Ein Lied ist wie ein Vogel - Ilanit

It doesn't happen very often that two versions of a single appear with the same seller, especially when you're after both versions. But that's exactly what happened earlier this month when I finally found 'Ahava hi shir lishnayim' and its German counterpart, 'Ein Lied ist wie ein Vogel'. It was a bit of a relief to find both singles in quick succession.

Ilanit recorded her 1977 Eurovision entry in several languages, but the original version and this German version are possibly the hardest to get hold of.Of course, now there is still the English version to go.

My collection: 7" single no. 7153
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Ein Lied ist wie ein Vogel' / 'Lass dich mal gehen'

Yo soy aquel - Willy Alberti

Although the A-side of this single is really the Italian song 'Nessuno mi puo giudicare', all the attention has to be focused on its B-side, a version of 'Yo soy aquel', one of the most impressive Spanish Eurovision entries ever. 

The original was performed on the Eurovision stage on 5 March 1966. Dutch singer Willy Alberti was quick to recognize the quality of the song and released his version just two months later, on 9 May 1966. Finding this single was a real surprise for me - and the fact that the original picture sleeve was included was very fortunate.

My collection: 7" single no. 7159
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Nessuno mi puo giudicare' / 'Yo soy aquel'

La la la (She gives me love) - Joan Manuel Serrat

Like I wrote when I bought the French version of 'La, la, la', I only had the Portuguese and English version of Joan Manuel Serrat's version of the song to go. And this month the day has come that I can present the English version.

'La, la, la (She gives me love)' is basically the male version of 'La, la, la (He gives me love)' which was recorded by Massiel when Joan Manuel Serrat was replaced after he refused to perform his song in Catalan. The colourful sleeve of this single is a bit of a bonus.

My collection: 7" single no. 7158
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'La la la (She gives me love)'  / 'Mis gaviotas'

L'amour est bleu - Vicky Leandros

Having already bought 'L'amour est bleu' and 'A taste of Vicky', I thought I had a pretty decent selection of Japanese singles of this song, but it turns out there was one more: this re-release from 1980 featuring Vicky's Eurovision song and a cover version in French of Mary Hopkin's 'Those were the days'. 

It's interesting that even this single doesn't complete the collection: these two tracks were originally released on a Japanese single in 1971. Something tells me that version will land in my collection pretty soon as well.

My collection: 7" single no. 7154
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'L'amour est bleu' / 'Les temps des fleurs'

Dios mio, como te quiero - Domenico Modugno

It's funny how Domenico Modugno keeps popping up on this blog, while I'm really only after three of his songs. However, 'Volare', 'Piove' and 'Dio, come ti amo' have all become classics and they have been covered by many artists as well. 

In the case of the latter, it was Domenico himself who recorded a different version. He recorded 'Dio, come ti amo' in Spanish and released it in Spanish-speaking countries as 'Dios mio, como te quiero'. Whether it was a big success in those territories, I don't know, but it is certainly as good as the original version.

My collection: 7" single no. 7157
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Dios mio, como te quiero' / 'Es una cosa grande'

Dance butterfly - Milestones

The Milestones represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972 with 'Falter im Wind'. It remains one of the most underrated and undiscovered gems of Eurovision history, with its combination of dreamy lyrics and - a first on the Eurovision stage, I reckon - the use of a transverse flute. 

The band also recorded the song in English. That single is very rare, and I was lucky enough to pick up a copy that apparently used to be in the archives of Radio Miramar in Spain. It is, of course, a Spanish pressing of the single. 'Dance butterfly' sounds even better in English, I think.

My collection: 7" single no. 7156
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Dance butterfly' / 'Oh fairy day'

Children, Kinder, enfants - Margo, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Malcolm Roberts, Ireen Sheer, Chris Roberts

I bought 'Children, Kinder, enfants' in 2009, a single by an international group of singers. I bought it a few times after that, because I knew there was a different version of the single, but somehow I always ended up buying the one with the 'international version' on it. Somehow I just couldn't remember that I already owned that one.

This time I finally managed to get the correct one. This version of 'Children, Kinder, enfants' features the French version like it does on the B-side of the 'international version', but also the English version of the song. This should mean that I own all three versions of the song, finally. There's also a 12" single of this song, but it doesn't contain any different version.

My collection: 7" single no. 7155
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Children, Kinder, enfants (French version)' / 'Children, Kinder, enfants (English version)'

Ahava hi shir lishnayim - Ilanit

Back in 1977 Ilanit represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time. She'd been the country's first representative in 1973 but she was invited back when the entries of the years after that didn't deliver the goods. While Ilanit had reached fourth place, Poogy only managed seventh place, Shlomo Artzi only got to place 11 and while Chocolate Menta Mastik reversed the county's fortunes by landing on sixth place, it wasn't enough for the ambitious Israeli broadcaster.

