Sandie Shaw

Puppet on a String

With Puppet on a String, the British singer Sandy Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 (which at that time was officially still called 'Grand Prix de la Chanson'). Although the singer herself did not like the song at first, it became her biggest hit, which has lost none of its freshness even after half a century. The song has been covered in numerous vocal and instrumental versions, and Shaw herself also released a brand new version in 2007.

'Puppet on a stringmeans something like 'puppet'. The awkward mechanical quality of the figure moving on strings was already expressed in the original version by a humorous arrangement reminiscent of the sounds of a music box. Stefan Schwalgin builds on this humorous component in his arrangement for wind orchestra, in which he comes up with many small, sometimes surprising, but always well-dosed instrumental effects.