The strangest Christmas I've ever experienced (I mean: No shopping!) needs its own soundtrack. Eurovision singer Senhit (2011, 2020 and 2021) has been giving us some amazing videos monthly covering Eurovision classics.
The December instalment is this one, Amar Pelos Dois, the 2017 winner for Portugal by Salvador Sobral. Classical singer Jordi Galàn sings along too.
(spoilers) It doesn't get better than the moment Mary hands over the black Baby Jesus for adoption to a same sex couple in their tighty whities. Madonna would be proud (if it was still 1989).
I hope Senhit will release the covers as an album (A CD/DVD set would be nice), but for now they're only on Youtube.
Big Kudo's to the director Luca Tommassini, who surpassed himself again on this amazing video.
Here'sthe playlist with all the coverversions Senhit made in her #FreakyTripToRotterdam project.
Amar Pelos Dois, Rise Like A Phoenix, Congratulations, Ding A Dong, Everyway That I Can and Cheesecake.
And in May she did a heartwarming version of Insieme 1992 (Toto Cutugno's winner of 1990)
Her 2020 entry Freaky! is still available through all your favorite digital stores and on the Official 2020 CD.
I really hope she get's a stunning song for the 2021 contest (and don't let Azerbaijan snap it up!).
Today I am in the mood for getting this post up to the top. (links may not all work)
Not a Eurocover and way early of course, but how many famous Icelandic Eurovision people do you recognise in this clip? (see below) What a wonderful christmas song. (and I don't do christmas songs very much thank you)
RÚV (Icelandic TV people) should consider sending this to Eurovision. I mean, it's wonderful, it's already finished, no hassle and costs of a multi-round preselection and even if some get the flu, there's enough singers here to do it. It would be the first Christmas song at Eurovision which would be in itself Eurovision History-Book-On-The-Shelf worthy. Consider it....
The Fróstrosir project celebrates 10 years of Christmas music this year. Here's the Fróstrosir homepage where you can find out if you spotted all the stars. (under Flytjendur)
In the past Fróstrosir have Christmafied two Swedish Eurovision entries. The 1996 entry Den Vilda (One More Time, 3rd place) became Dansaðu Vindur and was released on the CD Fróstrósir (2002) and compilation Fróstrósir - Best lögin' (2006). 1995's Se på mig (Jan Johansen, 3rd place) became Stjärnan Min and was released on the CD Heyr Himna Smiður (2008) Update: Fróstrósir andEurobandiðsingerFriðrik Ómar also gave a Swedish Eurovision track the Christmas Once Over: Tommy Körbergs majestic Stad I Ljus (Sweden 1988 by Tommy Körberg) became Vetrarnótt for the 2010 holiday season. Another Update:Af Álfum, Vetrarnótt,Stjärnan Min and Dansaðu Vindur can all be found on the new album / 2CD Fróstrosir Fagna. (thanks Dominique!)
Fróstrosir 2011 features the following Eurovisiony people: Eiríkur Hauksson - Three time Eurovision star (1986 with trio Icy, 1991 with quartet Just4Fun for Norway and his own fantastic Valentine Lost in 2007. Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi was her Eurovision eruption in 2010, and she also had the fabulous entry Someday ending 2nd in the Danish 2009 final. She also recorded an Icelandic coverversion of Christine Guldbrandsens Alvedansen (Norway 2006) Friðrik Ómar - Member of Eurocovers fabulous favorites Eurobandið, well know for This Is My Life (2008) also had some great solo tunes in the Icelandic preselections (Það Sem Verður 2006 and Eldur 2007) Regína Ósk - Member of Eurocovers favorites Eurobandið, also had a great solo tune in the Icelandic preselection (Þér Við Hlið in 2007) Guðrún Árný - Pre-selection singer in 2003 with Með Þér. Eivør Pállsottir - Faroese singer participated in the Icelandic selection with I Nótt in 2003. She's the main singer on Dansaðu Vindur. Heiða Ólafs - In 2009 pre-selection with Dagur Nýr. Matti Matt - My favorite Sjonni Boy. Coming Home 2011. In 2010 he had a solo song in the selection: Out Of Sight. Stefán Hilmarsson - Two time Eurovision singer Stefan out of Beathoven (1988) and Stefan and Eyfi. Also appeared as backing singer and musician on various Icelandic entries. Ína Valgerður - Eurocovers star recorded the Italian 1964 winner Non Ho L'eta in Icelandic. Entered the Icelandic selection in 2008 with Lullaby To Peace. Jógvan Hansen - Preselection 2010 (One More Day) and 2011 (Ég Lofa) Ragnar Bjarnason - Legendary Icelandic singer, recorded Eurocovers of Volare and Non Ho L'eta(Italy's 1958 and 1964 entries) SisselKyrkjebø - Internationally acclaimed classical singer from Norway, was in the 1986 contest interval performance. Ragga Gröndal - Two times national semi finalist (2003 with Ferrari and 2008: Wake Me Up), member of the Fancy Toys and a bestselling singer in Iceland. Guðrún Gunnars - Judge on the Paul Oscars Eurovision previewTV show Alla Leið The other singers without any Eurovision relation that I know of are: Ágúst Ólafsson, Björg Þórhallsdóttir, Erna Hrönn, Garðar Thór Cortes, Gissur Páll, Guðrún Gunnars, Hulda Björk Garðarsdóttir, Jóhann Friðgeir, Kolbeinn Ketilsson, Margrét Eir, Óskar Pétursson, Vala Guðna and Védís Hervör. Producers / arrangers Karl Olgeir Olgeirsson and Árni Harðarson also appear in the video.
