Puppet on a String
Encyclopedia
- "Puppet on a String" may also refer to an Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's song, The HivesThe HivesThe Hives are a Swedish garage rock band that first garnered attention in the early 2000s as a prominent group of the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the "greatest hits" album Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most well-known song "Hate to Say I Told...
' song, DokkenDokkenDokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide...
's song, and the song "I'm Just a Puppet on a String" by The ArchiesThe ArchiesThe Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
"Puppet on a String" is the name of the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1967
The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest. The presenter became confused whilst the voting was taking place, and declared the United Kingdom's entry to be the winner before the last country, Ireland, had announced its votes...
-winning song in 1967 by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
. It was her thirteenth UK single release.
The song was a UK Singles Chart number one hit on 27 April 1967, staying at the top for a total of three weeks. The song is not to be confused with the Bennett-Tepper song of the same name that was performed by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
Eurovision Song Contest
ShawSandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
had originally performed the song as one of five prospective numbers to represent the United Kingdom in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1967
The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest. The presenter became confused whilst the voting was taking place, and declared the United Kingdom's entry to be the winner before the last country, Ireland, had announced its votes...
on The Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
Show. She had never been taken with the idea of taking part in the contest but her discoverer, Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, had talked her into it, saying it would keep her manager Eve Taylor happy. Taylor wanted to give Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
a more cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
appeal and felt that this was the right move - and also felt that it would get Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
back in the public's good books as she had recently been involved in a divorce scandal.
Of the five songs performed, "Puppet on a String" was Shaw's
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
least favourite. In her own words "I 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." She was disappointed when it was selected as the song she would use to represent the country, but it won the contest hands down, though it has always been felt that this was partly due to her existing popularity on the continent (she had recorded most of her hit singles in French, Italian, German and Spanish). As a result "Puppet on a String" became her third Number One hit in the UK (a record for a female at the time) and was a big worldwide smash (the biggest selling single of the year in Germany). Shaw also recorded "Puppet on a String" in French ("Un tout petit pantin"), Italian ("La danza delle note"), Spanish ("Marionetas en la cuerda"), and German ("Wiedehopf im Mai").
Re-recording
Shaw re-recorded "Puppet on a String" in early 2007 in honour of her 60th birthday. This took place after Shaw visited her friend, musician Howard JonesHoward Jones (musician)
Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...
and found him playing some chords on his keyboard and humming a melody. He encouraged her to continue the melody and before long she realised that it was in fact "Puppet on a String." They recorded the new, slow-tempo electronic version of the song and sent it to producer/mixer Andy Gray
Andy Gray (musician)
Andy Gray is a British songwriter, composer, and record producer.-Film scores:*TT3D: Closer to the Edge *CSI Miami original song*Saab Saab North America...
who put the final touches on the song. Shaw stated that she loved the new version (having spent a great deal of her life hating the original) and released it exclusively for free download from her official website on 26 February (her actual birthday). It was available for free download for sixty days. As a result of its popularity, Shaw continued to put out new songs on her website for download for the remaining months of her 61st year.
Other covers
The song was covered in over 200 versions in over 30 languages.- Bulgarian (Кукла на конци ,"Kukla na kontsi") - by Маргарита Радинска Margarita Radinska
- Chinese:
- Betty Chung
- A Singaporean singer Lara Tan
- Malaysian singer Sakura Teng
- Dutch: title: Speelbal in de wind ("Beachball in the Wind") by Reggy van der Burgt, later by Anneke GrönlohAnneke GrönlohLouise Johanna Grönloh, is a female Dutch singer.-Life:Anneke was born in Tondano, North Celebes, Dutch East Indies and spent her early years in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies in a Japanese concentration camp...
- Finnish: by Maarja-Leena (Hentunen), title: Sätkynukke (single, Philips PF 340 791)
- LithuaniaLithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n: by Violeta RiaubiskyteVioleta RiaubiškyteVioleta Riaubiškytė-Tarasovienė is a famous Lithuanian singer and show host. She used to be the co-host of a Lithuanian music show "Penktadienio muzikos šou" alongside Edmundas Kučinskas and also, and the co-host of a music show "Padainuokim!" alongside her husband Vilius Tarasovas.She was...
under the title Lele. - Norwegian: In 1967 Bente Aaseth released the single Dukkemann on His Master's Voice. The Norwegian lyrics were written by Juul Hansen.
- Russian: 1968, Emil Gorovets (Эмиль Горовец), title: Я не кукла ("I am Not a Puppet")
- Slovak: In 1967 Slovak singer and actress Tatjana Hubinská released the single Ako malý psík (literally "Like a Puppy", in fact a Slovak version of the Puppet on a String; 0130166 SupraphonSupraphonSupraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
, Mono). Ako malý psík was also covered by Jana Procházková - Swedish: Sprattelgumma, by Siw MalmkvistSiw MalmkvistSiw "Siwan" Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist is a Swedish singer who is popular in Scandinavia and Germany...
, 1967 - Mantovani made an instrumental version on the 1968 release The Mantovani Touch
Chart performance
| Country | Position |
|---|---|
| Austria | |
| West Germany | |
| Ireland Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
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| Norway | |
| United Kingdom UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
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