The History Book Of My Soul with The Kik.

Rotterdam band The Kik released their Eurovision album The Kik Hertaalt Eurovisie. And it has that wonderful vintage Eurovision logo we all know and love and miss.

I don't know how to translate "Hertaalt", something like re-translates, but it's not really translating. The songs get a new set of lyrics, in Dutch, and the band's lyricist Dave von Raven proves he's a master at that. Some are funny, some are moving but all are clever. Dave has a way with words not often heard in current Dutch popular music.

Of course the album is more interesting for people who have a grasp of the Dutch language but the music is not to be underrated either. Some Rock'n'Roll, some Surf, with a smidge of violin or accordeon here and there. The romantic Latin gipsy flavours of Diva fit the song beautifully.

The 12 track CD/LP features 10 Eurovision classics and two instrumentals. It's out now on CD, LP and digital in all Dutch shops that sell good music. 
Their record company Excelsior records  and Northend appear to sell internationally.

1.   Eurovisie Twist '22 - instrumental

- Our Eurovision hymn in a Telstar  instrumental style.
2. Waterloo

- ABBA's 1974 winner was the first track released last year in Rotterdam Eurovision week. I remember being stunned by the lyric-smithery of this straight away.
3. Rotterdam 

- Originally Amsterdam by Maggie MacNeal (Netherlands 1980). They mention the war!

4. Stilte Na De Storm

- The Common Linnets Calm After The Storm has my favorite teary line roughly translating as "No-one sits besides me (in the car) but I say something to them anyway." (sorry, doesn't have the punch (or The Kik) translating it)
5. Binnenkort (Soon)

- Making Your Mind Up (Bucks Fizz,  UK1981) has some self censoring bleeps and that may not stay funny. 

The uncensored version was released on the single in 2021 (digital) but is not on the CD.
6. Een Avond Met Jou (A night with you)

- All Kinds Of Everything (Ireland 1970 by Dana) is sort of funny painful. All today's miseries from global warming and famine to Corona lockdowns and traffic jams are all more fun than...... And even a popular (personal pet hate) band gets a read.
7. Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son - instrumental

- I know it's one of their favourite Eurovision tunes, maybe that's why they didn't dare to give the song a new set of lyrics.

8. 't Is Toch Vreemd (Yet, it is strange)

- Dansevise, originally by Grethe & Jörgen Ingmann (Denmark 1963). It is such a romantic melody and the new Dutch words fit perfectly.
9. Tring Tring

- ABBA's 1973 pre-song didn't make it to Eurovision but has a firm place in the History Book On The Shelf. The Kik know that. Highlight.
10. Een Beetje (A little bit)

- The second Dutch winner from 1959 by Teddy Scholten is about booze.
11. Diva

- Wonderful lyrics again, might as well be about the journey of the original singer Dana International (Israel 1998). Highlight
12. Waar Blijft De Tijd? (Where does time go)

- Non Ho L'Eta by Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's 1964 winner. It's about time and where it goes when we're done with it.

 

Jody Wayne - Are You Sure

2022: Today I heard of the passing of South African music legend Jody Wayne. 

So for the last time his post, the most visited ever on Eurocovers, is moved to the top. Rest In Peace.

2019: This 2011 post about Jody Wayne is by far the most visited at your Eurocovers blog. Now a kind YouTuber has uploaded the song, so you can enjoy it again. (scroll down a bit)

This coverversion of the 1961 U.K. entry Are You Sure is in the list of coverversions from South Africa. But that’s just because it was recorded when the singer, Jody Wayne lived there.

He’s a bit of a global person, our Jody. He was born in Bangalore, India from Canadian parents. He moved to England at three and to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) at 5, Back to England at 10 and back to Rhodesia where he formed the Diamonds with Mike Shannon.
He starred in theatre productions in London as a child actor (Cinderella) and a member of The Grashoppers.

A move to South Africa was followed by TV jobs as an actor and behind the scenes.
It sounds a bit like a Motown story, but it was while singing while he was working, Jody was discovered by his TV boss. Little Joe and the Travellers were born and they had their own TV show for two years.

