VII: Year Of The Puppet - Is that a big string in your hand or....

The second Mandarin version of Puppet on a string featured in The Year Of The Puppet series is by Hong Kong singer-actress Betty Chung. Betty Chungs biggest claim to international fame is her role as Mei Ling in Bruce's Lee's 1973 classic movie 'Enter the dragon'.

Betty Chung also played the role of Peter Pan in the Cantonese version of the 70's musical and recorded classics like Bang Bang, Don't sleep in the subway, Massachusetts, Georgie girl and Love Story.

Her version of Puppet on a string, 在你手中把線牽, Zai ni shou zhong ba xian qian, translates as You hold a big string in your hand.

It an be found on the Bell A-Go-Go EP from 1967. Betty Chungs Chinese name is Zhong Ling Ling, although she's also known as Betty Chung Ling Ling.

鍾玲玲 - 在你手中把線牽

(EMI 7 EPA 197)

Tracklist EP:
- Bell a go-go
- Sugar town
- Puppet on a string (Listen here)
- Summer Wine
Just like Lara and the Trailers, Betty Chung also recorded a version of Lee Hazlewoods Sugartown on the EP.



Betty Chung also recorded a Mandarin-Chinese version of another 1967 evergreen: Love is Blue.
The evergreen can be found on her 1968 LP Wild flame (Listen here).

More Chinese Puppets at Eurocovers:
Lara and the Trailers (櫻櫻)
Rose (玫瑰)
Sakura Teng (櫻花)


Thanks to Peter for the translations

Click the pictures for larger versions
The Year Of The Puppet celebrates the 40 year anniversary of Sandie Shaw's Eurovision victory with Puppet On A String. Introduction to the series in this Eurocovers post.
Other versions already featured are from France, Singapore (Mandarin-Chinese), Jamaica. Yugoslavia, Estonia, U.K. (Comedy), Iceland, Lithuania, USA (Musical), Spain, Brasil, UK punk, Norway (gloom) Norway, Turkey, Portugal, Basque country Organland, Tirol, Denmark, CzechoSlovakia, Hungary, Russia, Yugoslavia (Slovenia), Chile/Argentina/Mexico, Sweden, Netherlands

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Reggy van der Burgt

It's Eurovision Week, 40 years ago that is, and today Year Of The Puppet features a Dutch version of Puppet On A String. Speelbal in de wind (Toy-ball in the wind).

Reggy van der Burgt is a fairly unknown Dutch singer who, like so many, could have been a star if only….
She won a talent show when she was in her 20s and scored her only hit Teddybeer in 1966/1967. Follow up singles (incl. Speelbal…) fail to chart and her well received debut album fails to score commercially. I guess it's the sad old story 'Record company has other plans than artist' that probably killed off Reggy's career. But Teddybeer, a tale about exchanging your faithfull cuddly toy for a live one that hugs back, remains a treasured classic in Dutch pop history.

Reggy van der Burgt also recorded De tijd staat niet stil (Time doesn't stand still) a wonderful coverversion of the German 1966 song Die Zeiger der Uhr (Hands of the clock) which can be found on the b-side of Teddybeer. (single CNR UH 9833)

Speelbal in de wind / Maar morgen is hij mij vergeten (single CNR UH 9930)

Speelbal in de wind was also recorded by Dutch Eurovision singer Anneke Grönloh.

ZingZing has a lovely Reggy van der Burgt discography.

Stay tuned for some more great Puppets in the coming days.

Please Note: Several wonky links in older posts have been restored.

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Siw Malmkvists Sprattelgummas

Sprattelgumma is the Swedish version of Puppet On A String. The Year Of The Puppet continues with none other than Siw Malmkvist.
Siw Malmkvists first appearance on the Eurovison stage was in 1960 when she sang Alla andra får varann to a 10th place in London. But her first Eurovision related venture was when she won the Swedish preselection in 1959 with Augustin. Thát song was sung at the contest by another singer: Brita Borg. But Siw Malmkvist recorded it in Swedish, German, Danish, Norwegian and maybe even Italian, although the Eurocovers detectives are still out on that last version.
In 1961 she won the Swedish selection again, this time with April April but she was replaced for eurovision by Lill Babs*.
In 1969 Siw performed Primaballerina at the contest in Madrid, but now representing Germany.

