Dana

500. Nicole – A Little Peace (1982)

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The Intro

One year on from Bucks Fizz’s Eurovision winner/number 1, Making Your Mind Up, 17-year-old German singer-songwriter Nicole Seibert won the competition with Ein bißchen Frieden. Her English language version, A Little Peace then toppled the similarly utopian Ebony and Ivory.

Before

Nicole was born in Saarbrücken, West Germany on 25 October, 1964. She had begun performing aged only four. Commercial success first came when she was 16, when her debut single Flieg nicht so hoch, mein kleiner Freund reached number two in Austria.

On 24 March 1982, Nicole competed in Ein Lied für Harrogate and became the chosen entry for her native country with Ein bißchen Frieden, which had been written by prolific Eurovision composer Ralph Siegel and lyricist Bernd Meinunger.

West Germany had entered every Eurovision Song Contest since its inception but had never won. A teenage girl singing a kitsch folk tune about world peace was a smart choice and paid off. At Harrogate International Centre on 24 April 1982, Nicole didn’t just win – she stormed it, scoring 161, with Israel coming second on 100 points. And she celebrated by impressing the judges, the audience and millions at home once more by singing the reprise of her song in German, English, French and Dutch.

Review

The effect of nostalgia is going to have an increasing impact on my reviews now, having been a young boy in the early 80s. And it will potentially muddy the waters, as it does here. Do I like Nicole’s A Little Peace? It’s certainly not the type of thing I’d listen to by choice and my review would be more negative had I not associate it with my childhood.

I have vague but warm memories of listening to this in class, and singing along with everyone. I’m not sure why – I was only three in 1982, and I’m thinking it was more likely to be the mid- or even late-80s. So I can’t help but have a soft spot for A Little Peace. It’s no Making Your Mind Up – but as a saccharine Euro-ballad, it’s way better than Dana’s All Kinds of Everything. And it’s an earworm, but in a good way, unlike some Eurovision horrors like Puppet on a String.

It’s interesting that a ballad that yearns for world peace became number 1 during the overt and at times ugly patriotism of the Falklands War – but the people who loved The Sun’s ‘GOTCHA’ headline and bought this single most likely didn’t even notice the irony.

After

It must have already been intended that Ein bißchen Frieden would be released with English lyrics (by Paul Greeds) to coincide with the Eurovision appearance. It was a canny move. The UK loved the song and there was definitely a love of MOR euro-pop in the air that spring. In various guises, Ein bißchen Frieden sold millions

It remains highly regarded by Eurovision fans, to the extent it was one of 14 songs out of 992 to be selected for participation in the 2005 TV special Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, where it came seventh. Nicole didn’t appear, but she did perform the song in English, Italian, German and French in the 60th anniversary special Eurovision Song Contest’s Greatest Hits.

The Outro

Nicole continued to release jazz, rock, pop and gospel albums after Eurovision. She also raises money for humanitarian causes.

The Info

Written by

Ralph Siegel & Bernd Meinunger (English lyrics by Paul Greedus)

Producer

Robert Jung

Weeks at number 1

2 (15-28 May)

Trivia

Births

19 May: Footballer Kevin Amankwaah

Deaths

17 May: Mountaineers Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker
18 May: Actor Ralph Reader/Television writer Elwyn Jones
28 May: Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Jones (see ‘Meanwhile…‘)

Meanwhile…

21 May: Royal Marines and paratroopers from the British Task Force land at San Carlos Bay on the Falkland Islands, and the British frigate HMS Ardent is sunk by Argentine aircraft in Falkland Sound, killing 22 sailors.
Also on this day, the legendary Haçienda nightclub opens in Manchester.

22 May: FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur draw 1-1 with Queen’s Park Rangers in the final at Wembley Stadium, forcing a replay. Spurs play without Argentine Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, who were removed from the team following barracking from rival fans over the Falklands War.

23 May: The frigate HMS Antelope explodes after being hit by Argentine aircraft.

25 May: The destroyer HMS Coventry and the requisitioned container ship SS Atlantic Conveyor are sunk by Argentine missiles.

26 May: The reservoir Kielder Water opens in Northumberland. It is the largest artificial lake in the UK and is surrounded by Kielder Forest, one of the largest planted woodlands in Europe.

27 May: Spurs win the FA Cup 1-0, equalling Aston Villa’s record of seven FA Cup victories.
Also on this day, Tim Smith retains the Conservative seat at the Beaconsfield by-election.

28 May: Pope John Paul II becomes the first reigning pope to visit the UK.
Also on this day, the Battle of Goose Green becomes the first land battle of the Falklands War. Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Jones was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his part in the battle.

285. Norman Greenbaum – Spirit in the Sky (1970)

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The Intro

The devil doesn’t always have the best tunes. Dana’s old-fashioned All Kinds of Everything was booted from the top by one of the most memorable one-hit wonders of all time. Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky heralded a new decade with its fuzz-guitar sound and could be considered a forerunner to the glam rock that was to come. This one-hit wonder, combining a riff you’d sell your soul for with holier-than-thou lyrics, was so good, two different versions have been number 1 since. Not bad going for an unassuming, enigmatic Jewish dairy farmer.

