DANA All Kinds of Everything 1974 (FoD#95)

On 18 April 1970, DANA replaced Simon & Garfunkel at the top of the UK singles chart and stayed there for two weeks. Her cheerful ballad was the perfect antidote to the serious Bridge Over Troubled Water, both of which became million-selling signature songs for their artists. This video comes from a Netherlands music programme, The Eddy Go Round Show (1973-1976). Credit to Danno Five-0 for finding it. Hopefully more will surface as she surely wouldn't have gone all the way there just to mime to an old hit. She had three chart entries in that country: 1970 All Kinds of Everything #2, 1976 Fairytale #3, 1977 I Love How You Love Me #27.

The Derry girl singing in smoke-filled Dublin clubs on weekends after school didn't go unnoticed. She was crowned Queen of Cabaret at Dublin's Clontarf Castle in 1968. Rex Records suggested auditioning for the Irish National Song Contest, to be held in the capital in February 1969. Her song for the occasion was Look Around, issued as her fourth single. She came second, which pleased her as she wasn't ready for Eurovision, the prize for the winner.

When the 1970 contest came around, two Dublin printworkers, Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, entered All Kinds of Everything. The show's producer, Tom McGrath, head of light entertainment at RTÉ, remembered DANA from the previous year and invited her back to perform their ballad (not knowing they had written it for a male to sing). This time she won. Weeks later on Saturday 21 March 1970, she did the double by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in the Netherlands. The voting highlight came from Belgium – they gave one point to Monaco and the other nine to Ireland! Top producer, Mickie Most, turned to the writers and said if she doesn't fall off that stool she'll win.

The single, released on 14 March, was #1 in Ireland when the contest began. It remained at the top for nine weeks. Her victory, a first for the country, meant that the DANA edition of the Irish National Song Contest was now a historic event. A collectors item. A televised magic moment. A programme to keep in the RTÉ archives under the heading: "DO NOT DESTROY EVEN IF YOU HATE DANA!!!"

They destroyed it.

There appears to be no Irish music charts featuring DANA. UK chart run of All Kinds of Everything:

w/e 04 Apr 1970 - UK #13
w/e 11 Apr 1970 - UK #02
w/e 18 Apr 1970 - UK #01
w/e 25 Apr 1970 - UK #01
w/e 02 May 1970 - UK #02
w/e 09 May 1970 - UK #03
w/e 16 May 1970 - UK #05
w/e 23 May 1970 - UK #10
w/e 30 May 1970 - UK #21
w/e 06 Jun 1970 - UK #27
w/e 13 Jun 1970 - UK #29
w/e 20 Jun 1970 - UK #36
w/e 27 Jun 1970 - UK #33
w/e 04 Jul 1970 - UK #38
w/e 11 Jul 1970 - UK #48
w/e 18 Jul 1970 - UK #47

UK Top 10 w/e 18 April 1970:

01 Dana - All Kinds of Everything
02 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
03 Andy Williams - Can't Help Falling in Love
04 Mary Hopkin - Knock Knock Who's There
05 Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
06 Pipkins - Gimme Dat Ding
07 Bob And Marcia - Young, Gifted and Black
08 Lee Marvin - Wand'rin' Star
09 Jimmy Ruffin - Farewell is a Lonely Sound
10 The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself

DANA's four Top of the Pops appearances promoting the song were wiped. Her first show was on 2 April 1970, presented by Tony Blackburn:

01 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (and charts)
13 Dana - All Kinds of Everything
19 Juicy Lucy - Who Do You Love
--- Dusty with Tom Springfield - Morning Please Don't Come (new)
03 Andy Williams - Can't Help Falling in Love (video)
--- Rufus Thomas - Do the Funky Chicken (crowd dancing) (new)
36 Des O'Connor - I'll go on Hoping
15 Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky (danced to by Pan's People)
21 Pipkins - Gimme Dat Ding
05 Bob & Marcia - Young Gifted and Black (video)
08 Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Something's Burning
--- Elton John - Border Song (new)
--- Slade - Shape of Things (new)
17 The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (crowd dancing)
01 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (video)

Snowdrops and daffodils
Butterflies and bees
Sailboats and fishermen
Things of the sea

Wishing wells, wedding bells
Early morning dew
All kinds of everything
Remind me of you

Seagulls and aeroplanes
Things of the sky
Winds that go howling
Breezes that sigh

City sights, neon lights
Grey skies or blue
All kinds of everything
Remind me of you

Summertime, wintertime
Spring and autumn too
Monday, Tuesday, every day
I think of you

Dances, romances
Things of the night
Sunshine and holidays
Postcards to write

Budding trees, autumn leaves
A snowflake or two
All kinds of everything
Remind me of you

Summertime, wintertime
Spring and autumn too
Seasons will never change
The way that I love you

Dances, romances
Things of the night
Sunshine and holidays
Postcards to write

Budding trees, autumn leaves
A snowflake or two
All kinds of everything
Remind me of you
All kinds of everything
Remind me of you

A Derry Lindsay/Jackie Smith song