* Thanks Frank!

(All details and links on the German Colour TV LP with a rare version of the song have been removed, but here is a Youtube, as long as it's there)
Sprattelgumma single (Metronome J45-743)

A superb Siw Malmkvist Discography is at http://jazzbacillen.com/


Not only has Siw Malmkvist appeared in several national selections, she also has been active on the international Eurocovers front.
U.K. 1967 - Puppet on a string - Sprattelgumma (Swedish)
Luxembourg 1967 - L'amour est bleu - Blå, blå är Kärleken (Swedish)
Luxembourg 1971 - Pomme Pomme Pomme - Ett rött äpple (Swedish)
Monaco 1971 - Un banc, un arbre, une rue - På en gammel bank
Yugoslavia 1992 - Ljubim te pesmama - Ein Hauch von Florenz (German)
Yugoslavia 1992 - Ljubim te pesmama - Ge mej en doft ifrån Rom (Swedish)
Croatia 1995 - Nostalgia - Musik ist wie ein Freund (German, with Lidija Horvát Dujnko)
Croatia 1995 - Nostalgia - Musik är ingenting för mig (Swedish with Siw Wennerberg)





Related Eurocovers Posts. Three Swedish coverversions from 1959 by Marie Dieke, including a version of Augustin.

Eurovision covers by Swedish MF regular Anne-Lie Rydé


Swedish Winner Waterloo in Feathers and in Spandex

The Year Of The Puppet celebrates the 40 year anniversary of Sandie Shaw's Eurovision victory with Puppet On A String. Introduction to the series in this Eurocovers post.
Other versions already featured are from France, Singapore (Mandarin-Chinese), Jamaica. Yugoslavia, Estonia, U.K. (Comedy), Iceland, Lithuania, USA (Musical), Spain, Brasil, UK punk, Norway (gloom) Norway, Turkey, Portugal, Basque country Organland, Tirol, Denmark, CzechoSlovakia, Hungary, Russia, Yugoslavia (Slovenia), Chile/Argentina/Mexico

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Chile, Argentina, Mexico

The Year Of The Puppet takes us to all corners of the globe. Here's three versions of the song made by South American stars of the 60's.

Chile - Gloria Benavides - Marionetas en la cuerdaSinger and comedienne Gloria Benavides, born in 1952, was a child star rising in the early 60's, mainly with Spanish versions of worldwide hits like Norman (Sue Thompson) and Amor por teléfono (Telephone lover, Connie Francis). She was a part of La Nueva Ola Chilena, the generation of young rock'n'roll and pop stars of Chile in the 50's and 60's.

She made her actual radio debut at the age of three in the popular Uncle Alex Club (Club del Tio Alejandro).
Her teenager career was mainly musical, but she finally focussed more on acting and comedy, resulting in the mid 80's show 'La show de Gloria', a regular TV show with comedy and music. Benavides is still regarded as one of the biggest comedy stars of Chile.

Gloria Benavides also recorded No Tengo Edad Par Amar Te (Non Ho l'Eta, Italy's 1964 winner) and Primo O Poi from the 1965 San Remo contest (10th)


Violeta Rivas is a hugely popular singer in Argentina in the from the 60's to today.
You can read all about Violeta Rivas at her homepage (in Spanish)

Here is her Eurocovers Discography (all songs in Spanish)

Dios como te amo (Italy 1966, Dio come ti amo by Domenico Modugno)
- b-side to Ninguno me puede juzgar (RCA Victor 31A-084)
- EP Canciones del Festival de San Remo 1966 (RCA Victor)
with 4 San Remo 1966 songs
- also on LP with the same title with 12 San Remo 1966 songs (RCA Víctor AVL 3650)

Merci Cherie (Austria 1966 winner, original by Udo Jürgens)
- 7" single (RCA Victor 31A-0963)
- EP Sin Final (RCA Victor 3AE-3536)

Titere (U.K. 1967 Puppet On A String - Sandie Shaw)
- 7" single (RCA Victor 31A-1100)
- EP Kilimandjaro - (RCA Victor 3AE-3607)

Dios como te amo & Titere can be found 2004 compilation CD 20 Secretos de amor (BMG Argentina)


Mexico - Los Rockin Devil's - Muñeco de cuerdaLos Rockin Devil's were a rock band from Tijuana, Mexico, part of a huge wave of rock'n'roll bands that emerged in the 60's.
At the height of their fame they produced 2 LP's each year (1964-1969) on which they covered all the Rock 'n' roll classics in Spanish but also turned some Eurovision songs into fresh pop hits.

