her songs from. 

'Happy Hawaii' is a cover version of an Abba song. It was released in 1980 on a 7" single that was sponsored by Hapag-Lloyd Flug, an airline that operated between 1973 and 2007. It operated scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly to holiday resorts in Europe. Its successor is today's TUI fly Deutschland. 

This single actually features two songs about exotic islands: the B-side is called 'Gran Canaria', which was released as a single in 1978. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6650
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 5 March 2022
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Happy Hawaii (Why did it have to be me)' / 'Gran Canaria'

Alles und noch viel mehr - Manuela

Another example of Manuela's practice of recording German versions of Eurovision songs is this single: 'Alles und noch viel mehr', a version of Dana's winning song for Ireland in the 1970 Contest. The single reached number 26 in the German singles chart.

Manuela, born as Doris Inge Wegener, died on February 13, 2001. Ten years later, a road was named after her: the Manuelaweg in Berlin-Kladow.

My collection: 7" single no. 5810
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 21, 2015
Cost: 0.8 euro
Tracks: 'Alles und noch viel mehr' / 'Sei wieder gut'

Listen to the song

Der schwarze Mann auf dem Dach - Manuela

The popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest was perhaps even bigger in the Seventies than it is now. The winning songs were often big hits everywhere in Europe and even songs that didn't win made an impact.

German singer Manuela made a career out of recording German-language versions of Eurovision songs. This single is an example: 'Der schwarze Mann auf dem Dach' is the German version of Clodagh Rodgers' 'Jack in the box', the 1971 Eurovision entry from the United Kingdom.

My collection: 7" single no. 5809
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 21, 2015
Cost: 0,8 euro
Tracks: 'Der schwarze Mann auf dem Dach' / 'Dich vergessen kann ich nie'

Listen to the song