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.
Links
Mamma Mia It's Udo! (2007 post about the original musical)
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).
IWNNINY, der Film has a Facebook page
Walk Away - Warum Nur Warum at Eurocovers
The musical is a thin story about an ambitious TV show host Lisa (Kerstin Marie Mäkelburg) who neglects her mother Maria (Ingeborg Krabbe) who's life in an old folks home bores her to tears and she flees to New York with her old-folk home amant Otto (Horst Schultheis).