"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was the winning song in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1984 The Eurovision Song Contest 1984, the 29th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Si la vie est cadeau" by Corinne Hermes. Organised by t ...

performed in Swedish by the trio of brothers Herrey's, representing . Lyrics were written by

Britt Lindeborg Britt Lindeborg (22 March 1928 – 5 August 1998) was a Swedish lyricist. She was born in Solna Municipality to Gunnar Karlsson and Elsa Sparring. Her greatest success was probably "Lyckliga gatan", a Swedish version of " Il ragazzo della via Gl ...

, and the tune by

Torgny Söderberg Sten Torgny Söderberg (26 November 1944 – 5 August 2022) was a Swedish songwriter. He was mainly known for working with Lena Philipsson and wrote schlager songs such as " 100%", "Kärleken är evig" and " Diggi-loo diggi-ley".

. It was produced by Anders Engberg and Torgny Söderberg. The song is an upbeat 1980s-style dance song, performed by three clean-cut young men – fellow Swedish Eurovision participant

Tommy Körberg Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg (; born 4 July 1948) is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role as Anatoly/"The Russian" in the musical ''Chess''. He played the role on the 1984 concept album, and ...

famously dubbed them "the dancing

deodorant A deodorant is a substance applied to the body to prevent or mask body odor due to bacterial breakdown of perspiration or vaginal secretions, for example in the armpits, groin, or feet. A subclass of deodorants, called antiperspirants, prevents ...

s" in the press, a derogatory nickname that stuck with them for the rest of their career in their home country – and the nonsensical title harking back to previous entries such as "

Boom Bang-a-Bang "Boom Bang-a-Bang" is a song recorded by Scottish singer Lulu. The song was written by Alan Moorhouse and Peter Warne. It was the at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid. It was the joint winner with three other entries: Salomé ...

", "

Ding-a-dong "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 , and was written by Di ...

" and "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

". The song has achieved considerable fame among Eurovision Song Contest fans, with a well-known archive of contest lyrics using the domain name diggiloo.net, named after it. Despite the reception the song receives today, in the run-up to the contest it was not an immediate favorite to win: bookmakers

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations a ...

had 's " Terminal 3" and 's " I treni di Tozeur" as higher favourites, so the song winning came as a surprise to many. According to author John Kennedy O'Connor's ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'', Herrey's opened the contest and thus became the third winners of the competition to sing from pole position, following Teach-In in and

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

in . No song sung first or second has won since.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 The song itself deals with the lead singer discovering a pair of golden shoes in the street one day. He puts them on and immediately feels like dancing in the street, entering a "magical world". Thus, he wishes for everyone to have a pair.
The English translation, released some time after the Contest, took much the same theme, titling the song "Golden Shoes". Richard Herrey, lead singer of the band, performed at the '' Congratulations'' special in late 2005. In 2015, all three band members performed the track with a mixture of English and Swedish lyrics at Apollo theatre in Hammersmith, London as part of the BBC's '' Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' concert to mark the contests 60th anniversary. The song was succeeded as winner in by Bobbysocks representing with " La det swinge". The highest chart position the song reached was No. 2, in the

Swedish singles chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish ...

. They reached No. 46 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Track listing

#"Diggi Loo – Diggi Ley" – 3:05 #"Every Song You Sing" – 3:34

Charts

Covers

*The Swedish heavy metal band Black Ingvars covered "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on their 1998 album '' Schlager Metal''. *

Meiju Suvas Meiju Annele Suvas-Berger (born 22 January 1959), professionally known as Meiju Suvas, is a Finnish singer. Career beginnings Music has been a part of Meiju Suvas' life from a very young age. She started to take piano lessons at the age of four, ...

has recorded a version in Finnish. *The Danish duo Small Talk released an English cover version on their 2001 album ''Eurovision''.

References

External links

"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Austrian singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Norwegian singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Swedish singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Swiss singles chart
{{authority control Eurovision songs of 1984 Melodifestivalen songs of 1984 Eurovision songs of Sweden Eurovision Song Contest winning songs Swedish-language songs Songs written by Torgny Söderberg Herreys songs Mariann Grammofon singles 1984 songs 1984 singles