After winning the Durban Song Festival with A Voice In The Dark (his first single) he scored his first hit with Tell Laura I Love Her.

Are You Sure was Jody’s third single in 1966 (PYE records PY 67) and many would follow, including # 1 hits like Patches, Sixteen Candles and The Wedding.
Are You Sure can also be found on the LP Jody (South Africa PYE PL 2074) and the LP  It's Me Again from 1988.
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“This song is off the compilation album "Record Express Dance Party", released in 1966. It's a cover of a song by The Allisons from 1961. Record Express was a monthly teenage magazine published in South Africa in the 1960s.” - Quote from YouTube entry

Jody Wayne released nine studio albums and about 20 singles. He also played Joseph in a 1975 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

From the 70’s on he focussed more on songwriting and producing other artists' records.

Jody Wayne’s most recent project is the Smokie Jo tour and album. It’s a tribute to 70’s band Smokie, known from international hits like Living Next Door To Alice, Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone and Oh Carol.

Jody Wayne’s Smokie Jo album features hits of Smokie and some of his own platinum selling hits (Regala records 2009 on CD and DVD)

Two CDs have been issued featuring many of Jody Wayne’s older recordings. The Heart And Soul Of Jody Wayne and Send Me Some Loving. But neither has Are You Sure.

You can find more about 1961 U.K.  Eurovision entry and world wide hit Are You Sure in the Eurocovers post Team GB.
Update: Colin Day (a.k.a. Bob Allison) has passed away, read more here at Eurovers

Any corrections, additions and comments are of course very welcome.

Links and sources:
Keurspel YouTube
Jody Wayne Facebook 

Rock Co Za - The South African Rock Encyclopedia 

LOLA DUTRONIC "Get Us To The Eurovision" (Official Lyric Video)

I love Lola Dutronic. Lola Dutronic Love Eurovision. (But Uzbekistan?)

The new single "Get Us To The Eurovision" is available now at Lola Dutronic's Bandcamp. Go get it now.

https://loladutronic.bandcamp.com/music

You may remember we did a bit about Lola Dutronic and their Love Is Blue some time ago. You can still find that here.

La Collezione Torino

(Eurovision 2022)

is here now!

Perla Paraguaya do Brasil, A Eterna Pequenina

A 2008 Eurocovers post updated here and there with new links etc.

Brasil, Brazil, a famous one point song from the 1991 contest (Bebi Dol - Yugoslavia) but also the country with more Eurocovers recorded than any other non-Eurovision country.
I don't want to sell Football short, but music is probably the cornerstone of Brasilian life.
So it's not surprising that many Eurovision songs have found their way to Brasilian singers. From the first contest in 1956 (with at least 3 songs covered in Brasil) to well into the 70's Eurovision songs have been covered by artists from the home of Samba.
About every Italian entry, most of the songs from the U.K. and many of the winners and hits from other countries. Only Portuguese songs seem a bit underrepresented.

So here's a bit of Brasilian Pop History, mixed with a bit of Paraguay and a touch of Sweden and of course Eurovision songs.

Perla was born Ermelinda Pedroso Rodriguez d'Almeida in 1952. She was raised in a musical family in Caacupé, Paraguay but she left the family in the early 70's and headed to Rio where she started performing and was soon welcomed as an international attraction.
Appearances on popular TV shows got her a record deal soon and she released her first LP Perla* in 1972 with mainly Spanish language evergreens.

The first LP was in Spanish but her second album titled Perla was released in both a Portuguese language version and a Spanish language version, catering for the complete latin American market. It includes the first Eurovision cover, but I'll get to that later. It also includes her first hit Estrada do Sol.
Her 1976 album Palavras De Amor was also recorded in two languages and it includes what was probably her biggest hit Fernando, of ABBA fame.