Before

Norman Joel Greenbaum was born in Malden, Massachusetts on 20 November 1942. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household, and as a teenager in the late 50s and early 60s he fell in love with southern blues and folk music. In high school he began performing in bands and went on to study music at Boston University, but dropped out and moved to Los Angeles in 1965.

In 1966 he formed the psychedelic jug band (think a less intense and more wacky The 13th Floor Elevators) Dr West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band and he penned their novelty single The Eggplant That Ate Chicago. They split in 1968. Clearly, Greenbaum was a unique talent.

Going it alone after signing with Reprise Records, Greenbaum set about writing a religious rock song, getting inspiration from country singer Porter Wagoner and enjoying westerns as a child. There was something in the air in the late 60s, with lots of songs moving away from references to drugs and turning to religion instead. Despite being Jewish, Greenbaum opted to sing about Jesus, because he knew it’d be more marketable then Jehovah. In an interview years later, he said it was ‘the spirit in the sky’ people should be taking notice of in his song, not ‘Jesus’. He took the phrase from a greetings card.

The music took a lot longer than the lyrics (which he claimed were done in 15 minutes), but it was worth the wait, with Greenbaum coming up with a laid-back yet fiery boogie groove in a San Francisco studio. The music provides a stark contrast to the holy lyrics and is so strong, it’s seen the song used in countless films and on TV. When Spirit in the Sky was mixed, he says it was optimised to sound good on car stereos without dynamic range, giving it an earthy, primitive quality.

Joining Greenbaum on the sessions were lead guitarist Russell DaShiell, bassist Doug Killmer from Crowfoot and drummer Norman Mayell, formerly of Sopwith Camel. The backing singers adding the gospel touch were The Stovall Sisters trio from Indiana. Before joining Earth, Wind & Fire, Philip Bailey was their percussionist.

The song became the title track of Greenbaum’s album, but Reprise were unsure this strange, lengthy track would make it as a 7”. Two other singles came out first, and they got nowhere, so they took a punt on Spirit in the Sky, released in the UK in December 1969.

Review

And what a punt. I must have heard Greenbaum’s original a million times and yet I love it as much as ever. It’s a hell (pun intended) of a groove and I love the juxtaposition between the raw production and guitar effects and happy-clappy lyrics. It’s easy to get enveloped in it, and I could happily listen to a 10-minute version, and always feel it’s a shame it fades abruptly as the guitar stretches out. Future glam stars were certainly paying attention, for example Alvin Stardust’s My Coo Ca Choo is pretty similar.

Greenbaum may have never had another hit but some acts could take years to come up with one this good. He didn’t disappear straight away though – this was followed up by the bizarre Canned Ham, and he recorded two further albums – Back Home Again later this year, and the all-acoustic Petaluma in 1972.

Eventually Greenbaum’s music fizzled out, and he went to work in a friend’s café around the start of the 80s. Then in 1986 Doctor and the Medics released their cover, which took everyone by surprise when it reached number 1. The renewed interest sparked its use in films, and Greenbaum never needed to work again.

The one-hit wonder made headlines in 2015 when he was the passenger in a car accident that killed a motorcyclist and left him in a coma for three weeks. With perhaps a new-found appreciation of life, Greenbaum, now 77, returned to performing.

The Outro

Spirit in the Sky went to number 1 yet again in 2003, with a version for Comic Relief by Gareth Gates with The Kumars, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m in no rush.

The Info

Written by

Norman Greenbaum

Producer

Erik Jacobsen

Weeks at number 1

2 (2-15 May)

Trivia

Births

6 May: Cricketer Chris Adams

Deaths

7 May: Novelist Jack Jones

284. Dana – All Kinds of Everything (1970)

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The Intro

Somehow, Bridge over Troubled Water was replaced at number 1 after three weeks, by… this. The Eurovision Song Contest winner of 1970, Irish 19-year-old warbler Dana’s ultra-twee All Kinds of Everything is an early contender for worst number 1 of the 70s.

Before

Rosemary Brown, born 30 August 1951, was born in Islington, North London. Her working-class parents had relocated from Derry, Northern Ireland after World War Two due to high unemployment, but when she was five the Browns were advised to return to Derry due to the effects of smog in the city on some of her siblings (she was one of seven).

Both young Brown’s parents were musical, and she proved it ran in the family when she won an all-ages talent contest aged only six. She learned to play the piano, violin, guitar sang and became a ballet dancer too.

As a young teen in 1965 she won another talent contest, and this time the prize was to record a demo. When Brown finished her O-levels, Rex Records got to hear it and signed Brown up. Debut single Sixteen, released in November 1967, failed to ignite interest. Around this time, and now undertaking her A-levels, she took the stage name ‘Dana’ – her school nickname.

