Udo Jürgens
would have been 85 last month. But he died. Five years ago.
He’s
probably the most prolific songwriter ever to appear on the Eurovision stage. He
wrote about a 1000 songs, sold 100 million records and represented his home
country Austria three times at the Eurovision Song Contest. The 3rd time
he won, with Merci Cherie (1966).
It is said
that even Sir Elton John has expressed his envy toward Jürgens’ songwriting
talent.
In 2007 his
songs were forged into a musical Ich War Noch Niemals In New York and your
Eurocovers wrote a bit about that here.
Now there’s
a movie of the musical, again drenched in Udo’s music. Ich War Noch Niemals In
New York the Movie is in German and now playing in theaters in Germany,
Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The Philip
Stölzi directed movie stars Heike Makatsch, Moritz Bleibtreu, Katharina
Thalbach, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Michael Ostrowski, Pasquale Aleardi, Marlon
Schramm and Mat Schuh.
Reviews are mixed, from raving to raging.
I
haven’t seen it but I can’t wait for the DVD with subtitles (expected in June
2020, also on Blu Ray if you're into that).
The
Soundtrack
One Eurovision song made it to the film, Merci Cherie is performed by the ever gorgeous Moritz Bleibtreu. (but a very short version at 1.38).
The music
from the film is out on CD and deluxe 3CD set. Disc one has the songs from the
movie, the bonus discs have all kinds of tributes and coverversions featuring
artists like Pepe Lienhards orchestra (Jürgens’ touring band leader for 37
years!), Matt Monro (the amazing If I Never Sing Another Song), Nana Mouskouri, Heino, Caterina Valente, Milva and many
more. (see image below for tracklist)
Digital?, not so much, it seems Spotify doesn't want us outside the German speaking countries to hear it. Same for Apple music, maybe iTunes has it but it doesn't show up here.
You can find out about Udo Jürgens Eurovision entries and their versions on page three and four of the Eurovision Collectors Guide (via our facebook page, open to all).
Here's an older post that's popular again right now, so, worth moving it up. Did a bit of an update too, still completely and utterly awesome.
After Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son and L'Amour Est Bleu I really hope the band someday will discover the Gainsbourg Genius that is Boum Bada Boum by Minouche Barrelli.
(From 2012) Here's something completely and utterly awesome. Swedish Symphonic metal band Therion, formerly known as Megatherion, have released their 15th(!) album and it's a collection of French 60's and 70's songs including some well known classics (and quite a few obscure gems). The classiest of classics is of course Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son*.
The album is out in October 2012 and is titled Les Fleurs Du Mal (The flowers of evil).
There are two versions of the 1965 Eurovision classic on the CD along with unforgettables like La Maritza (Sylvie Vartan), Polichinelle (Another France Gall hit), Initials B.B. (Serge Gainsbourg) and Les Sucettes (One of the biggest hits for the Gall/Gainsbourg Tandem)**.
See below for the full tracklist and details on the singers who originally recorded the songs.
You can buy the album (and the 2016 EP below) through the Therion website here.
Therium founder Christofer Johnsson is taking a massive risk with this unusual clash of Metal, Opera and YèYe album by financing the project himself, so please support them and Buy It.
2016 update
Therion have also tackled L'Amour Est Bleu (Love is blue), the 1967 entry by Vicky Leandros.
It's on the EP Les Épaves, which was recorded in 2012, so I guess the tracks just didn't make it to the Fleurs album. But the tracks don't sound like leftovers. Go find it in you favorite record store or digitessen.
There are two versions of Vicky's Eurovision classic on the EP. Les Épaves was also released on limited edition vinyl 10 inch and cdsingle. Tracklist below. ---------- ----------
* You know by know: Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son is the 1965 Eurovision winner for Luxembourg performed by France Gall and written by Serge Gainsbourg ** Only the version of the album sold at the live shows and the Japanese edition have the bonus track Les Sucettes. - Thank you Gabriel, see comments
Therion website, Facebook
Also check out Lori Lewis (Therion singer) website.
And ABBA fans: here's a video of Therions take on Summer Night City from their 2001 album Secret Of The Runes. Special thanks to Olaf and Gabriel. Please see comments.
Les Tracks
Here’s the full tracklist
of the Les Fleurs Du Mal album. I did some digging on the net and found
most of the original singers.
