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'
Although the A-side of this single is De Strangers' take on 'Rivers of Babylon', a big hit for Boney M at the time, this single attracted me for its B-side: a version of 'A-ba-ni-bi', the song with which Izhar Cohen won the 1978 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
As always, the Belgian group made the song totally their own with a lyric in Antwerp dialect. What exactly 'Nie doeke-mieke doen, nee nee' means... I can't tell you.
My collection of singles by the Belgian band De Strangers is still expanding, and it's all because they have recorded so many covers of Eurovision Song Contest songs. This single presents not one, but two songs from the annual songfest: versions of 'Lass die Sonne in dein Herz', the German entry, and the Belgian entry 'Soldiers of love'.
As always, they wrote new lyrics for these songs in Antwerp's dialect, full of Flemish expressions.
There have been a few earlier entries about the Belgian band De Strangers, as they have a repertoire partly consisting of covers of Eurovision songs. These covers are interesting because they are so different from the original.
'De mono-kini' is a version of '9 to 5', originally performed by Dolly Parton. But I really bought this single for the B-side.'Mor ni me den deze' - recorded in their local Antwerp dialect as usual - is a version of Bucks Fizz's 'Making your mind up'. I wish I could tell you what the lyric is about, but there is no way of knowing for someone who cannot understand that dialect. The fact that I found this single at a local flea market makes it interesting: how does a Belgian single like this end up near The Hague?
My collection: 7" single no. 5812 Found: Flea market, Voorburg, April 16, 2017 Cost: 0,5 euro Tracks: 'De mono-kini (9 to 5)' / 'Mor ni me den deze (Making your mind up)' Listen to the song
When Toto Cotugno won the 1990 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Insieme: 1992', the Belgian band De Strangers was quick to record a parody in their native language. Thus, ''k Zen liever lui as muug' was born.
The title roughly means 'I prefer to be lazy rather than tired', and is another stab at Eurovision songs done in a different way. And yes, it's another addition to my growing collection of Eurovision covers.
My collection: 7" single no. 5773 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: ''k Zen liever lui as muug' / 'Den baas hee altijd gelijk'
The Belgian band De Strangers are best known for their covers of Eurovision songs - on this blog anyway. I have bought quite a few of them on a previous visit to Chelsea Records in Antwerp, so when I went back in April this year, I found a handful more and I got them all. Sometimes I wonder why, but it's a collection of rare cover versions that you won't easily find anywhere else I guess.
This single features two Eurovision songs from 1977 with new Antwerp dialect lyrics by the band: 'L'oiseau et l'enfant', the year's winner, and 'A million in 1 2 3', the year's Belgian entry. Quite why these songs are suddenly about Adam and Eve and expensive coffee respectively is beyond me, but there you go.
My collection: 7" single no. 5774 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Adam en Eva' / 'Dure koffie'
The Belgian band The Strangers have featured on this blog several times already, but this single was a huge surprise for me: a cover version of Marty Wilde's 'Abergavenny'. There aren't that many covers of the song, especially not in the Antwerp dialect.
Like all their other cover versions, the Strangers have written their own lyric which has nothing to do with the Welsh city of the original song. And even for someone who understands Dutch, it's hard to find out what this lyric is about because the Antwerp dialect is pretty hermetic. So I guess it will remain a mystery. Nice music, though.
My collection: 7" single no. 5771 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, April 16, 2015 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'D'harmonie van Boemmerskonte' / 'Camp'
The Belgian band De Strangers have appeared on this blog a few times before, because I bought five of their singles all on one day. This is the last of that series: their 1989 cover version of Riva's 'Rock me baby', the song that won the Eurovision Song Contest that year.
'Vivan bomma' (who knows what that means? I sure don't) was not a hit for the Belgian group, and they never had any chart hits ever since either. They had their last concert on May 14, 2002, followed by a one-off reunion concert in 2006.
My collection: 7" single no. 5619 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Vivan bomma' / 'Njoe-biet van Keskeschiet'
After releasing a version of the 1985 Eurovision winner as Lot ons swingen, Belgian band De Strangers decided to make an annual event of it. Their 1986 cover version was derived from Sandra Kim's J'aime la vie. Sandra represeted Belgium, and it was the first time that Belgium won the Contest.
In their undecipherable Antwerp dialect, the Strangers sing that they would like to be a policeman. Not exactly sure, because I can't really understand what they are singing at all. Evidently, most Belgians could, as this single actually gave them a hit: ''k Zen zo gere Polies' peaked at number 23 in the Belgian chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5618 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: ''k Zen zo gere Polies' / 'Allee allee mokt da na mee'
Another Eurovision cover by the Belgian band 'De Strangers', this time from 1985 winner 'La det swinge' by the Bobbysocks. Lyrically, the men from Antwerp stay pretty close to the subject of the original: rock and roll is much better than the modern 'dance' music. All this in true local dialect, of course.
The B-side is a version of the year's Belgian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest: Linda Lepomme's 'Laat me nu gaan'. Entitled 'Lot ons na gaan' ('Let us go') is a plea to let the band go to Eurovision as they feel they might have a good shot at winning the contest. Some interesting foreign languages fly by in this track...
My collection: 7" single no. 5617 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 2 euro Tracks: 'Lot ons swingen' / 'Lot ons na gaan'
The Belgian band 'De Strangers' (introduced in an earlier post here) delivered possibly the strangest single of their lengthy career with this 'Al da d'Haar... krijde cadeau'. It rougly translates into 'You get all that hair as a gift' and it is a cover of the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest winner 'Si la vie est cadeau', performed by Corinne Hermes.
And, as if that year's Belgian entry wasn't already weird enough (the legendary 'Rendez-vous' by Pas de deux), they included a cover entitled 'Parlez-vous' on the B-side. Amazingly, this single did not get into the Belgian chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5616 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerpen, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Al da d'haar... krijde cadeau' / 'Parlez-vous'
The Strangers are a Belgian band, hailing from Antwerp. They became famous for singing satirical lyrics on wellknown hits. The band was formed on May 8, 1952 by Gust Torfs, Alex Boeye, Pol Ballansee and John Dewilde. In the early days they would perform in standard Dutch, but they soon moved to performing in Antwerp dialect.
Some of their hits were derived from Eurovision hits, and I recently managed to buy several of those... in Antwerp, of course. The first of these is 1976's 'Naa moette traawe', a version of Eurovision winner Brotherhood of Man's 'Save your kisses for me'. The B-side was their version of that year's runner-up 'Un deux troi' by Catherine Ferry. This single reached number 17 in the Belgian singles chart.
My collection: 7" single no. 5615 Found: Chelsea Records, Antwerp, August 10, 2014 Cost: 1 euro Tracks: 'Naa moette traawe' / 'Een twee drij'