Waarom toch, waarom - Dick Rienstra

Dick Rienstra (Assen, 1941 – 2021) was a Dutch singer and actor. He began his musical career in a local group, The Double S Combo, where he sang and played guitar, clarinet, and saxophone. In 1960 he debuted on the radio, and in 1962 on the TV, in a talent show. He moved to Amsterdam in 1963 and got a job in a musical comedy production as a singer and an actor in skits and revues. He was a contender in the preliminaries for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977, and after that performed in the theater and in minor roles on television. 

This single features his cover version of Udo Jürgens' 1964 Eurovision entry 'Warum nur, warum' with Dutch lyrics.

My collection: 7" single no. 6534
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Waarom toch, waarom' / 'Adios my darling'

Dikke Lou - De strangers

The 1984 Eurovision winners the Herreys delivered the nonsensical song 'Diggi loo diggi ley' and somehow went away as the winners of that edition. This wasn't the only time in the Eighties and Nineties that the international juries had taken leave of their senses.

Anyway, in Dutch the song would be paraphrased in a variety of naughty ways, but the Belgian Strangers kept it relatively clean, by singing about 'Dikke Lou' ('Fat Lou'). It is only one of their many Eurovision cover versions - and my collection of these is growing every time I visit Belgium.

My collection: 7" single no. 6519
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Dikke Lou' / 'De zonnebank'

Rock bottom - Brothers of the world

If you didn't want to fork out 10,000 Italian lira (or whatever the price of a vinyl single was at that time) for the original version of 'Rock bottom' by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran, you could always buy the cheaper version by the Brothers of the world in Italy. At least, I think this must have been a cheaper single, because it was performed by uncredited studio musicians. 

The Brothers of the world struck the previous year with a version of 'Save your kisses for me', and this was their second and last single. Both singles were only released in Italy.

My collection: 7" single no. 6533
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Rock bottom' / 'A little bit more'

Oui oui oui oui - Les Djinns

This EP actually features four different songs, but it is their cover of 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' (originally performed by Jean Philippe) that caused this particular purchase. Upon playing the entire EP, I had to conclude that I wouldn't probably listen to all the other tracks much. 

Les Djinns were a French choir with a distinctive singing style, composed of sixty girls between the ages of nine and eighteen years, conducted by Paul Bonneau. In 1959, the French government organized a 'Master School' for the instruction of girls in musical subjects in order to ensure a supply of performance talent for the country's radio and television industry. The Master School set a course of study where the girls followed a curriculum of standard academic subjects in the morning hours, then musical courses in the afternoons consisting of scales, vocal techniques, harmony and choral vocalizing. Upon graduation, each girl was accepted into Les Djinns. Within six weeks of the group's founding, Les Djinns were awarded the Grand Prix of the Academy of Records in France, and their popularity began to proliferate with stage appearances in France and tours in other European countries. Eventually, a total of 88 tunes were recorded, including a Christmas album and an album of American favorites sung in French, and released on the ABC-Paramount label. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6532
Found: Marktplaats.nl, received 30 November 2021
Cost: €1
Tracks: 'Une rose rouge', 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' / 'Balade Irlandaise', 'L'ames des poètes'

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'

Some people - Paul Young

'Some people' was the second single taken from Paul Young's third solo album 'Between two fires'. The album and this single had a sound that was a bit more America-oriented. None of the singles taken from this album would reach the UK Top 40; 'Some people' peaked at number 56.

In a review for Rolling Stone magazine, Laura Fissinger wrote about the album: "Through the first few listens, the album seems muted and reticent, a bashful mishmash of pop riffs and references. But after those initial plays, 'Between Two Fires' takes on remarkable colours, as if its ten tracks were strips of film coming to life in a photographer's darkroom. The record finally reveals itself to be a detailed portrait of the problems human beings have with sharing things – whether it's a whole planet or just a queen-size bed." Quite.

My collection: 7" single no. 6528
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Some people' / 'A matter of fact'

San Remo festival - Robertino

Robertino Loreti was born in Rome on 22 October 1947. As a child he sang in restaurants and in the early Sixties he was discovered by Danish TV producer Volmer Sørensen. Because of this the artist had the opportunity to become one of Italy's best known boy singers.In 1963 he released this EP, performing several songs from the San Remo festival from that year.

The most interesting track on this EP for me is his cover version of 'Uno per tutte'. The song was written by Tony Renis, Mogol and Alberto Testa. It was first performed by Renis and Emilio Pericoli during the Sanremo Music Festival in February 1963, where they performed two different versions of the song, placing first in the competition. The song was then chosen to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963, where it was performed by Pericoli. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6522
Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, 25 November 2021
Cost: €2
Tracks: 'Uno per tutte', 'Giovane giovane' / 'Non costa niente', 'Occhi neri e cielo blu'