Los Devil's Eurocovers, all in Spanish

No tengo edad para amarte (Italy 1964 winner Non ho l'eta by Gigliola Cingquetti)
- on LP Los Rockin Devils (Orfeon 1964)
Muñeco de cuerda (Puppet on a string)
- on LP Nuevos Hit's de Los Rockin Devil's (Orfeon 1967)
Bum Bang A Bang - (Lulu's co-winner, UK 1969)
- on LP Los Nuevos hits de Los Rockin Devil's (Orfeon 1969)

Bio and Discography can be found on the Los Rockin Devil's website







The Year Of The Puppet celebrates the 40 year anniversary of Sandie Shaw's Eurovision victory with Puppet On A String. Introduction to the series in this Eurocovers post.
Other versions already featured are from France, Singapore (Mandarin-Chinese), Jamaica. Yugoslavia, Estonia, U.K. (Comedy), Iceland, Lithuania, USA (Musical), Spain, Brasil, UK punk, Norway (gloom) Norway, Turkey, Portugal, Basque country Organland, Tirol, Denmark, CzechoSlovakia, Hungary, Russia, Yugoslavia (Slovenia) more to come....

Hey! - Wild Dancing in Vietnam and Uzbekistan

Việt Nam, until yesterday I only knew a bunch of 70's Eurovision songs covered by Vietnamese artists, many French covers including some that weren't even French originally. Songs like L'Amour est bleu (Luxembourg 1967), Après toi (Luxembourg 1972) and Si (Italy 1974) have all gotten the Vietnamese makeover, basically singing the song twice, in French and in Vietnamese, resulting in tedious 6 minute versions that also quite often suffer from a very cheap production.
Of course there are exceptions, the late legendary singer Ngoc Lan is beyond critisism, Elvis Phuong has a very cool name and My Tam's version of Poupée De Cire, Poupée de son (Luxembourg 1965) is superb. (BTW, Poupée must be a popular song in Vietnam, as it's covered at least 7 times).
Some of these will be featured here at Eurocovers in the future.

But then, by accident, I came across Vũ Điệu Hoang Dã, the song we know as the fabulous Wild Dances by Ruslana, winner for Ukraine in 2004.

The singer, Hồ Quỳnh Hương, from Hanoi, takes the song and, even though the music is similar to the original, gives it a new image (watch the video). There's some really wild hair going on that wouldn't be out of place in one of these concrete hair gel commercials, plus a lot of very wild dancing and guys with spears.

My Vietnamese language skills are letting me down a bit but I found out Hồ Quỳnh Hương released the CD Sao Tình Yêu which features Vũ Điệu Hoang Dã in 2005.
She won some award for best female singer the same year and rightfully so as her version of the mighty Wild Dances is fantastic. 85 million Vietnamese people can't be wrong.

Another surprise cover of Wild Dances is Sevmaganman by Ziyoda. Can't seem to find much info on this singer but for the Eurocovers fans: She's from Uzbekistan. For me it's the first Eurovision cover in Uzbek, but I have to admit, I haven't really investigated their music scene. My knowledge of the Uzbekistan music scene is limited to Yulduz Usmanova.




  

Ruslana, the original goddess of Wild Dancing has her temple here.

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Majda Sepe - Marioneta

The Year Of The Puppet continues with a Slovenian version of Puppet On A String by Majda Sepe.
The song Marioneta was recorded way back when in the old Yugoslavia days, 1967 in this case.

Majda Sepe (born Majda Bernard) was a successful singer and also worked as an actress in a few movies and in a popular 60's tv series Mija sou.
She was married to composer and conductor Mojmir Sepe, who wrote two Slovenian entries for Yugoslavia. In 1966 (Brez besed) and in 1970 (Pridi, dala ti bom svet).
For both he also conducted the orchestra. He returned to a changed Eurovision in 1997 and 1998 to wave the baton for the entries of Slovenia.