Only a week
ago I watched a Country music documentary which included a story about the
remarkable history of Charley Pride. It prompted me to dig up his wonderful version
of What’s Another Year. And now I
read that the man is not getting another year thanks to that damned you know what. So sad and
poignant. Have a listen below.
Pride’s What’s
Another Year was released on his 1991 CD Classics With Pride. (Not to be confused
with the 1996 album with the same title).
Charley Pride recorded over 40 albums and scored over 70 hits in the US Country singles charts, of which 30 went to #1.
Find out more about Charley Pride's groundbreaking achievements at his website and facebook.
What’s Another Year is Johnny Logan's 1980 Eurovision winner for Ireland.
In the past 15 odd years Eurocovers has been writing a lot about coverversions of Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare), the 1958 Sanremo winner and Eurovision entry by Domenico Modugno. It's an obsession.
If you use this link you'll see most of the earlier posts.
Here's just a quick runthrough of new coverversions just released, showing that Mr. Volare is still alive and kicking. With listening links for your convenience.
In February
Italian heartthrob and superstar Tiziano Ferro was a guest performer at the Sanremo Festival
performing Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu. Now he has
released his quite wonderful new album Accetto Miracoli: L'Esperienza Degli Altri and in
includes a similar version of the Domenico Modugno classic. (out on 2CD, LP and digital)
Youtube Audio. Sanremo performance via RaiPlay It took Brazil’s
former Minister of Culture (and music legend) Gilberto Gil over 60 albums to give
us a version of Volare, recorded with his granddaughter Flor. They first
performed the song back in April as a message of support and strength to the
Italian people hit by the pandemic. Now they recorded a studio version for a
digital EP De Avô Pra Neta (digital EP) Youtube Audio, Original performance
Another familiar
name, Jane McDonald, Queen of British Cruiseships, also released a version of Volare (in English) on her new
album Cruising with Jane McDonald, Vol. 2. (CD and digital) Youtube Audio Russell Watson just scored a U.K. top 10 album with his album 20 (CD and digital).
This includes a new
recording of Volare. He previously recorded it with André Rieu (2003, CD Zauber
des Musik 3) the Royal Philharmonic (2008, CD The Platinum Collection), and
with Aled Jones (2018, CD In Harmony). Youtube Audio
Some other 2020 Volares are by: Franco
Corso (CD Vincerò, to be released Dec 1) Website listening
- Corso also recorded it in 2005 but this is a new recording Imai
Shunshuke (今井俊輔, CD I Am I 2020 Volare) Youtube audio
This week legendary
Welsh songstress Shirley Bassey releases her final album I Owe It All To You. A
modestly titled album (and song) thanking her fans for their loyalty over the years. The album has new songs, a few coverversions and
some old personal favorites of Shirley reimagined.
In the back
of my mind I always knew Goldfinger, Big Spender and Diamonds Are Forever but the
first Shirley Bassey record that made a real impact on me was the 1978 disco version of
This Is My Life (La Vita). She originally performed that song, also performed by Elio
Gandolfi, in the 1968 SanRemo contest but it didn’t make it to the final. Below is the wonderful 1968 SanRemo performance.
