Ding-A-Dong

Ding-A-Dong
French 7-Inch single cover.
Eurovision Song Contest 1975 entry
Country	Netherlands
Artist(s)	Getty Kaspers, Ard Weeink, Chris de Wolde, John Gaasbeek, Koos Versteeg, Rudi Nijhuis
As	Teach-In
Language	English
Composer(s)	Dick Bakker
Lyricist(s)	Will Luikinga, Eddy Ouwens
Conductor	Harry van Hoof
Finals performance
Final result	1st
Final points	152
Appearance chronology
The Party's Over|The Party's Over (1976) ►]]

Ding-A-Dong (original Dutch title: Ding Dinge Dong, as it was introduced in the titles when broadcast) was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. It was sung by Teach-In, representing the Netherlands, and was written by Dick Bakker, Will Luikinga, and Eddy Ouwens.

History

Ding-A-Dong was notable for being one of the Eurovision winners that had quirky or entirely nonsensical titles or lyrics, following in the footsteps of Massiel's La La La in 1968 and Lulu's Boom Bang-a-Bang in 1969, later followed by the Herreys' Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley in 1984. Ding-A-Dong was performed first on the performance night (preceding Ireland's The Swarbriggs with That's What Friends Are For). The song was the first winner under the now-familiar Eurovision voting system whereby each country awards scores of 1-8, 10 and 12. At the close of voting, it had received 152 points, placing first in a field of nineteen. As the first song performed during the evening, the victory ran contrary to the fact that success usually went songs performed later in the broadcast. According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, this was the first of three occasions when the first song would win the contest, the second coming the following year in 1976.^[1]

The song, performed entirely in English, was an up-tempo ode to positive thought. The band (only the second to win the Contest in a non-native language after ABBA the year before) sings that one should "sing a song that goes ding ding-a-dong" when one is feeling unhappy. On the night of the Dutch National Song Contest, the song had already been selected to be performed at the ESC, but there were two other singers competing for the honor of performing the song: Albert West and Debbie.

Almost immediately, the song's lyrics became a source of ridicule^{[citation needed]}, particularly in the UK, because the word "dong" is slang for penis. This did not stop the song from hitting number 13 in the UK singles chart. Besides the Dutch and English versions, Teach-In also recorded Ding-A-Dong in German as Ding ding-a-dong.

The song was succeeded in 1976 as contest winner by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, singing Save Your Kisses for Me. It was succeeded as the Dutch representative at the 1976 contest by Sandra Reemer with The Party's Over.

Charts

Charts (1975)	Peak position
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	13
Dutch Singles Chart	3
Norwegian Singles Chart	1

Covers

• 4 Tune Fairytales (disco version)
• As Petit Train by French singer Rika Zaraï
• Ding-A-Dong by beFour in 2009

References

1. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3

External links

• Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1975
• Detailed info and lyrics, Diggiloo Thrush, "Ding-A-Dong"

Preceded by Griechischer Wein by Udo Jürgens	Swiss Singles Chart number-one single April 18, 1975 - May 16, 1975	Succeeded by I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by ABBA
Preceded by I Can Help by Billy Swan	Norwegian Singles Chart number-one single April 21, 1975 - June 9, 1975	Succeeded by Love Hurts by Nazareth

Preceded by Waterloo by ABBA

Eurovision Song Contest winners 1975

Succeeded by Save Your Kisses for Me by Brotherhood of Man