Puppet on a String


"Puppet on a String" is a song recorded by British singer Sandie Shaw. The song was written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. It is best known as the British winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967, held in Vienna.
It was her thirteenth UK single release. The song was a UK Singles Chart number one hit on 27 April 1967, staying at the top for a total of three weeks. Al Hirt released a version of the song in 1967 that went to number 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #129 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Eurovision Song Contest

had originally performed the song as one of five prospective numbers to represent the United Kingdom in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest 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.
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." She was disappointed when it was selected as the song she would use to represent the country, but it won the contest hands down, though it has always been felt that this was partly due to her existing popularity on the continent. As a result, "Puppet on a String" became her third Number One hit in the UK and was a big worldwide smash. In Germany, the single was the biggest seller of the entire year, reaching sales of over 1 million copies. Globally, the single achieved sales in excess of 4 million, making it the biggest selling winning Eurovision track to date. Some estimates suggest this makes the track the biggest selling single by a British female artist of all time. Shaw also recorded "Puppet on a String" in French, Italian, Spanish, and German.

Re-recording

Shaw re-recorded "Puppet on a String" in early 2007 in honour of her 60th birthday. This took place after Shaw visited her friend, musician Howard Jones, and found him playing some chords on his keyboard and humming a melody. He encouraged her to continue the melody and before long she realised that it was in fact "Puppet on a String." They recorded the new, slow-tempo electronic version of the song and sent it to producer/mixer Andy Gray who put the final touches on the song. Shaw stated that she loved the new version and released it exclusively for free download from her, and Howard Jones', official website on 26 February. It was available for free download for sixty days. As a result of its popularity, Shaw continued to put out new songs on her website for download for the remaining months of her 61st year.

Other covers

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