Puppet on a String (Sandie Shaw song)

"Puppet on a String" is a song recorded by

Sandie Shaw had originally performed the song as one of five prospective numbers to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 on The Rolf Harris Show. She had never been taken with the idea of taking part in the contest but her discoverer, Adam Faith, had talked her into it, saying it would keep her manager Eve Taylor happy. Taylor wanted to give Shaw a more cabaret appeal and felt that this was the right move – and also felt that it would get Shaw back in the public's good books as she had recently been involved in a divorce scandal.^[8]

Of the five songs performed, "Puppet on a String" was Shaw's 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."^[9] She was disappointed when it was selected as the song she would use to represent the country,^{[citation needed]} but it won the contest comfortably.

As a result of it winning the Eurovision Song Contest, "Puppet on a String" became her third number one hit in the UK (a record for a woman at the time) and was a big worldwide smash. Globally, the single achieved sales in excess of 4 million, making it the biggest-selling winning Eurovision track to date.^[10] Some estimates suggest this makes the track the biggest selling single by a British female artist of all time.^[11] 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").^[12]

Other covers

The song was covered in over 200 versions in over 30 languages.

Covers include:

• Chinese:
  • Betty Chung.^{[citation needed]}
  • Singaporean singer Lara Tan.^{[citation needed]}
• Portuguese: "Marionette" (1967), by
  teenpop group Onda Choc, on their eighth album with the same title.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• Russian: "Ya ne kukla" (Я не кукла, "I am Not a Puppet"; 1968), by Emil Gorovets.^[14]
• Serbian: "Marioneta" ("Marionette", 1967), by Sanjalice.^[15]
• Slovak: "Ako malý psík" ("Like a puppy", 1967), by Tatjana Hubinská (0130166 Supraphon, mono); released on the day after the Eurovision Song Contest.^[16] Ako malý psík was also covered by Jana Procházková.^{[citation needed]}
• Swedish: "Sprattelgumma" (1967), by Siw Malmkvist.^[17]
• Tamil: by Nantha Balan Selvanayagam (1969).^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture

The song was featured in The 1975 Bulgarian Cartoon Buffo-Synchronists by Proiko Proikov and the soundtrack of the 2021 film Last Night in Soho.^[18]

Charts

Sales

References