Productive Perla released an album every year from 1975 to 1982 and sometimes even two, and the ABBA cover formula worked well for her. Chiquitita for example was another of her top hits as Pequenina. Later on she occasionally released an album, often sponsored by her fan club.
Most of her early songs are coverversions of popular hits and her popular ABBA covers were all re-issued on a 2002 CD 50 Perla Canta ABBA E Outros Hits (in Portuguese). Her version of S.O.S.: Paz De Um Grande Amor is as melancholy as the original and one of the best ABBA covers ever recorded (IMHO of course).

An extended version of the Canta ABBA album (also including Livre, see below) is on Spotify and other digital sources. 
Perla's more recent work is Perla, Nossas Canções from 2002 (Spanish version Perla, Nuestras Canciones was released in 2003)

PERLA EUROCOVERS
Italy 1966 - Dio Come Ti Amo
You may think Eurocovers is overdoing it a bit with this one, but it's Perla's first Eurocover recorded in 1975, so it's here. It's also the most covered Eurovision entry by Brasilian artists with almost half of the covers I know of it coming from Brasil.
Perla recorded three versions:
Deus Come Te Amo (Portuguese)
- on EP Perla (RCA 1010143, 1976) and LP Perla (RCA - 1030152, 1975)
Dios Como Te Amo (Spanish)
- on LP Perla en Espanol (RCA - 9910393, 1975)
Dio Come Ti Amo (Italian, recorded in 1999)
- on CD Especialmente Para Você (Brasidisc BRCD 1005, 1999) (also on digitalia)

Italy 1977 - Libera (Mia Martini)
A disco era Eurovision song that doesn't have many covers to its name, but Perla takes care of two.
Livre (Portuguese)
- on LP Perla (RCA 1030219, 1977) (song also on digitalia)
Libre (Spanish)
- on LP Perla, Para Los Que Han Amado (RCA 99111319)

United Kingdom 1978 - Bad Old Days (Coco)
Meu Querido Pai (Portuguese)
- On LP Perla (RCA 103.0266, 1978)
Viejo Papa (Spanish)

- on LP Perla* (RCA Victor ILP 015 (Bolivia) & RCA 1836 (Venezuela)

Israel 1979 - Hallelujah (Milk and Honey, 1979 winner)
Alegria (Portuguese)
- on LP Pequenina (RCA Victor 1030309, 1979)

* As you may have noticed, several (different) LP's are just called Perla

Links and Sources:

Perla Paraguaya official Facebook

Perla, A Eterna Pequenina is a biography from 2021 by Marinaldo Da Sila E Silva (in Portuguese)

  Perla website - This site has an extensive discography and also Perla CDs for sale. And of course pictures, lyrics and videos.
Clique Brasil and Special Thanks to João.

In previous Brasil posts you can find Puppet On A Strings and Eurocovers by My New Favorite singer Leny Eversong.

Les Soeurs Sourient: Zitti e buoni

Had to move this one up in the list of Eurocovers posts for obvious reasons

You can find all about Måneskin, their releases, world domination and all the Sanremo 2021 records and goings on here at the Rotterdam 2.1 Collection.

This is what nuns get up to when you have an reportedly (but not really) progressive Pope.

Zitti E Buoni (shut up and be good) is the ground breaking Sanremo and Eurovision winner by Måneskin.

The kick-ass nuns are the Suore Bologna from, you guessed it, Bologna. That is the 2022 interval sorted!

You may also like this Eurocovers post: Holy Priest, Open The Stained Glass Window

Rotterdam weeks 2.1: 바니걸즈 - 딩딩동, K-Pop avant la lettre

The last coverversion for the Rotterdam Weeks can't be anything other than a coverversion of Ding A Dong, the 1975 Dutch winner by Teach In.

Much ridiculed then and now, it still is one of the most recognisable Eurovision tunes ever.

Thát opening riff is up there with the best hits in popmusic. So now you know.

The coverversion (below) is from South-Korea. 

The singers are twin sisters The Bunny Girls 

(바니걸즈), Ko Jeong-suk and Ko Jae-suk. 

They were active and popular from 1970 to 1990. They recorded about close to 20 albums, most with original Korean compositions but in the mid 70's they recorded coverversions from worldwide hits.

