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Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley

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This article is about the song. For the album, see Diggi Loo, Diggi Ley.
"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley"
Single by Herreys
from the album Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley
LanguageSwedish
Released1984
Length3:02
LabelMariann
Composer(s)Torgny Söderberg
Lyricist(s)Britt Lindeborg
Producer(s)
Eurovision Song Contest 1984 entry
Country
Artist(s)
  • Per Herrey
  • Louis Herrey
  • Richard Herrey
As
Language
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
Conductor
Finals performance
Final result
1st
Final points
145
Entry chronology
◄ "Främling" (1983)
"Bra vibrationer" (1985) ►
Official performance video
"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on YouTube

"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" is a song recorded by Swedish trio Herreys –brothers Per, Louis, and Richard Herrey–, with music composed by Torgny Söderberg and Swedish lyrics written by Britt Lindeborg. It was produced by Anders Engberg and Torgny Söderberg. It represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, held in Luxembourg, winning the contest.

Background

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Conception

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"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was composed by Torgny Söderberg with Swedish lyrics by Britt Lindeborg. It was produced by Anders Engberg and Torgny Söderberg. It is an upbeat 1980s-style dance song. It 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. In addition to the Swedish original version, Herreys recorded the song in English with lyrics by Per Herrey.[1]

Eurovision

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On 25 February 1984, "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" performed by Herreys competed in the 23rd edition of the Melodifestivalen. It received 49 points, winning the competition. As the festival was used by Sveriges Television (SVT) to select their song and performer for the 29th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the song became the Swedish entry, and Herrey's the performers, for Eurovision.[2]

On 5 May 1984, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Théâtre Municipal in Luxembourg hosted by Radio Télévision Luxembourg (RTL), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Herrey's performed "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" first on the evening, preceding Luxembourg's "100% d'amour" by Sophie Carle. Curt-Eric Holmquist conducted the event's orchestra in the performance of the Swedish entry.[3]

At the close of voting, the song had received 145 points, winning the contest. Herreys sang their winning reprise half in Swedish and half in English.[4] They became the third winners of the competition to sing from pole position, following Teach-In in 1975 and Brotherhood of Man in 1976. No song sung first or second has won since.[5] The song was succeeded as winner in 1985 by "La det swinge" by Bobbysocks representing Norway.

Despite the reception the song receives today, in the run-up to the contest it was not an immediate favorite to win: bookmakers Ladbrokes had Ireland's "Terminal 3" and Italy's "I treni di Tozeur" as higher favourites, so the song winning came as a surprise to many. Fellow Swedish Eurovision participant Tommy Körberg famously dubbed the group "the dancing deodorants" in the press, a derogatory nickname that stuck with them for the rest of their career in their home country[6] – and the nonsensical title harking back to previous entries such as "Boom Bang-a-Bang", "Ding-a-dong" and "La, la, la".

Aftermath

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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.

Richard Herrey, the lead singer of the band, performed "Let Me Be the One" (1975 British entry) as part of the interval acts of the fiftieth anniversary competition Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest held on 22 October 2005 in Copenhagen.[7] All three band members performed the song with a mixture of English and Swedish lyrics in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits held on 31 March 2015 in London.[8][9] On 9 May 2024, they performed the song at the end of the second semi-final of the 2024 contest held in Malmö, Sweden.[10][11][12]

Track listing

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  1. "Diggi Loo – Diggi Ley" – 3:05
  2. "Every Song You Sing" – 3:34

Charts performance

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The highest chart position the song reached was No. 2, in the Swedish singles chart. They reached No. 46 on the UK Singles Chart.

Weekly charts

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Chart (1984) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[13] 11
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[14] 3
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] 4
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[16] 5
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 4
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 2
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 10
UK Singles (OCC)[20] 46
West Germany (GfK)[21] 18

Legacy

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  • The Swedish heavy metal band Black Ingvars covered "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on their 1998 album Schlager Metal.
  • Meiju Suvas has recorded a version in Finnish.
  • The Danish duo Small Talk released an English cover version on their 2001 album Eurovision.

References

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  1. ^ "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley - lyrics". The Diggiloo Thrush.
  2. ^ "Melodifestivalen 1984". Sveriges Television Archives (in Swedish).
  3. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1984". Eurovision Song Contest. 5 May 1984. RTL / EBU.
  4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1984 scoreboard". Eurovision Song Contest.
  5. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy (2007). The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. UK: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
  6. ^ Thorsson, Leif. Melodifestivalen Genom Tiderna. Premium Publishing, Sweden. 1999 ISBN 91-89136-00-4
  7. ^ "Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision Song Contest. 22 October 2005. DR / EBU.
  8. ^ "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on YouTube at Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
  9. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits". Eurovision Song Contest. 3 April 2015. BBC / EBU. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on YouTube at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 second semifinal
  11. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2024 second semifinal". Eurovision Song Contest. 9 May 2024. SVT / EBU.
  12. ^ Savage, Mark (9 May 2024). "The Netherlands, Israel and Switzerland among countries heading to the Eurovision final". Live Reporting. BBC. London. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  13. ^ "Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. ^ "Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  15. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Herrey's". Sisältää hitin – 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 102. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  16. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 24, 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  17. ^ "Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  18. ^ "Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley". Singles Top 100.
  19. ^ "Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley". Swiss Singles Chart.
  20. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  21. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Herrey's – Diggi Loo / Diggi Ley" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
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Preceded by Melodifestivalen winners
1984 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Eurovision Song Contest winners
1984 		Succeeded by
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