To be fair,
I wasn’t a massive fanboy at the time, but I learned to love her later. In the 80’s and 90's (second hand bought) singles
started piling up to the point she got her own section in my record collection. (An honour not bestowed on many) I was
overjoyed when I found the Italian single with Diamonds Are Forever sung in
Italian (Vivo Di Diamanti). I was
stunned by her cooperation with Yello (The Rhythm Divine) and adored her
Propellerheads hit History Repeating*. And, no surprise, I also love The
Performance from 2010 with new songs by cool people like Rufus Wainwright, The
Manics, Gary Barlow and the Pet Shop Boys.
There’s no
Eurovision tune on the new album, so here’s the videoclip of the only Eurovision
song she covered, Dio Come Ti Amo (Italy 1966, Domenico Modugno).
Dio Come
Ti-Amo (Oh God How Much I Love You)was first released in 1991 on the
album Keep The Music Playing. On the original LP release Modugno is credited as
D. Medunidoleo. She also
recorded another Modugno song Chi Si Vuol Bene Come Noi..., a 1968
single for Bassey sung in Italian. Shirley
Bassey recorded several songs from the Great Italian Songbook so there may be some
more SanRemo covers in there, I don’t know (do you?).
Update:Jezahel from her 1972 LP And I Love You So was a SanRemo entry for Delirium (as Jesahel), finishing 6th).
Another
Eurovision legend, Udo Jürgens, also supplied Bassey with (at least) two songs. Reach For
The Stars from 1961 (originally Woher Ich Auch Komm’) with English lyrics by
Norman Newell**. If I Never
Sing Another Song (or. Illusionen by Alexandra, 1967 and Udo Jürgens himself,
1974) was recorded by Shirley Bassey in 1976. You can find a nice article (and lovely
pics) about Udo meeting Shirley here
at the Shirley Bassey Blog.
* Jamala, Eurovision 1944, also did that one, on her album For Every Heart. (video) ** Trivia
alert: Norman Newell wrote the English part of the lyrics to the 1963 Swiss
entry Vielleicht Geschieht Ein Wunder by Carmela Corren which was performed in
German and English at the contest (and on record).
A surprise
hit for a personal Eurovision favorite. Every now
and then the popular TV show Beste Zangers Van Nederland (Best singers of The
Netherlands*) comes up with a song that somehow strikes a chord and becomes a
hit. Door De
Wind (Through the wind), the Belgian entry originally performed at Eurovision by Ingeborg always was a beautiful song even though it only came 19th out of 22
entries in 1989. Dutch
singer Miss Montreal did her heartfelt version in the show dedicated to the original
composer (and backing singer) of Door De Wind Stef Bos and people ate it up and bought it into the charts. Finally some justice for
a classic.
* The
format is known in many other countries. It’s a show where singers sing each
others songs and everyone goes all tearful and gooey over it (which makes it pretty much unwatchable
for me).
Ingeborg's original Ingeborg (Sergeant) recorded three versions of the song, the original, an acoustic version and an English version (Breakaway). Plus there's an instrumental you can sing along to. They were released over two single releases (7" inch vinyls).
Ingeborg's singles
were released in the Netherlands but obviously also available in Belgium. - Door De
Wind / Door De Wind (Acoustic) (HKM 145
491-7) - Breakaway /
Door De Wind (Instrumental) (HKM 145 509-7) The English
version single comes in two different sleeves. The English
lyrics were written by Simon Shrimpton-Smith who in the 70’s recorded under the
name Simon Le Bon. (not him of Duran Duran)
The original version was also released on Ingeborg's 1990 album Voor Eén Seconde (HKM LP & CD) and her 2004 compilation CD Diamond Collection (HKM).
The hit
version by Miss Montreal is released through your usual digital sources. You’ll
be pleased to know that the single version does not have the emotional
affectations the video has.
There have
been a few coverversions of the song, some very recent. I quite like the
country tinged version by Tamara and Tom.
Coverversions Stef Bos -
Live version by the composer --- CD Stad
en Land: Live 92/98 (1998, HKM) Angel --- digital
single (2018, Puur Feest Muziek) Gert Bekker
(South Africa) --- CD Dis
Die Girl (2005, Rhythm Records) Peter van
Bugnum --- CD
Heimwee (1996, Bemmel productions) Miss
Montreal --- digital
release (2020, Cornelis Music) De Strangers
- Door De Regen (Comedy in Antwerps, Flemish dialect) --- LP/CD De
Ziel Uit Ons Lijf (1989, Dureco) --- Also
includes Vivan Bomma, a coverversion of Rock Me Baby, the Eurovision winner of
1989. Tamara en
Tom (Davys) --- digital
single (2017 HKM) Do you know
of any other (officially released) versions?
