"Dschinghis Khan" (; " Genghis Khan") is a song by German disco group

Dschinghis Khan Dschinghis Khan (; "Genghis Khan") was a German Eurodisco pop band. It was originally formed in Munich in 1979 to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest with their song " Dschinghis Khan". The original group led by original members Henriette Str ...

. It was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and released as the first single from the group's debut album, ''

'' (1979). It was a number one hit in West Germany, and a top 10 hit also in Austria, Finland, Norway and Switzerland. Cover versions by a number of other artists were subsequently released as singles and album tracks.

Background and release

"Dschinghis Khan" was performed ninth on the night, following 's Peter, Sue & Marc and Pfuri, Gorps & Kniri with "

Trödler und Co Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in Israel. Peter, Sue and Marc and Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri represented Switzerland with the song "Trödler und Co". They finished on 10th place with 60 points. Before Eurovision Conco ...

" and preceding 's Milk and Honey with "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...

". At the close of voting it had received 86 points, coming fourth in a field of nineteen. The song was written and composed by the prolific duo of Ralph Siegel and

Bernd Meinunger Bernd Meinunger (born 30 September 1944 in Meiningen) is a German lyricist and record producer (with Hanne Haller Hanne Haller (January 14, 1950 in Rendsburg, Germany - November 15, 2005 in Tegernsee, Germany; full name Hannelore Haller) was a ...

, and owes a considerable debt to disco music, specifically of the Boney M. tradition. As the name suggests, it is in praise of the titular

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

warrior, with verses extolling his military ("and about his enemies he only laughed / because nobody could resist his strength") and sexual ("he fathered seven children in one night") prowess. Indeed, the entirety of his band are the subjects of this paean, being described as exceptional drinkers with a devil-may-care attitude to life ("and the devil gets us early enough"). The song had a lasting success in Japan. In 2014 it was certified gold for 100,000 digital downloads, after first being released digitally in 2006. In 2020, the Dschinghis Khan lineup led by Wolfgang Heichel and Stefan Track re-recorded the song and filmed its music video in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, featuring Heichel interacting with a Mongolian tribe.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Frederik version

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

singer Frederik covered the song as "Tsingis Khan" in his 1979 album ''Tsingis Khan'', with

lyrics by Juha Vainio. According to the website of Frederik, the composer of the original song, Ralph Siegel, considered the Frederik version to be even better than the original. Siegel offered Frederik to also cover the song "Hadschi Halef Omar", which he did as "Sheikki Ali Hassan" in a 1980 single. "Tsingis Khan" peaked at No. 14 on the

Finnish Singles Chart The Official Finnish Charts ( fi, Suomen virallinen lista; sv, Finlands officiella lista) are national record charts in Finland compiled and published by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. The name ''Suomen virallinen lista/Finlands officiell ...

and was certified Gold. Frederik's version of the song is also used as ring entry theme by Russian boxer Denis "Tsingis Khan" Shafikov.

Track listing

Charts

Berryz Kobo version

The Japanese girl

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

group

Berryz Kobo was a Japanese girl group formed by Up-Front Promotion in 2004 and associated with Hello! Project. The group's members consisted of Hello! Project Kids members Saki Shimizu, Momoko Tsugunaga, Miyabi Natsuyaki, Chinami Tokunaga, Maasa Sudo, Y ...

also released a cover of the song, albeit with toned-down lyrics, which do not make mention to the more explicit details pertaining to war, rape or the consumption of alcoholic beverages found in the 1979 original. This single release marks the group's first cover song to be slotted as an a-side in a single. There are two versions to this single, a limited edition with a DVD (PKCP-5112~3) and a regular edition (PKCP-5114 – first pressing containing a photo card and a ticket for a raffle to attend an event promoting the single).ジンギスカン, Berryz工房
, Piccolotown The song was used as the main song to the group's musical, , running through January 2008. The single debuted at number 4 in the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

Daily Singles Chart and ranked 5th for the week. It was Berryz Kobo's highest selling single until the release of " Motto Zutto Issho ni Itakatta / ROCK Erotic" in 2013. In 2009, the single was released in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. It became one of the top songs of the year, ranking 26th in the

Channel V Thailand Channel Thailand was a music television channel. In August 2008 Channel Thailand moved studio and office from Sukhumvit 49/12 to Siam Discovery on 6th floor. Channel Thailand ended its exclusive broadcasting deal with TrueVision on 31 Au ...