1. Poupée De Cire,
Poupée The Son (France Gall, 1965)
2. Une Fleur Dans Le
Coeur (Victoire Scott, 1968)
3. Initials B.B (Serge Gainsborg, 1968)
- Of course the B.B. initials stand for Brigitte Bardot
4. Mon Amour, Mon
Ami (Marie Laforet, 1967)
- Written by legendary Eurovision winning songsmiths André Popp and Claude Marnay.
5. Polichinelle (France
Gall, 1967)
6. La Maritza
(Sylvie Vartan, 1968)
7. Soeur Angelique
(Annie Philippe, 1966)
8. Dis-Moi Poupée
(Isabelle, 1967)
9. Lilith (Léonie, 1972) - see comments, thank you Fabio
10. En Alabama
(Léonie, 1971)
11. Wahala Manitou
(Léonie, 1971)
- Both Leonie
tracks originally appeared on the same single. Source : discogs
12. Je N'ai Besoin
Que De Tendresse (Claire Dixon, 1967)
13. La Licorne D'or
(Victoire Scott, 1968)
14. J'ai Le Mal De
Toi (Betty Mars, 1974)
- Betty Mars is the French 1972 Eurovision singer. - This J'ai Le Mal De Toi is not the 1964 Colette Dereal song.
15. Poupée De Cire,
Poupée The Son
16. Les Sucettes (France
Gall, 1966)
Sources :Discogs,
Youtube and record collection of yours truly. Les Épaves
1. L'amour est
bleu (heavy version) (Vicky Leandros cover)
2. Nous ne sommes
pas des anges (France Gall cover) 3. La fermeture
éclair (Delphine cover) 4. Ah-Hem-Ho-Hu-Err
(Christine Pilzer cover) 5. L'amour est bleu
(mellow version) (Vicky Leandros cover)
Here’s some
news about the 10th* edition of the Eurovision Collectors Guide, previously known
as the booklet that gives you all the information
on the entries of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Since 1989
nine* booklets have been issued with all the information on the songs, versions
and releases of our beloved Eurovision Song Contest. Some of you may still have
a much thumbed copy lying about.
I’m pleased
to present the 10th edition in a new DIY format Many things have changed since and another
(affordable) paper edition was just not possible. * Actually it's the 11th edition but the first one (#0) only had 10 copies made and hasn't been available to the public.
It’s 3
decades of dedicated work, of collecting data with a lot of help from many
people.
Massive
thanks go out to all of you who have contributed to the Eurovision Collectors
Guide over the past 30 years, couldn’t have done it without you.
I hope
you’ll find it useful, fun and occasionally surprising.
This new
version will hopefully provide all the information you need. You can read it
online or print it and make a lovely book / atlas out of it, it’s up to you
now.
I decided
to make this issue a free issue, but if you’re really really really happy with
what you see, I won’t stop you from sending me presents. There will be updates and corrections later in the year, that's where you come in....
For the new print it yourself edition of the Eurovision Collectors Guide please visit our facebook
Oh, and it only costs a like or two.
Or you can download the whole thing (Updated 2020 !) as a PDF file here at ESC History A more user friendly and searchable version will be released after Liverpool 2023.
Look who's
at it again! Nicki French releases a new EP Let's Play
That Song Again covering some Eurovision tunes we all know and love.
The
EP includes Go (Gigliola Cinquetti's Si from 1974), My Star (Brainstorm 2000) You Are TheOnly One by Sergey Lazarev and Tonight Again (Guy Sebastian)
One of these is one of my top 3 favorite Eurovision songs ever, so well done Nicki.
All songs feature
in two versions on the EP including mixes by Pete Ware and Matt Pop.
If you buy the CD version a new mix of Don't Play
That Song Again (Nicki's own Eurovision classic from 2000) is yours as well. We. Love. Nicki.
The 2015 Eurovision EP
CD version (still) available at Energise Recordswho also still have Nicki's first Eurovision from 2015
EP available. (more about that one here at Eurocovers)
The digital version is out on May 6. (but discontinued as of 2023)
Today it's 50 years ago that the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest happened in Madrid, Spain. There were four winners and other sources of total mayhem (like Franco).
There's a lot of talking but the show starts at approx 16 minutes.
(TVE's archive may not be available in all territories.
You can watch the original show here at TVE's archives. It's in black and white, as broadcasted in Spain back then.
