All Kinds of Everything



"All Kinds of Everything" is a song written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith; as performed by Dana, it won the Eurovision Song Contest 1970. "All Kinds of Everything" represented a return to the ballad form from the more energetic performances which had dominated Eurovision the previous years. Dana sings about all the things which remind her of her sweetheart (such as wishing-wells, wedding bells and an early morning Dew) with the admission at the end of every verse that "all kinds of everything remind me of you". The recording by Dana became an international hit.

Eurovision
Dana had competed in the 1969 Irish National Song Contest — she was a resident of Northern Ireland and citizen of the United Kingdom but it was decided that year to have the Irish entry in Eurovision represent the island of Ireland in its entirety rather than just the Republic of Ireland. Although in 1970 the Irish Eurovision entry reverted to representing the Republic of Ireland only, Dana had made such a favorable impression in the previous year's Irish National Song Contest - her performance of "Look Around" had come second - that the contest's producer Tom McGrath invited her to participate again singing "All Kinds of Everything," a composition by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, two twenty-eight-year-old amateur songwriters who worked as compositors for a Dublin newspaper.

Dana's performance of "All Kinds of Everything" won the 1970 Irish National Song Contest and that 21 March - a Saturday - she performed the song at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Amsterdam. Dana was the twelfth and final performer on the night (following Germany's Katja Ebstein with "Wunder Gibt Es Immer Wieder"). Ireland chose not to send its own conductor to accompany Dana, so Dolf van der Linden, the renowned musical leader of the Dutch Metropole Orchestra, conducted his own orchestra for the Irish entry. Dana sang seated on a stool fashioned as a cylinder which left her feet suspended above the floor and caused her concern that she'd slide off. However Dana performed the song with the self-possession she had displayed at rehearsals, when the production team had her rise from her stool mid-performance to accommodate a set adjustment she continued singing regardless and earned a standing ovation from the orchestra.

"All Kinds of Everything" took first place in the contest with a total of 32 votes besting second place "Knock, Knock Who's There?" by Mary Hopkin by seven votes. 1970 had augured to be an off year for Eurovision with five nations boycotting the contest and an apparently predictable outcome with a victory by Hopkin or possibly Julio Iglesias (who in fact came in fourth with "Gwendolyne"). "All Kinds of Everything" was the first Eurovision win for the Republic of Ireland; six subsequent victories have made that nation Eurovision's most successful entrant. "All Kinds of Everything" was also only the second song sung in English to win Eurovision outright (the first being Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String", with Lulu's "Boom Bang-a-Bang" sharing first place one year previously).

The entry was politically sensitive as Dana came from Derry in Northern Ireland, yet was representing Ireland, not the United Kingdom. At this time The Troubles in Northern Ireland were erupting, and some people found political symbolism of a Northern Irishwoman representing the Republic. On the other hand, the United Kingdom's entry the following year was sung by Clodagh Rodgers, who was also from Northern Ireland. Following her victory Dana returned to Derry and sang her victorious song to a crowd of cheering wellwishers from a balcony in the city.

Hit record
Dana had recorded "All Kinds of Everything" following her victory in the Irish National Song Contest with veteran Eurovision composer Phil Coulter ("Puppet on a String","Congratulations") providing the musical arrangement for the Ray Horricks production. The record was released on 14 March 1970 on the Rex label for whom Dana had previously recorded four singles (including "Look Around") and became a massive hit in the Republic of Ireland even prior to its Eurovision win reaching #1 on the chart dated 20 March 1970 and remaining at #1 for nine weeks: in October 1970 Dana received a gold disc for "All Kinds of Everything" selling 100,000 units in Ireland. In the UK "All Kinds of Everything" was #1 for the weeks dated 18 April and 25 April 1970.

A #2 hit in the 1970 Eurovision host nation the Netherlands, "All Kinds of Everything" was also a hit in Austria (#7), Germany (#4), Israel (#3), Malaysia (#3), New Zealand (#8), Singapore (#1), South Africa (#7), Switzerland (#3) and Yugoslavia (#4). In Australia the release of Dana's "All Kinds of Everything" was preceded by a cover by Melburnian singer Pat Carroll whose version reached #25 before the Dana original charted to be ranked jointly with Carroll's version: the highest position this joint ranking reached was #34. "All Kinds of Everything" also charted in Italy but failed to become a major hit with a #58 peak.

Overall sales for Dana's "All Kinds of Everything" are estimated at two million units.

When Dana - as Dana Rosemary Scallon - ran in the 1997 Irish presidential election the Republic of Ireland's Independent Television & Radio Commission requested that Irish radio stations refrain from playing "All Kinds of Everything" on the grounds that airing the song in effect promoted its singer's candidacy. Radio stations who insisted on playing the song were requested to reduce coverage of Dana's candidacy by three minutes for each spin of the record (which is three minutes long). During the election journalist Vincent Browne was criticized for interviewing Dana in a confrontational manner. His apology took the form of a rendition of "All Kinds of Everything" during a subsequent radio panel discussion.

Dana named her 2007 autobiography All Kinds of Everything. The song was featured in a scene of the 2011 movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Cover versions and uses in other media
The 1997 play A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonagh uses Dana's "All Kinds of Everything" incongruously: the record plays during a scene in which three skulls are smashed to powder with hammers.

A faster, 8-bit version of "All Kinds of Everything" is featured in the video games Magic Jewelry and Brush Roller.

An acoustic version of "All Kinds of Everything" was released by Hong Kong singer Albert Au in the album Simple Folk 2. It was released in 1998.

Sinéad O'Connor and Terry Hall recorded "All Kinds of Everything" for the 1998 album A Song For Eurotrash; the track was also featured on O'Connor's 2005 release Collaborations.

Foster & Allen included their version of "All Kinds of Everything" on their 2001 album The Songs That Sold A Million.

A German rendering of "All Kinds of Everything": "Alles Und Noch Viel Mehr", was a German hit at #26 for Manuela in 1970: Manuela also recorded the song in its original English for her 1971 album Songs of Love. Other non-English renderings of "All Kinds of Everything" have been recorded by Willeke Alberti (Dutch: "Duizenden dingetjes"), Cristina (Spanish: "Todas los cosas") and Angela Similea (Romanian: "Dacă Visezi Cumva"). Singaporean vocalist Rita Chao recorded the Japanese rendering "永遠火辣辣" (always burning) as the title cut for a 1970 album release.