"Ding-a-dong" is a song recorded by Dutch band Teach-In, with music composed by Dick Bakker and lyrics written by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975, held in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, winning the contest. It reached number 1 in both the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

and the Norwegian Singles Chart. Teach-In recorded the song in English, Dutch, and German.

Background

Conception

"Ding-a-dong" was composed by Dick Bakker with lyrics by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens. It is an up-tempo ode to positive thought though the song is written entirely in a minor key. It sings that one should "sing a song that goes ding ding-a-dong" when one is feeling unhappy, with the chorus proclaiming "Ding-a-dong every hour, when you pick a flower. Even when your lover is gone, gone, gone." In the original Dutch version the "ding-a-dong" describes the heartbeat of the singer remembering the separation from her lover in the past. As well as "ding-a-dong", the lyrics also contain "bim-bam-bom" representing a fearful heartbeat and "tikke-(tikke)-tak" for the ticking of the clock while waiting for the lover to return.

Eurovision

On 26 February 1975, "Dinge dong" –the original Dutch version of "Ding-a-dong"– competed in the of the ''

Nationaal Songfestival (; ) was an annual music competition, which was originally organised by the Dutch public broadcaster (NTS), and later by the (NOS) and the (TROS). It was staged almost every year between 1956 and 2012 to determine the country's entry for th ...

'', the national final organized by

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting The (; NOS or rarely ; ) is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Dutch public broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports programmes for the three Dutch public television channels and the ...

(NOS) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The song won the three-song competition, so it became the for Eurovision. Once selected, it was performed by the three competing acts:

Albert West Albertus Petrus Enricus Gerardus Westelaken (2 September 1949 – 4 June 2015), better known by his stage name Albert West, was a Dutch pop singer and record producer. He was the lead singer of the Shuffles from 1963 to 1973. He was born in ...

Debbie Debbie (or Debby or Deb) is a feminine given name, commonly but not always short for Deborah (or Debra and related variants). Debbie is a name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Hebrew name Deborah, which means “ bee”. Notable people *Debb ...

, and Teach-In. Teach-In received more points than their rivals, so they became the performers for Eurovision. Teach-In then recorded the song in Dutch –as "Dinge-dong"–, English –as Ding-a-dong–, and German –as "Ding ding-a-dong". On 22 March 1975, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at in

hosted by

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

(SR), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Teach-In performed in English "Ding-a-dong" first on the evening preceding 's "

That's What Friends Are For "That's What Friends Are For" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. It was first recorded by Rod Stewart in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film '' Night Shift'', but it is best known for the 1985 version by Dionne Warwic ...

" by The Swarbriggs. Harry van Hoof conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the Dutch entry. At the close of voting, it had received 152 points, placing first in a field of nineteen, winning the contest. The song was the first winner under the current Eurovision voting system whereby each country awards scores of 1–8, 10, and 12. "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 María de los Ángeles Felisa Santamaría Espinosa (born 2 August 1947), known professionally as Massiel (), is a Spanish pop and protest singer. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song " La, la, la", being the first performer ...

's " La, la, la" in and

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's " Boom Bang-a-Bang" in , and later followed by the

Herreys Herreys (), sometimes Herrey's or Herrey, is a Swedish pop group, consisting of the three brothers Per Herrey (born 9 August 1958), Richard Herrey (born 19 August 1964), and Louis Herrey (born 3 November 1966). They won the Eurovision Song C ...

' "

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" in . As the first song was performed during the evening, the victory ran contrary to the fact that success usually went to songs performed later in the broadcast. This was the first of three occasions when the first song would win the contest, the second coming the following year in , and the third in 1984.

Aftermath

Teach-In performed their song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show '' Songs of Europe'' held on 22 August 1981 in

Mysen Mysen is the administrative center of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Eidsberg in the counties of Norway, county of Østfold in Norway. The town is named after the old farm of Mysen (Old Norse, Norse ''Mysin'', from ''*Mosvin''), si ...

. On 22 May 2021, the interval act "Rock the Roof" in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

grand final featured "Ding-a-dong" performed by Teach-In.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Legacy

beFour cover

"Ding-a-Dong" was also recorded by German band beFour for their fourth studio album '' Friends 4 Ever'' and released on 17 April 2009 as its second single in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Weekly charts

Other covers

* Edwyn Collins did a cover of the song for '' Eurotrash''. * Russian musicians

Alyona Apina Alyona Apina (Еле́на Евге́ньевна А́пина; maiden name — Levochkina) is а Soviet and Russian singer, musical performer, actress and songwriter. Her career started in 1988 and continues to this day. For her unique tone ...

and Murat Nasyrov recorded "" ("''Lunnyje nochi''", "Moonlight nights") to the melody of "Ding-a-Dong" in 1997. * Bessy Argyraki sang a cover in Greek, included in her LP ''Robert & Bessie'' (1975). * Füsun Önal covered this song as "Söyleyin Arkadaşlar" ("Tell me friends") in Turkish, included in her first LP ''Alo... Ben Füsun'' (1975). * Ayla Algan covered this song as "Dünya Tersine Dönse" ("If the world turns back") in Turkish, included in firstly her 45rpm ''Dünya Tersine Dönse/Sen De Katıl Bize'' (1975), laterly in her second LP after ''Yunus Emre'' and the first commercial one ''Ayla Algan'' (1976). * András Csonka recorded a Hungarian language version "Ding Dong" in 2001.
Hanne
recorded a Finnish language version "Ding-a-Dong" in 1975. * The Dutch language television series, ', featured a version of the song sung by the cast members in its first episode in 2015. * 1984 & Dana Winner released a dance/po
version
on 8th November 2024.

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control BeFour songs CNR Music singles Eurovision Song Contest-winning songs Eurovision songs of 1975 Eurovision songs of the Netherlands Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Switzerland Philips Records singles Songs written by Eddy Ouwens 1975 singles 1975 songs 2009 singles