Dschinghis Khan (song)


Dschinghis Khan was the West German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in German by Dschinghis Khan. Cover versions by a number of other artists were subsequently released as singles and album tracks.

Dschinghis Khan version

The song was performed ninth on the night. At the close of voting it had received 86 points, coming fourth in a field of nineteen.
The song was written and composed by the prolific duo of Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, and owes a considerable debt to disco music, specifically of the Boney M tradition. As the name suggests, it is in praise of the titular Mongol warrior, with verses extolling his military and sexual prowess. Indeed, the entirety of his band are the subjects of this paean, being described as exceptional drinkers with a devil-may-care attitude to life.
The performance is in a similarly flamboyant style, with one member of the band dressed as a caricature of the warlord himself and capering about the stage, seducing the female members of the band and laughing as appropriate.
The song makes many appearances in medleys and best-of collections of the Contest. As an example of the latter, it was featured prominently on the commemorative CDs produced to coincide with the "Congratulations" special in late 2005. Prior to the 2006 Contest, it was performed as part of a medley — one of only two non-winning songs to earn this honour.
It was succeeded as German representative at the 1980 Contest by Katja Ebstein with "Theater".
The song was also used at the end of Peelander-Z's live shows. The band would dance to it before going offstage. It has since been replaced in their routine. On a live DVD of one of their shows, the song was replaced with an original track, presumably for copyright reasons.
The song was played at Madison Square Garden for New York Rangers winger Petr Průcha during his tenure with the New York Rangers. The crowd would chant PRU-CHA in reference to the song.
The song was a show-stopping number in the middle of a 1979 German sex comedy film called Sunnyboy und Sugarbaby, a film which received a lot of late-night airplay in the early days of HBO under its English-language title, She's 19 and Ready. The film's characters go to a disco club, dancing to what is presented to be a live performance by the band, although the band and the actors are not seen together in the clips.. It was covered by Grup Vitamin, Turkish parody music group as "Hayriye" in "Aşkın Gözyaşları", which was their 1994 album.
The song was also the entrance music of professional wrestler Uhaa Nation.
The song had a lasting success in Japan. In 2014 it was certified gold for 100,000 digital downloads, after first being released digitally in 2006.

Frederik version

singer Frederik covered the song as "Tsingis Khan" in his 1979 album Tsingis Khan. The Finnish lyrics were made by Juha Vainio. According to the website of Frederik, the composer of the original song, Ralph Siegel, considered the Frederik version to be even better than the original. Siegel offered Frederik to cover also the song "Hadschi Halef Omar". It was covered as "Sheikki Ali Hassan" in Frederik's 1980 single.
Frederik version of the song is also used as ring entry theme by Russian boxer Denis ”Tsingis
Khan” Shafikov.

Berryz Kobo version

The Japanese girl idol group Berryz Kobo also released a cover of the song, albeit with toned-down lyrics, which do not make mention to the more explicit details pertaining to war, rape or the consumption of alcoholic beverages found in the 1979 original.
This single release marks the group's first cover song to be slotted as an a-side in a single. There are two versions to this single, a limited edition with a DVD and a regular edition.
The song was used as the main song to the group's musical, Dschinghis Khan ~Wa ga Tsurugi, Netsu Suna wo Some yo~, running through January 2008.
The single debuted at number 4 in the Oricon Daily Singles Chart and ranked 5th for the week.
It was Berryz' highest selling single until the release of Motto Zutto Issho ni Itakatta / ROCK Erotic in 2013.
In 2009, the single was released in Thailand. It became one of the top songs of the year, ranking 26th in the Channel V Thailand's Asian Top 50 Year-End Chart of 2009.

Track listings

CD single

CD
  1. Dschinghis Khan
  2. Darling I LOVE YOU
  3. ジンギスカン
    Limited Edition DVDhttp://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2670721 ジンギスカン, Berryz工房, HMV Japan
  4. ジンギスカン

    Single Vジンギスカン, Berryz工房, Piccolotown

  5. ジンギスカン
  6. ジンギスカン
  7. Making-of Video

    Charts

Awards

Japan Cable Awards

The Japan Cable Awards are sponsored by the National Cable Music Broadcasters Association.
* awarded to the most requested song of the year on the cable radio

Dschinghis Khan × Berryz Kobo single

"Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix" is a single by the collaboration unit Dschinghis Khan×Berryz Kobo.
It was released on September 17, 2008, following the success of the single "Dschinghis Khan" by Berryz Kobo. The title track "Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix" featured a mix of Berryz Kobo's and the original Dschinghis Khan's vocal tracks. The music video for the new song had Berryz Kobo digitally put into a video of an old Dschinghis Khan's performance, so that the two groups seemed to appear together at the ZDF-Hitparade television show.
The single debuted in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart at number 35, staying in the list for 3 weeks.

Charts

Track Listings

CD single

  1. Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix
  2. Dschinghis Khan
  3. Dschinghis Khan

    Single V

  4. Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix
  5. Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix
  6. Making Eizō

    Other covers