"Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was the winning song in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1984 The Eurovision Song Contest 1984, the 29th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Si la vie est cadeau" by Corinne Hermes. Organised by t ...

performed in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

by the trio of brothers

Herrey's Herreys (), sometimes Herrey's or Herrey, is a Sweden, Swedish popular music, pop group, consisting of the three brothers Per Herrey (born 9 August 1958), Richard Herrey (born 19 August 1964), and Louis Herrey (born 3 November 1966). They won th ...

, representing . Lyrics were written by Britt Lindeborg, and the tune by

Torgny Söderberg Sten Torgny Söderberg (26 November 1944 – 5 August 2022) was a Swedish songwriter. He was mainly known for working with Lena Philipsson and wrote schlager songs such as " 100%", "Kärleken är evig" and " Diggi-loo diggi-ley".

. It was produced by

Anders Engberg This is a list of Swedish supercentenarians (people from Sweden who have attained the age of at least 110 years). The Gerontology Research Group (GRG) has validated the age claims of 18 supercentenarians from Sweden (including 3 emigrants), the ...

and Torgny Söderberg. The song is an upbeat 1980s-style dance song, performed by three clean-cut young men – fellow Swedish Eurovision participant

Tommy Körberg Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg (; born 4 July 1948) is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role as Anatoly/"The Russian" in the musical ''Chess''. He played the role on the 1984 concept album, and ...

famously dubbed them "the dancing

deodorant A deodorant is a substance applied to the body to prevent or mask body odor due to bacterial breakdown of perspiration or vaginal secretions, for example in the armpits, groin, or feet. A subclass of deodorants, called antiperspirants, prevents s ...

s" in the press, a derogatory nickname that stuck with them for the rest of their career in their home country – and the nonsensical title harking back to previous entries such as " Boom Bang-a-Bang", "

Ding-a-dong "Ding-a-dong" (original Dutch title: "Ding dinge dong", as it was introduced in the titles when broadcast) was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. It was sung by Teach-In, representing the , and was written by Di ...

" and "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

". The song has achieved considerable fame among Eurovision Song Contest fans, with a well-known archive of contest lyrics using the domain name diggiloo.net, named after it. Despite the reception the song receives today, in the run-up to the contest it was not an immediate favorite to win: bookmakers

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...

had 's " Terminal 3" and 's "

I treni di Tozeur "I treni di Tozeur" ("The trains of Tozeur") is an Italian song, written by Franco Battiato, and Giusto Pio. It was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed in Italian (with some lyrics in German) by Alice and Battiato. In a st ...

" as higher favourites, so the song winning came as a surprise to many. According to author John Kennedy O'Connor's ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'', Herrey's opened the contest and thus became the third winners of the competition to sing from pole position, following

Teach-In A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...

in and

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initia ...

in . No song sung first or second has won since.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 The song itself deals with the lead singer discovering a pair of golden shoes in the street one day. He puts them on and immediately feels like dancing in the street, entering a "magical world". Thus, he wishes for everyone to have a pair.
The English translation, released some time after the Contest, took much the same theme, titling the song "Golden Shoes". Richard Herrey, lead singer of the band, performed at the ''

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

'' special in late 2005. In 2015, all three band members performed the track with a mixture of English and Swedish lyrics at Apollo theatre in Hammersmith, London as part of the BBC's ''

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (also known as ''Eurovision's Greatest Hits'') was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to ...

'' concert to mark the contests 60th anniversary. The song was succeeded as winner in by

Bobbysocks Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

representing with "

La det swinge "La det swinge" (; "Let it swing") is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on ...

". The highest chart position the song reached was No. 2, in the

Swedish singles chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

. They reached No. 46 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Track listing

#"Diggi Loo – Diggi Ley" – 3:05 #"Every Song You Sing" – 3:34

Charts

Covers

*The Swedish heavy metal band

Black Ingvars Black Ingvars is a Swedish humorist heavy metal group. Black Ingvars is famous for cover versions of songs from other musical styles, like pop, children's song (including " Sjörövar Fabbe" and "Här kommer Pippi Långstrump"), dansband music ...

covered "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" on their 1998 album ''

Schlager Metal ''Schlager Metal'' is a 1998 album by Swedish heavy metal band Black Ingvars. On the album, they cover Melodifestivalen songs in heavy metal version. However, the first song, "Cherie", was their own and they performed it at the Swedish Melodifest ...

''. *

Meiju Suvas Meiju Annele Suvas-Berger (born 22 January 1959), professionally known as Meiju Suvas, is a Finnish singer. Career beginnings Music has been a part of Meiju Suvas' life from a very young age. She started to take piano lessons at the age of four, ...

has recorded a version in

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. *The Danish duo Small Talk released an English cover version on their 2001 album ''Eurovision''.

References

External links

"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Austrian singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Norwegian singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Swedish singles chart"Diggi-loo diggi-ley" at the Swiss singles chart
{{authority control Eurovision songs of 1984 Melodifestivalen songs of 1984 Eurovision songs of Sweden Eurovision Song Contest winning songs Swedish-language songs Songs written by Torgny Söderberg Herreys songs Mariann Grammofon singles 1984 songs 1984 singles