Their 1975 LP 팝송 하이라이트 - 라무는 나의 친구 is an album with international songs and it includes both Waterloo (워터루) and Ding A Dong (딩딩동) sung in Korean. Plus songs like ABBA's Honey Honey, Gigliola Cinquetti's La Rosa Nero, Tony Orlando's Yellow Ribbon and the Carpenters' Top Of The World. The title track Lamu Is My Friend is a coverversion of a Bollywood song.

So far I have only found the two mid 70's Eurovision winners (as Eurocovers) but the duo have released many LP's plus many single tracks on Various Artists albums, so there may be more.

* = Google translate says "Pop Song Highlights - Lamu is my friend".

If you want to listen to the whole Bunny Girls album it's here at Youtube (playable track by track).

More Rotterdam Weeks Coverversions

- Ragazzo di Piccola Città in una Grande Sala Giochi

- Penghibor Di Rantau by Rahimah Rahim

- Dutch entries get a makeover (CD release)

- Someday, Morgen, Y Fori with Mary Hopkin

- A Dream Come True for Cilla Black fans

- Una Salsa para Amsterdam

- Cristina Jorio - Come Una Volta

Over the years Ding A Dong has been featured in several Eurocovers posts. 

You'll find them under this (search) link

The Rotterdam 2.1. Collection is here

Here you'll find everything you need about the 2021 entries, versions, releases, charts etcetera.

Rotterdam Weeks 2.1: Ragazzo di Piccola Città in una Grande Sala Giochi

The Rotterdam weeks at Eurocovers aren't complete with a coverversion of Duncan Laurence's Arcade, the song that held the Eurovision Trophy longer than any other. (which of course is not a really good thing, given the circumstances).

The Dutch had to wait 44 years for a victory and there have been dark years, as The Netherlands also holds the record for longest run of non qualifying entries in a row (8 years!).

But they stepped up their game and now we're in Rotterdam.

So, never give up, keep on dreaming, chin up, etcetera.

But this is Eurocovers so here's a a wonderful coverversion. In Italian!

Assaf Kacholi is an Israeli classical singer and he recorded Arcade already in English back in 2019. But he's a tenor and tenors have to sing in Italian. It's the law.

I couldn't find a (digital) release of this Italian version so we'll have to make do with the Youtube video or Assaf Kacholi's Facebook video's.

Kacholi's English version was released as a digital single and can also be found on his CD Symphony, available through his Bandcamp or his website shop. 

You can find out everything about Duncan Laurence's own Arcade here at the Tel Aviv Collection.

Includes info on the recordings, releases and belated but remarkable worldwide chart success.

Assaf Kacholi has a Website 

He also recorded a coverversion of La Forza, the Estonian entry of 2018 by Elina Nechayeva. This was released on his CD Amore from 2018. (digital at Bandcamp and other sources)

Kacholi was (is?) a member of classical vocal quintet / quartet Adoro who covered Merci Cherie (Austria 1966 winner) many moons ago on their CD Adoro from 2008.

More Rotterdam Weeks Specials

- Penghibor Di Rantau by Rahimah Rahim

- Dutch entries get a makeover (CD release)

- Someday, Morgen, Y Fori with Mary Hopkin

- A Dream Come True for Cilla Black fans

- Una Salsa para Amsterdam

- Cristina Jorio - Come Una Volta

The Rotterdam 2.1. Collection is here

Rotterdam Weeks 2.1: Rahimah Rahim - Penghibor di rantau

Last year Eurocovers started a series of Rotterdam Week coverversions to celebrate Eurovision being in The Netherlands and all that. 

One version I couldn't find back then was this one, Penghibor Di Rantau by Rahimah Rahim from Singapore. But some kind person uploaded the album with the same name to the tube so you can have a listen to this lovely coverversion of Colorado, originally by Xandra (Sandra Reemer and band)

It was the Dutch entry in 1979 and Rahimah Rahim released her album in the same year.

(Below it is track 1, so it starts right away)

Alternatively you can listen to the album here at Muzik Nusantara.