Below is a Spotify playlist with all version they have. Does not include the Gert Bekker (it's on Youtube) and Peter van Bugnum versions.
2020: Congratulations to Henny Thijssen for winning The Voice Senior.
To celebrate, I have moved this slightly updated 2013 post about his Eurovision cover Hoe Lang (Kuula) up.
A Dutch version of Ott Leplands Kuulais recorded by Henny
Thijssen. The song is titled Hoe Lang (How long) and is out on TwentieRecords
(digital)
The
januari 2013 release is available from digital sources like iTunes, Spotify, Apple music. (updated)
Update 2020:Hoe Lang was released on CD in 2016. You can find it on the album Henny Thijssen Zingt (Twentierecords) as a bonus track. (at moment of writing still available here, here, here)
In March 2013 the song enters the Dutch top 100 at 86. Update: After five weeks the track makes an unexpected jump to #20 in the Dutch charts. Total chart run: 86, 72, 59, 50, 53, 20, 85
Henny
'de snik' Thijssen is a Dutch folk-schlager* singer-songwriter who wrote several songs and lyrics for
some of the Dutch greats like André Hazes, Koos Alberts, Renée De Haan and Eurovision host Jan Smit.
He's
been a prolific solo singer since the late 90's but Hoe Lang is his
first solo hit to reach the top 40. (and his biggest hit to date).
Ott Leplands Kuula reached 6th place in the Baku
Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia. He performed the song in Estonian but has
also recorded English, Spanish and Russian versions.
Eurovision 2013 The Malmö Collection features the latest news on the CD releases, versions and artists of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest held in Sweden and soon on a TV set near you.
Vera Lynn has passed away. She is one of those people who you think will stay around forever but at 103 the curtain falls. Rest In Peace and sing with the angels.
Our Vera clearing up the mess after the blitz.
Vera
Lynn was born in the First World War and started to record in 1935. Signature
song We'll Meet Again was first recorded in 1939. It became a
song of hope in the dark days of the war and later a song of remembrance. And again in 2020 her song played its part in the celebration of 75 years of freedom in the grim time of a worldwide pandemic.
The
song gave its title to the popular 1942 film starring Vera Lynn herself.
Vera Lynn sang for
the British and Allied forces all over the world on many occasions during the
Second World War. She had her own radio show in which she sang songs
requested by British soldiers serving abroad and messages from their families
were broadcast.
Other popular Vera
Lynn hits of the (pre charts) war years were The White Cliffs Of
Dover, Yours and You're In My Arms. In the
50's she scored hits with Forget Me Not, Auf
Wiedersehn, Homing Waltz and My Son My Son (a U.K. #1). Her
last U.K. hit from the era was Travelling Home in 1957.
Vera Lynns career
started long before Eurovision and unlike Anne Shelton she didn't participate in
any of the early British preselections for Eurovision. But she was on the
selection committee of the 1959 U.K. selection.
She recorded an English version of the 1964 Eurovision winner Non Ho L'eta as This Is My Prayer.
Sissel, Sissel Kyrkjebø that is, has released a new digital track in her Reflections project.
Reflections V (5) already. Reflections is a project where the singer will release a song every week for 50 weeks to celebrate her big birthday. And it's beautiful.
Of course Sissel is a well known classical and crossover singer from Norway (Here’s a nice bio) and you may have spotted her in the interval of the 1986 Eurovision Song Contest.
Or singing the Olympic tune in Lillehammer in 1994.
Walk Away is the English version of the first Eurovision entry for Udo Jürgens (Warum nur warum, Austria 1964, 6th place).
Pre- Merci Cherie, Jürgens’ song was made popular by Matt Monro who scored a worldwide hit with it.
Matt Monro’s own 1964 entry I Love The Little Things did better at Eurovision (2nd)
but didn’t make the charts.
Warum Nur Warum/Walk Away has since been recorded by many other artists like Brenda Lee (who even recorded it in Japanese), Byron Lee and Mighty Sparrow, Virginia
Lee (that’s 3 Lee’s there), Jane Morgan, Julie Rogers, Nancy Wilson, Timi Yuro
and Eurovision stars Alice and Helen Kessler, Michael Ball and Lasse Mårtenson.
Dutch singer and national treasure Liesbeth List has left us.
And as this is Eurocovers, the picture above is her 2nd ever single from 1964, a coverversion of Elle Etait Si Jolie by Alain Barriere, the French Eurovision entry from 1963.
I nicked the picture from Discogs.