Other countries saw it in colour. The colour version is here at TVE
10 years ago Eurocovers did quite a few bits about that, so why not check the old posts out. (Warning, may contain expired links)
2019: The Eurocovers post about Dana Valery is another one worth moving up. Thanks to Keurspel YouTube you can now give the songs mentioned a listen. (scroll down a bit)
The original post is from 2009.
It seems Dana Valery has all but disappeared from the WWW and there still is no compilation of her work. You can find some stuff on the digitals but none of the Eurocovers.
South-Africa release
Another international singer already lined up for a Eurocovers feature since the beginning of this blog is Dana Valery. But information on her career and recordings is very patchy I had to put the article aside several times. I thought it especially interesting because of her equally talented brother (Sergio Franchi 1926-1990) who also has a few Eurocovers to his name, so something of a Brothers and Sisters feature would have been fitting.
Dana Valery's career is all over the place and I don't know many artists who have recorded for so many record labels. Her work isn't documented anywhere and as far as I know there has never been a CD re-issue of any of her albums, let alone a compilation. I don't intend to cover all aspects of her career but the things that stood out are here. If you have any additions or suggestions please leave a comment.
Japan
Dana Valery Catalano is born in Italy but at eight she moves to South Africa with her family.
It's here that she has her first solo hits, including her first Eurovision coverversions.
But before the breakthrough she spends a short while (and one LP: Dan, Diana and the Diamonds, CBS 1962) with Rhodesian band the Diamonds.
It's hard to put her early South African releases in chronological order but it's the 1964 single This Is My Prayer that is a huge hit and becomes a top 10 best selling single of the year in South Africa. This Is My Prayer (CBS SSC 479 South Africa) is a coverversion of Gigliola Cinquetti's Eurovision winner Non Ho L'Eta (Italy 1964).
The b-side to the single is Would I Love You Again, and that's another Eurocover: t'En Va Pas, the Swiss 1963 entry by Esther Ofarim (2nd place).
The single is also released in the UK but it fails to chart. (Decca F11881),
Japan and the U.S.
Both songs can also be found on the LP Dana (CBS ALD 6747, South Africa)
After the success with This Is My Prayer Dana Valery releases an LP Dana Valery All'Italiana (CBS ALD 6694), but I don't know if there are any Eurovision songs on that, I haven't found a tracklist.
There are some more singles and albums released in South Africa up to 1965 but after that she moves to the U.S. to record what I think is her best work.
---- ----
She releases several singles on the Columbia label like You,Having You Around and especially the utterly fantastic You Don't know Where Your Interest Lies from 1967. The latter is a Simon and Garfunkel song written by Paul Simon who also provides the talking bits on the track. (originally it's the b-side to Having You Around)
The song fails to chart but has become a Northern Soul classic over the years, and rightfully so. It has appeared on many compilations and the single was re-issued on several labels. Update In 2013 the single was re-issued in the U.K. (Outta Sight label OSV 105).
In the late 60's and early 70's she is a guest on all major U.S. TV shows (Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Liberace). Put Your Hand In The Hand (1971) is a popular song for her and it gets a single release in many countries.
A recommended album is Not The Flower But The Root from 1972 (see comments). This is a pure soul album produced by Carl Davis.
This album was re-released on CD in Japan in 2013 and 2016.
In 1975 she releases the third Eurovision coverversion on the LP Dana Valery produced by Mountain guitarist Leslie West. The album includes Dana's (quite fab) take on Cliff Richards Power To All Our Friends, the U.K. entry of 1973.
Disco doesn't pass Dana by either and she releases several records combining light disco with ballads and covers of pop hits. Her disco version of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (1976 # 95 on the US billboard) is dire, but the era gives Dana Valery her 'biggest' US top 100 hit the soulful ballad Don't Want to be Lonely (#87 in 1980)
In 1978 she releases a single in German, Du Bist Das Licht in Meiner Welt, but it doesn't spark a career in the German speaking countries
After a long and sudden run of personal tragedies in the early 1991 she stops working for a year but then is asked to host an American games show. It's at this show Dana Valery decides it's time for a career change. She ventures into healing through Reiki and hypnotherapy.
Sergio Franchi
In her U.S. career Dana Valery performed with her brother on several occasions (The Ed Sullivan show amongst them)
Dana's brother is Sergio Franchi, an operatic singer who later crosses over to lighter music like say, Eurocovers. In his career he records the Italian entries of 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1966. Sergio Franchi's death in 1990 is one of the personal tragedies that had an big impact Dana Valery's life. I hope to do a feature on Sergio Franchi in a future Eurocovers post.
