Boom Bang-a-Bang

United Kingdom "Boom Bang-a-Bang"
Eurovision Song Contest 1969 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Lulu
Language
Composer(s)
Alan Moorhouse
Lyricist(s)
Conductor
Johnny Harris
Finals performance
Final result
1st (tie)
Final points
18
Appearance chronology
◄ "Congratulations" (1968)   
"Knock, Knock Who's There?" (1970) ►

"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was the United Kingdom entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969. It was sung by Lulu, and was co-written by Alan Moorhouse and Peter Warne (the latter also known as Michael Julien).

It was the joint winner with three other entries: Salomé singing "Vivo cantando" for Spain, Lenny Kuhr singing "De troubadour" for the Netherlands, and Frida Boccara singing "Un jour, un enfant" for France.

The song was the second consecutive entry with a nonsense title to win the contest (after Massiel's triumph in 1968 with "La La La"), and became infamous in the comedy world - most notably inspiring Monty Python's Flying Circus to parody it with "Bing Tiddle-Tiddle Bong" (Python precursor I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again had previously had Bill Oddie do something similar with a song for which the title was rendered entirely in sound effects).

Lyrically, the song is a plea from the singer to her lover to "cuddle me tight". She then goes on to explain that "my heart goes boom bang-a-bang boom bang-a-bang when you are near", complete with appropriate musical accompaniment. The single made No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart and was a major hit throughout Europe.

The song was succeeded as the winner in 1970 by Dana singing "All Kinds of Everything" for Ireland.

Over two decades after its first release, the song was included on a blacklist of banned songs issued by the BBC during the 1991 Gulf War.[1]

"Boom Bang-A-Bang" was also the name of a BBC One 1 hour programme made to celebrate 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Broadcast in Eurovision week, the special was hosted by Sir Terry Wogan and featured archive footage and highlights of past contests, along with a performance of that year's UK entry by Daz Sampson. The song is the theme tune for the BBC Three sitcom Him & Her (2010).

Lulu also recorded the song in German, also titled Boom Bang-a-Bang, which wasn't a success as the English original.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Times Online August 6, 2008 "The music the BBC banned" Retrieved 2008-12-15
Preceded by
"La, La, La" by Massiel		 Eurovision Song Contest winners
co-winner with "Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara, "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr and "Vivo cantando" by Salomé
1969 		Succeeded by
"All Kinds of Everything" by Dana
Preceded by
"Congratulations" by Cliff Richard		 United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
1969 		Succeeded by
"Knock, Knock Who's There?" by Mary Hopkin
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