Majda Sepe almost replaced Eva Sršen as the singer for the 1970 entry, but in the end it was decided that the song suited a young girl better than a married woman. But Pridi, dala ti bom svet was recorded by Majda and released on a cassette in 1973. Needless to say, I'm still looking for that version.
Majda Sepe died in 2006 at the age of 68.

A 1996 Best Of CD Med iskrenimi ljudmi features most of her hits, but not Marioneta, which hasn't appeared on any CD yet (as far as I know)

Majda Sepe - Marioneta (Jugoton EPY3857)





Another version of Puppet On A String from Yugoslavia, Lutka na koncu by Sanjalice is here
I'm still looking for these two versions:
Biserka Spevec - Lutka na koncu - (from Jugoton EPY3836)
Olivera Vuco (Katarina Olivera) - Bosonoga (= barefoot) from 7".
If you can help me with these or any others please drop a comment or e-mail me. Thanks.

The Year Of The Puppet celebrates the 40 year anniversary of Sandie Shaw's Eurovision victory with Puppet On A String. Introduction to the series in this Eurocovers post.

Blog tip: Asian Mission To Eurovision -UPDATED-

Eurovision is everywhere.
Just found this great Eurovision blog: Asian Mission To Eurovision
You must check out their funny Eurovision Phrase Book In Chinese.

related posts: Asian Eurovision coverversions
A Ba Ni Bi from Thailand
Le Dernier qui a parlé - Cantonese version
Puppet On A String from Singapore
Dschinghis Khan - Korean offspring
Indonesian version of Al Di La (Italian Eurovision 1961)

Another recommended site:
The website of composer Jean Paul Cara, the man who brought us L'oiseau et l'enfant (Marie Myriam) features a new coverversion of the French 1977 winner sung in Corsican, by Alain Abad. (l'accelu e u zitellu)

If you click Quelques mp3 and scroll down on the mp3 page there's a link to L'oiseau et l'enfant autour du monde which features several versions of the song, either by the original artist or coverversions.
Interesting is the French-Arabic version by Leila and the USA version which is a modern rnb- light version (No idea who sings it, do you?). You can also find a demo and various videos of the song

The version Chinois is actually not Chinese, but I think it's the Vietnamese version by Khanh Ha and  Thanh Lan - Chan chim tuoi tho.
The site also features versions of Cara's other songs including Humanahum by Tahitian singer Teva Tetuani.

They Can't Stop The Spring

The merry Irish Dervish seem pretty sure of that in their song for the Helsinki Eurovision Songcontest , but right now, the first day of spring, it's very cold and wet here.
So instead of waiting to see if spring really comes this year I play the happiest song ever to win Eurovision, Ding A Dong. Spring, Summer & Christmas rolled into one, the Teach In winner of 1975 is one of the most ridiculed but one of the most brilliant pop tunes ever.
It's also the most covered Dutch entry with over a 100 versions registered in the 10.000 coverversions project.To prove the songs immortality, here's some coverversions that were made this side of the millennium.

2007: DJ. Maarten made a new version with some horny lyrics for this years carneval and released the song on his cdsingle Ik ben een kikker (I'm a frog) (BERK Music)
2006: Another DJ, DJ Limbu from Estonia roped in Jaanika (not Sillamaa) for a club version.
2005: Asta Pilypaitė from Lithuania recorded a Lithuanian version Din Digi Dong which can be found on a compilation CD Lietus Lietuvoj 5.
2005: Burçin Şen from Turkey revamped the song into Doya Doya 30 years after Teach In won and Turkey made their Eurovision debut. (CD Yalan Ask)

2003: Assorti (Ассорти) (picture below) gave it a shot in the Russian preselection with Keep On Shining in 2005 and their Din Don appeared on their website and various compilations.

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Emil Gorovets - Эмиль Горовец

Here's a Russian version of Puppet On A String by Emil Gorovets (or: Gorovec)
In the near future I hope to feature a story at Eurocovers about this Russian- Jewish singer who was born in Ukraine in 1927, moved to the US in 1970 and died in 2001 in New York.

