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Papa Pingouin
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Wikipedia article
"'Papa Pingouin'" (; "Poppa/Daddy Penguin") was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980, performed in French by the French twin sisters Sophie & Magaly.
First version
With music by prolific duo Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, who are normally associated with as a composer-lyricist combination, the song is about the fantasy life of the title character a bored penguin. The singers describe his desire to fly like a seagull and travel around the world, listing various places he visits in his imagination.
The song ends with the penguin's realisation that life "on the ice floe" is not as bad as he had thought, so he "burns his suitcase" to signify that his desire to travel is over. Sophie & Magaly also recorded a German-language version of the song, "Papa Pinguin".
The song was performed fourth on the night, following 's Anna Vissi And The Epikouri with "Autostop" and preceding 's Samira with "Bitaqat Hub". At the close of voting, it had received 56 points, placing 9th in a field of 19.
It was succeeded as Luxembourgish representative at the 1981 contest by Jean-Claude Pascal with "C'est peut-tre pas l'Amrique".
The "Ralph Siegel" scandal
When Sophie and Magaly Gilles, the original singers, signed with Ralph Siegel, they were still minors and their parents were not aware of some of the "practices" in the entertainment industry. Ralph Siegel signed a contract with the parents that gave the sisters only a small percentage of sales.
In April 1982, the twins appeared on the French primetime television programme 'Droit de Rponse' (TF1), and publicly reported that they each received only 5,000 for selling more than one million copies of their singles. They also stated that Ralph Siegel had decided not to work with the girls anymore and did not want to renegotiate their contracts. He claimed that the original contract was valid and that nothing could be done against him.
In 2003, Jean-Paul Cara, one of the French songwriters, confirmed that Siegel never intended for Sophie and Magaly to be a successful group. He just needed twin singers for this particular song.
Magaly died in 1996 of HIV-AIDS. Sophie suffered from high depressive syndrome and lived a secluded life in the South of France until her death in 2019.
Pigloo version
A remake of this song, performed by Pigloo, became a huge hit in France in 2006, reaching number 1 of the charts for three weeks. The single debuted straight at number 3 and remained on the chart for 27 weeks from 4 March to 2 September 2006, becoming the 5th best selling single in France that year. As of August 2014, it is the 105th best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 296,000 units sold. The song was also charted on Swiss Singles Chart, where it peaked at number 24 and stayed 15 weeks.
A German version entered the local charts in February 2007.
Formats and track listings
; CD single# "Le Papa pingouin" 3:09
# "Les Manchots et les Pingouins" (instrumental) 3:12
; Digital download
# "Le Papa pingouin" 3:09
Certifications and sales
Charts
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