In 1969 her label suggested she take part in the Irish National Song Contest, as the winner would represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest. She came second with Look Around (her fourth single).

The following year the Irish National Song Contest producer Tom McGrath suggested Dana try again. This time the winner would represent just the Republic of Ireland at that year’s Eurovision. He thought the young singer would be a great match for All Kinds of Everything, a ballad by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, two 28-year-old amateur songwriters working as printmakers for a Dublin newspaper.

Dana won the contest and on 21 March she became the last performer at Eurovision, held in Amsterdam. She beat Mary Hopkin representing the UK by seven votes. This was the first of a record seven wins by the Republic of Ireland, and was only the second English language song to win the competition (Sandie Shaw’s Puppet on a String was the first in 1967, and Lulu’s Boom Bang-a-Bang had shared first place in 1969). It’s worth noting the political significance of this win, having a girl from Northern Ireland representing the republic and not the UK, just as The Troubles were rumbling.

The single version of All Kinds of Everything had been released the week before the show, arranged by Phil Coulter, who had co-written Puppet on a String and Congratulations. It began to climb the charts.

https://youtu.be/8xmnd3uiK_Y

Review

If this kind of dreck can win Eurovision, there’s no wonder it has such a reputation for the naff. The best thing I can say about it is that it didn’t make me want to hurt myself the way Puppet on a String did. All Kinds of Everything is all kinds of terrible. The production (Ray Horricks also produced both Anthony Newley’s chart-toppers) is lightweight and makes an already sickly song even worse, and the lyrics are something else. Dana’s got someone constantly on her mind and the song is simply a list of things that remind her of him. So let’s take a look at those things, shall we?

In the first verse she sings (in a serviceable but sickly manner) of ‘Snowdrops and daffodils, butterflies and bees’. Predictable, but sweet I suppose. But then she moves on to ‘Sailboats and fishermen, things of the sea’. Fishermen? Ok, that’s unusual. And how vague is ‘things of the sea’? Either she can’t be arsed to go into detail, or hasn’t got the imagination to do so. In the second verse we get ‘things of the sky’, including seagulls and wind… I daresay my eight-year-old could be more imaginative than this. Lindsay and Smith clearly should have stuck to their day jobs. Tacky, dated and dull, All Kinds of Everything is one of the worst songs I’ve reviewed yet.

After

Dana’s debut album was released in June, named after her number 1, and featuring a new version of that track. I’m not going to find it and compare, I’m not putting myself through that. Her fortunes soon became mixed, with her follow-up single I Will Follow You ironically not following her previous one to anywhere near the same success. Who Put the Lights Out reached the top 20 in 1971, though.

Despite still doing well in Ireland, it was 1975 before Dana was back on Top of the Pops with Please Tell Him That I Said Hello. Her second biggest UK success happened that December with the seasonal It’s Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas reaching number four in Christmas week. In 1976 she scored a top 20 hit with the disco-influenced Fairytale, but after that her fame dwindled until she took a new direction as the 80s began.

In 1979 Pope John Paul II visited Ireland, which inspired Dana to sing about her faith. She topped the Irish charts with Totus Tuus, and it opened the door to a career recording Catholic music and prayer albums, and spent most of the 80s doing this, appearing in Pantones or appearing on light entertainment shows.

Dana’s religious dedication made her popular in the US, and she presented a TV show there in 1991, called Say Yes. In 1997 the Christian Community Centre in Ireland suggested she ran for Irish presidency, and after scoffing at the idea initially, she ran as an independent under the name Dana Rosemary Scallon, and came third.

Scallon won a seat in the European Parliament in 1999, and proved herself to have values as outdated as her music – vehemently pro-life, anti-divorce, anti-same-sex marriages, and anti-EU. So actually, in a way she was ahead of her time, and could probably become supreme leader of the universe with the way the world is in 2020. All kinds of prejudice reminds me of Dana, you could say.

Scanlon lost her seat in 2004 and returned to light entertainment, launched a religious music label, released her second autobiography and became a TV talent show judge. In 2011 she ran for presidency again and came sixth. 2019 saw Dana, now 68, release her first album in years, My Time.

The Outro

Sadly, All Kinds of Everything sets the scene in a way, as there was lots more dreary MOR to come in the 70s.

The Info

Written by

Derry Lindsay & Jackie Smith

Producer

Ray Horricks

Weeks at number 1

2 (18 April-1 May)

Trivia

Births

27 April: Actress Kylie Travis

Deaths

20 April: Academic Thomas Iorwerth Ellis

Meanwhile…

18 April: British Leyland announced its longest-running model, the Morris Minor, which had been in production since 1948, would be discontinued at the start of 1971.

29 April: Chelsea defeated Leeds United 2-1 in the FA Cup final replay at Old Trafford, gaining them the trophy for the first time.
On the same day, last year’s winners Manchester City won the European Cup Winners’ Cup by defeating Polish team Górnik Zabrze 2-1 in Vienna, Austria.