esctoday.com TOP TEN: No. 7 and 6

The third esctoday.com TOP TEN list continues today with the places 7 and 6 being announced. As announced on Saturday, this week's topic are the TOP TEN bizarre cover versions of Eurovision entries.

All kinds of cover versions could be submitted. The ranking is purely subjective this week as a special exception and because of the high number of suggestions, we do not just rank ten single cover versions but ten groups of cover versions.

Sadly, we cannot feature all cover versions that were submitted. Nevertheless, we promise to feature those that did not make the top ten in the round-up article on Saturday. Anyway, we want to thank everybody who took part in creating the list.

So we continue…

No. 7 – Different interpretations of Puppet on a string

In 1967, Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna with the song Puppet on a string. The song was a big hit but it was also critisised for its supposedly misogyous content considering that the lyrics tell the story of a woman who completely devotes herself to her man. Even the singer herself said that it was her least favourite out of the five songs in the UK national final stating that she "hated it from the very first oompah to the final bang on the big bass drum. I was instinctively repelled by its sexist drivel and cuckoo-clock tune." Still, many cover versions of the song appeared and some of them changed the message of the song, either through the music or the lyrics.

Jamaican singer Ken Boothe recorded a Reggae version of the song. The music was far more laid-back and the singer seemed to more desperate than happy to be a puppet on a string:

English singer Lily Allen used parts of the melody in her song Alfie, which was the last single off her debut album Alright, still. The song features completely different lyrics as they tell about the singer's lazy brother:

The most successful instrumental cover version of the song was recorded by Paul Mauriat and released under the French title Un tout petit pantin. Curiously enough, it highlights the circus atmosphere of the song, which would later by critisised by Sandie Shaw, even more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVrcm6sAr5A

Technically, the last example is not a cover version but a new version of the song released by Sandie Shaw in 2007 under the title The puppet's got a brand a new string. It still shows a different interpretation of the whole song as it sees the lyrics in a melancholic way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-IpXVS_FRk

Many thanks to p. tiggy for the contribution.

No. 6 – Swedish parodies of Eurovision classics

Few countries love the Eurovision Song Contest as much as Sweden does. And although Swedes do take the contest rather seriously, there are many Swedish parodies of Eurovision classics.

Bert Karlsson, Sweden's most famous record company manager, was down with the Swedish representer Lotta Engberg in Brussels in 1987. He noticed the Israeli song Shir Habatlanim with its catchy chorus and decided to make a Swedish cover of it. The Swedish version, Hoppa hulle is a self-ironic song about his daily life as a record company manager.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy4G_o63DAo

Swedish comedy group Lorry recorded their own version of the Cliff Richard classic Congratulations. Unlike the original version it does not celebrate a happy twosome but the pleaure of pleasuring yourself, as the title Vi onanerar (We masturbate) tells:

The interval act of Melodifestivalen 2005 has become a classic as it features a parody of the four Swedish winning songs as well as the 2004 Swedish entry Det gör ont by Drag act After Dark. The title of the medley is Alla har ont (Everyone is in pain):

Many thanks to Niclas Andersson for his contributions.

Tomorrow, we will introduce the numbers 5 and 4 on the list.