In 1977 she already recorded Tepat Pada Waktunya which is a coverversion of the 1974 German entry Die Sommermelodie (Cindy und Bert) (LP Rahimah Rahim)

More Rotterdam Weeks Eurocovers Specials

- 바니걸즈 - 딩딩동,K-Pop avant la lettre

- Ragazzo di Piccola Città in una Grande Sala Giochi

- Dutch entries get a makeover (CD release)

- Someday, Morgen, Y Fori with Mary Hopkin

- A Dream Come True for Cilla Black fans

- Cristina Jorio - Come Una Volta

And you might like this too

- Tooong Tiki Tong, Fernando Filippo & Suzie

Rotterdam Weeks 2.1: Dutch entries get a makeover

Eurovision Rotterdam is happening, pandemic or not. We all can use a bit of cheering up, I know I do.
You probably already know our Rotterdam 2.1 pages with all the things you need to know about the music and stars of Eurovision 2021, but here’s the link anyway.

A nice album release to coincide with this year’s spectacular is Songfestival: Nederlands trots in een nieuw jasje (Dutch pride in a new jacket) with nine coverversion of Dutch Eurovision hits. (Well, one is Belgian, (see below).
The album is out on CD on May 12 but also (already) available through you favorite digital music providers. And Spotify. 

Released by Cloud 9, they also posted a Youtube playlist.
 
Most tracks are quite different from the original (which is good) by current artists even today’s youngsters can relate too (i.e: not old)

If I had to give one 12 Poing it would be for Deborah Parlor’s soft country version of Ik Hou Van Jou / In Love With You. It shows a new side of the 1984 classic which as far as I know has only been covered as a (big) ballad.
 
1. Paul Sinha & Fleur – De Eerste Keer
- 1996, original by Maxine & Franklin Brown
2. Samantha Steenwijk – Vrede
- 1993, Ruth Jacott
3. Lisa Lois – Hemel en Aarde
- 1998, Edsilia Rombley, one of this year's hosts.
4. Pommelien Thijs – Door De Wind
- The Belgian entry of 1989 written by Dutch singer Stef Bos.

5. BENR – Je Vecht Nooit Alleen
- 2011, 3JS, performed it in English as Never Alone at Eurovision.
6. Deborah Parlor – In Love With You
- 1984, Maribelle as Ik Hou Van Jou
7. Danique – Arcade
- 2019, Duncan Laurence
8. René Karst – Ik Zie Een Ster
- 1974, Mouth & McNeal
9. Unity – Ding-A-Dong
- 1975, Teach In

 

Last year, before Rotterdam 2020 was cancelled, I posted a few bits and pieces about Dutch classics in The Rotterdam Weeks. Still worth a listen and a read.

- Someday, Morgen, Y Fori with Mary Hopkin

- A Dream Come True for Cilla Black fans

- Una Salsa para Amsterdam

- Cristina Jorio - Come Una Volta

And here are some more related pages
Ik Hou Van Jou - Richard De Bois (1949-2008) - Engelbert Humperdinck - LeChelle (Afrikaans)
Ding A Dong - The Moscow Weeks - Nicki French - Colé van Dais - They Can't Stop The Spring
Door De Wind - Justice for a classic (Miss Montreal, with playlist)

Rotterdam 2021 + Rotterdam 2020

Shay Healy - What's Another Year - The Stable Sessions

Shay Healy, Irish songwriter and broadcaster passed away. Eurovision fans know him best from Johnny Logan's What's Another Year, the Irish winner from 1980.

This video is from a CD/DVD release Stardust: The Stable Sessions recorded in 2016.

I could reprint all kinds of wiki's about his achievements or his ordeal with Parkinson's but I'll just leave you with this video. 

What's Another Year is a heartbreaking song by itself but you won't hear a more moving version of the Eurovision classic that is here on earth forevermore. 

The CD/DVD is available from Tradnua where you can find a bit more about the recording sessions. Also via other stores (incl Amazon, Essential Irish, Bol). You can also listen to the album on your favorite streamers.

More What's Another Year posts: Charley Pride, Sjonni's Friends, What's Another 30 Years, Lena Zavaroni