For now here's his Eurovision covers discography, most songs are in Russian but also one from his rare Yiddish LP 'Emil Gorovets sings the worlds songs in Yiddish'

- Austria 1966 - Merci Cherie
Мерси, Шери (Russian) - on Russian Flexi (00019601-2)
A Dank (in Yiddish) - LP (LPG 1003)

- Luxembourg 1967 - L'amour est bleu
Тень и свет (Ten I svet) - on LP Poet
- U.K. 1967 - Puppet On A String
Я не кукла (Ya ne kukla) - on flexi EP Melodija 0001183-4

- U.K. 1968 - Congratulations
Сто поздравлений (Sto Pozdravleniy) - on flexi EP Melodija Д 00025771-2

- Israel 1979 - HallelujahHallelujah (English/Russian) - on CD Luchshie Pesni (1996)

The Russian compilation 2CD Emil Gorovets - Zolotaya kollektsiya retro 2004 features all 60's tracks in Russian.

You can find discographies of Eurovision songs covered by Russian artists at this page from ESCkaz. and at this page from Eurosong.net.ru

A good discography of Gorovets' Russian work is here.Details and tracklist on the Yiddish LP are here







The Year Of The Puppet celebrates the 40 year anniversary of Sandie Shaw's Eurovision victory with Puppet On A String. Introduction to the series in this Eurocovers post.
Other versions already featured are from France, Singapore (Mandarin-Chinese), Jamaica. Yugoslavia, Estonia, U.K. (Comedy), Iceland, Lithuania, USA (Musical), Spain, Brasil, UK punk, Norway (gloom) Norway, Turkey, Portugal, Basque country Organland, Tirol, Denmark, CzechoSlovakia, Hungary

Related Eurocovers post: Find a Russian version of If I Had Your Love (Iceland 2005) here

VII: Year Of The Puppet - Hungarian Paprikajancsi

On the Year Of The Puppet calender, this week (March 16) Puppet On A String entered the U.K. charts at number 28. It may not seems seem very spectacular, but 40 years ago things were quite different in chart world. No downloads, no # 1 entries, no fancy limited editions to boost sales. It eventually took Sandie 6 weeks to get to the # 1. spot in the U.K..

- Looking for a link to Paprika's -
Sandie Shaw lists as number 383 on the list Vegetarian and Vegan Elite of the World. I didn't know there was such a thing and if you check Morrissey's picture (at 121) there's some fine tuning to be done. Anyway, from Veggie to Veggy is a small step and I take the opportunity here to make a somewhat lame bridge to the Paprika.
Or Paprikajancsi, the Hungarian language version of Puppet On A String.
Paprikajancsi is an early hit for Zsúzsa Koncz, one of the popular singers in Hungary in the 60's and 70s.
From 1970 she also released several albums and 11 singles in German. The singles that were released in the DDR (East Germany) were under her own name, but the West German releases on the United Artists appeared under the name Jana Koncz.

http://www.konczzsuzsa.hu/ is an excellent website about the singer and you should really watch some of the old videoclips there.

A recommended compilation CD is:
Koncz Zsúzsa,: Válogatott kislemezek 1966 - 1984, which includes Paprikajanci and also her biggest hit Mama, kérlek (Hongaroton / Gong)


Here are the lyrics to Paprikajancsi, now sing along

Ó, csak annyit mondj, hogy szeretsz és boldog vagyok
Akkor örömömben máris csak úgy táncolok, mint egy báb, kit tart a húr

Körhinta nálad a szerelem, érzem, hogy milyen szép
De félek, rámtör a veszedelem, s akkor lezuhannék
Ha tudnám, kalandot vársz, másnap messze is jársz

Ó, csak annyit mondj, hogy szeretsz és boldog vagyok
Akkor örömömben máris csak úgy táncolok, mint egy báb, kit tart a húr

Körhintánkon így közel az ég, mi szállunk azon is túl
Ám egy bábunak az is elég, ha bárki zsinórhoz nyúl
Merre visz ez az út, bút vagy örömet nyújt

Ó, csak annyit mondj, hogy szeretsz és boldog vagyok
Akkor örömömben máris csak úgy táncolok, mint egy báb, kit tart a húr

Mint egy paprikajancsi!
Hungarian lyrics by Tardos Péter - Péter Tardos

Koncz Zsúzsa - Paprikajancsi - 7" single Qualiton SP 387
Another version is by Henrietta Dér, a modern version I have no details about.


Hungarian names have the family name first.

Related Eurocovers Post: For some great Hungarian Eurovision covers by Késmárky Marika a.k.a. Dschinghis Khan's Edina Pop, go to this Eurocovers post.