And so, Ilanit came back with the song 'Ahava hi shir lishnayim' ('Love is a song for two'), not exactly the most accessible title but a melodious song nonetheless. Ilanit also recorded the song in French as 'Ensemble' and in German as 'Ein Lied ist wie ein Vogel'. The song ended up in a slightly disappointed 11th place. In 1978 Israel would go for gold with Izhar Cohen.

My collection: 7" single no. 7161
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Ahava hi shir lishnayim' / 'Hene halaila'

Das war eine schöne Party - France Gall

In September 2021 I wrote: "France Gall only recorded a French and Japanese version of ['Poupée de cire, poupée de son'], as far as I know", but how wrong I was. She also recorded the song in Italian and German. It's the German version that landed in my collection last week.

It was released, obviously, in Germany, but confusingly, the sleeve was very similar to the German sleeve of the original version. Fortunately the title of the song is printed prominently next to the photograph, otherwise buyer would never have known the difference. Listening to this version, it's quite impressive how France Gall managed to pronounce German in this song.

My collection: 7" single no. 7152
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Das was eine schöne Party' / 'Meine erste grosse Liebe'

Pump pump - Fredi ja Ystävät

Having bought 'Pump pump' and 'Schon wieder macht mein Herz bump bump', obviously I was curious whether I could get hold of the original Finnish version of Fredi & Ystävät's legendary Eurovision entry from 1976. 

Lo and behold, I actually found the single - albeit without its picture sleeve - during last week's record fair. The funny and catchy song was released in three languages, which means that I now have all versions.

My collection: 7" single no. 7151
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Pump pump' / 'Kun ita hämärtyy'

Twee kleine Italianen - Conny

Conny Froboess represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 with 'Zwei kleine Italiener', a song that went on to become a bit of a classic. Such was its popularity, that Conny recorded the song in three other languages besides German: English, Italian and Dutch!

The Dutch version can be quite hard to get hold of - several copies online are being sold without its picture sleeve. So I felt rather lucky when I found a good copy at last week's record fair. 'Twee kleine Italianen' roughly follows the lyrics of the original song  Even the B-side was recorded in Dutch.

My collection: 7" single no. 7150
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Twee kleine Italianen' / 'Hallo, hallo, hallo'

Ein kleiner gold'ner Ring / Einmal sehen wir uns wieder - Lale Andersen

Lale Andersen (23 March 1905 – 29 August 1972) was a German chanson singer-songwriter, born in Lehe (now part of Bremerhaven). She is best known for her interpretation of the song 'Lili Marleen' in 1939, which by 1941 transcended the conflict to become World War II's biggest international hit. Popular with both the Axis and the Allies, Andersen's original recording spawned versions, by the end of the War, in most of the major languages of Europe, and by some of the most popular artists in their respective countries.

 In 1961, she participated as the West German representative in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Einmal sehen wir uns wieder', which only reached 13th place with three points. Fifty-six years old at the time, she held the record of the eldest participant at Eurovision for over 45 years – surpassed only in 2008 by the 75-year-old Croatian entertainer 75 Cents. Her Eurovision song was, oddly, only released on the B-side of a single, this 'Ein kleiner gold'ner Ring'. Finding a copy was hard... but I finally did it!

My collection: 7" single no. 7149
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Ein kleiner gold'ner Ring' / 'Einmal sehen wir uns wieder'

Un premier amour - Jean-Paul Mauric

'Un premier amour' was the winning song of the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest. It was performed by Isabelle Aubret, but as per usual back then, other artists were quick to cash in on that success. One of them was Jean-Paul Mauric, who represented France a year ealier with 'Printemps (Avril carillone)', a song that was met with rather less enthusiasm. 

This EP presents four songs by the singer, displaying a wide range of musical styles. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7145
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Twist avec maman', 'Un premier amour' / 'Qu'est ce que c'est', 'Un printemps'

Ah! Quelle histoire (Congratulations) - Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twice, but the amount of singles that spawned is quite amazing. Thanks, of course, to the fact that he recorded his Eurovision songs in numerous languages. I already had 'Congratulations' on 7", as well as 'Man gratuliert mir', the German version of that song, and of course 'Congratulations' in Spanish.

And then... here's 'Ah! Quelle histoire', the French version of 'Congratulations'. The only version I don't have yet is the Italian one. Something tells me it will be just a matter of time...

