| "Boom Bang-a-Bang" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single byLulu | |
| B-side | "March!" |
| Released | 1969 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:22 |
| Label | |
| Composer | Alan Moorhouse |
| Lyricist | Peter Warne |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1969 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist | |
| Language | English |
| Composer | Alan Moorhouse |
| Lyricist | |
| Conductor | |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 1st |
| Final points | 18 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "Congratulations" (1968) | |
| "Knock, Knock Who's There?" (1970) ► | |
| Official performance video | |
| "Boom Bang-a-Bang" onYouTube | |
"Boom Bang-a-Bang" is a song recorded by Scottish singerLulu, with music composed by Alan Moorhouse and lyrics byPeter Warne. Itrepresented the United Kingdom in theEurovision Song Contest 1969, held inMadrid, and became one of the four winning songs. It made No. 2 in theUK Singles Chart and was a major hit throughout Europe.
"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was written by composer Alan Moorhouse and lyricistPeter Warne. Lyrically, the song is a plea from the singer to her lover to "cuddle me tight". She then goes on to explain that "my heart goes boom bang-a-bang boom bang-a-bang when you are near", complete with appropriate musical accompaniment.[3]
On 22 February 1969, "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed byLulu competed in thenational final organized by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to select the song she –who had already been internally selected– would perform in the14th edition of theEurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition so it became theBritish entry for the contest.[4] Lulu recorded the song with the same title in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.[3]
On 29 March 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at theTeatro Real in Madrid hosted byTelevisión Española (TVE), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Lulu performed "Boom Bang-a-Bang" seventh on the night, followingItaly's "Due grosse lacrime bianche" byIva Zanicchi and precedingNetherlands's "De troubadour" byLenny Kuhr.Johnny Harris conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the British entry.[5]
At the close of voting, the song had received 18 points, the same number of points asSpain's "Vivo cantando" bySalomé, theFrance's "Un jour, un enfant" byFrida Boccara, and the Netherlands's "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr. As there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners.[6][7]
Lulu performed her song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary showSongs of Europe held on 22 August 1981 inMysen.[8] The BBC included the song on ablacklist of banned songs issued during the 1991Gulf War.[9] The song is the end theme tune for theBBC Three 2010 sitcomHim & Her.[citation needed]
Boom Bang-A-Bang was also the name of a 2006BBC One 1-hour programme made to celebrate the fifty years of the Eurovision Song Contest. Broadcast during that year's Eurovision week, the special was hosted byTerry Wogan and featured archive footage and highlights of past contests, along with a performance of "Teenage Life",that year's British entry byDaz Sampson.[10]
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] | 15 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[12] | 10 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[13] | 4 |
| Denmark (Hitlisten)[14] | 9 |
| Finland (Official Finnish Charts)[15] | 10 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[16] | 1 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[17] | 19 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[18] | 19 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[19] | 5 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[20] | 1 |
| Spain (Promusicae)[15] | 5 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] | 3 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[22] | 2 |
| West Germany (Musikmarkt)[23] | 8 |
| Preceded by "La, La, La" byMassiel | Eurovision Song Contest winners co-winner with "Un jour, un enfant" byFrida Boccara, "De troubadour" byLenny Kuhr and "Vivo cantando" bySalomé 1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 | Succeeded by |