's Asian Top 50 Year-End Chart of 2009.

Track listings

Charts

Awards

Japan Cable Awards

The

Japan Cable Awards are an annual set of music awards, sponsored by the . The awards are presented annually since 1968 and are based on requests from the audience received by cable broadcasters. The awards is finished in 2017, Kiyoshi Hikawa, who is a Japanese enk ...

are sponsored by the . , - , align="center" rowspan="2", 2008 , align="center" rowspan="2", "Dschinghis Khan" by

, align="center", Cable Music Award , , - , align="center", Grand Prix* , * awarded to the most requested song of the year on the cable radio

Dschinghis Khan × Berryz Kobo single

is a single by the collaboration unit . It was released on September 17, 2008, following the success of Berryz Kobo's version. The title track "Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix" features a mix of both groups' vocal tracks. The single also includes both Berryz Kobo and Dschinghis Khan's versions. The music video for the new song had Berryz Kobo digitally placed into a video of an old Dschinghis Khan performance, so that the two groups seem to appear together at the ZDF-Hitparade television show. The single peaked at No. 35 on

's weekly singles chart, staying in the list for three weeks.

Track listings

Charts

Other covers

* Swedish

dansband (; "dance band"), or in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish term for a band that plays ("dance band music"). ' is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired ...

Vikingarna released a Swedish-language version of the song, "Djingis Khan", on the 1979 album '' Kramgoa låtar 7'' and as a 1979 single with "Annie's sång" acting as B-side. They also scored a ''

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...

'' hit with the song for 10 weeks between 24 June-26 August 1979, including topping the chart. * Spanish singer Iván published a version with unrelated lyrics under the title "Sin Amor" (1979). *

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

singer

George Lam George Lam Tsz-Cheung (born 12 October 1947), also known professionally by his surname Lam, is a Hong Kong-based veteran Cantopop singer, singer-songwriter, music producer and actor, with a career that has so far lasted more than four decades. Lam ...

released a

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

cover of the song "Cheng Ji Si Han" (), which is included in his 1979 album ''Choice'' (). * In

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, the musical group Malibú published a version in Spanish, called "Genghis Khan" (1979). * A Thai language version of this song was released by the Thai band Royal Sprites in 1979. * "Yidden", a cover with unrelated Yiddish lyrics, first recorded by Mordechai Ben David in 1986, is a popular Jewish line dance. * Another version of this song was performed by Die Apokalyptischen Reiter on the ''Dschinghis Khan'' EP (1998). * The Korean dance/hip-hop group

Koyote Koyote (), also known as KYT is a South Korean co-ed vocal group consisting of members Kim Jong-min, Shin Ji, and Bbaek Ga. The group, which is known for its signature dance and hip hop sound, debuted in 1998 with hit song "Genuine". Since it ...

have also made a cover of the song, "Aja! Aja!" (), which appears on their 2007 compilation album ''Dance Best and 9.5''. * A spoof version of this song is routinely performed by the comedy group Blondon Boys, in the Chilean variety late show ''Morandé con Compañía''. It is called "Somos heterosexuales por opción" ("We are heterosexual by choice").

References

External links

;Dschinghis Khan version * * ;Frederik version * * ;Berryz Kobo version
Single V profile at the Up-Front Works official website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dschinghis Khan (Song) 1979 debut singles 2008 singles 1979 songs Eurovision songs of 1979 Eurovision songs of Germany German-language songs Japanese-language songs Cantopop songs Number-one singles in Germany Berryz Kobo songs Piccolo Town singles Songs about Genghis Khan Songs written by Ralph Siegel Songs written by Bernd Meinunger Song recordings produced by Tsunku Vikingarna (band) songs