My collection: 7" single no. 7134
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'Ah! Quelle histoire' / 'Girl you'll be a woman soon'

A cidade (até ser dia) - Anabela

During the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 Portugal was represented by Anabela with the song 'A cidade (até ser dia)', written by Pedro Abrantes, former Eurovision entrant Paulo de Carvalho, and Marco Quelhas. The song was arranged by the song writer's brother Fernando Abrantes, who also performed it at the piano live on stage together with the singer Anabela during the Eurovision final in Ireland. The song ended up in tenth place.

Since 1993 the single has become quite rare. When you search for it online you can get a decent copy for more than 25 euros, which in my book is much too high a price. And so I have to say that going to record fairs really is a good thing if you know where to look. In this case, I ended up with a seller who had some Eurovision singles - not too much - and in between the expected titles by Bucks Fizz, Johnny Logan, Celine Dion and others, there it was: a good copy of 'A cidade (até ser dia)'. I've searched for this one for quite a long time, and finding it during the first hour of my visit to the record fair in Den Bosch was a really good start of the day.

My collection: 7" single no. 7133
Found: Record fair, Den Bosch, 13 April 2024
Tracks: 'A cidade (até ser dia)' / 'Nightfall in the city'

Piove - Domenico Modugno

I already bought a clear vinyl copy of Domenico Modugno's 'Piove' five years ago, but I was pretty surprised to find another version recently online. It was also pressed on clear vinyl, but this time the disc featured four tracks and a picture sleeve. It looks like this EP was produced in 1959, the year of Modugno's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song.

The three tracks accompanying 'Piove' on this EP are a nice representation of Italian music at the end of the 1950's. It's oldfashioned but still quite attractive. Especially 'Farfalle' is a catchy tune.

My collection: 7" single no. 7130
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 March 2024
Tracks: 'Piove', 'Farfalle' / 'Io', 'Come prima'

Volare - Explosivo

When you buy a record from the other end of the world - in this case, Canada - it would be stupid not to buy more than one record. And so I went searching for a little bit more. Being still in a Eurovision mood, it was a no-brainer to get this 12" single: a version of the legendary 'Volare', but in a dsico guise.

Explosivo was a short-lived outfit, having released just this one 7" and 12" single back in 1981. I found out later that the 7" single contains exactly the same tracks, but the A-side, 'Volare', is edited on the 7" single. So it's good to get this full length version, going on for over five minutes. For some reason, the verses are omitted in this cover version, so you get a few repetitions of the chorus - with a disco beat, of course.

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 March 2024
Tracks: 'Volare' / 'Latin express'

Eurovision - Telex

I have a big subcollection of Eurovision singles and within that subcollection there's another subcollection: 12" singles of Eurovision songs. You'd be surprised how many 12" singles of Eurovision songs actually exist, and many have already featured on this blog anyway. But one eluded me, and I consider it the ultimate Eurovision 12" single: it's 'Eurovision' by Telex.

It's quite a rare one, because it was only released in the USA as a promotional disc. But it contains an extended version of that song, and as far as I know this version has never been released anywhere else. I've had to search for this one for quite a long time, and I am really glad to finally have it. Even if I had to have it sent over from Canada!

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 9 March 2024
Tracks: 'Eurovision [extended]' / 'Dance to the music', 'Twist a Saint-Tropez'

I'll come back - Dora

Another Spanish promotional single went into my collection, and it's an interesting one for sure. It's got only one playable side and it features the English version of 'Voltarei', titled 'I'll come back'.

'Voltarei', of course, was released in 1988 when Dora represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest. Quite why the Spanish decided to choose the English version instead of the Portuguese one is a mystery to me, especially because this promotional single is housed in the original sleeve - meaning that 'Voltarei' is announced at the front and 'I'll come back' at the back. Curiosities like this make me very happy.

My collection: 7" single no. 7140
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 February 2024
Tracks: 'I'll come back'

La, la, la - Filippo Carletti Quinteto

When Spain won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968 with  'La, la, la' by Massiel, other acts were quick to jump on the bandwagon. One of those acts was the Filippo Carletti Quinteto, consisting of Francesco Costa (bass, vocals) Erasmo Palmieri (vibraphone, organ, vocals) Carlo Piazza (guitar, vocals) and Joaquín Liebanas (drums) and of course the titular Filippo Carletti. 

What's interesting, is that this single also contains a Spanish version of 'Nous vivrons d'amour', the entry from Luxembourg that year. Quite why they chose that song instead of one of the other songs that competed that year I don't know. But it certainly adds to the attractiveness of this single.

My collection: 7" single no. 7137
Found: Discogs.com, received 28 February 2024
Tracks: 'La, la, la' / 'Nuestro amor'