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For tonight’s Bond on Vinyl post, we’re moving on from Connery and listening to music from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service!
Born Karin Witkiewicz in 1945 in Poland, Katja Ebstein is a prominent German singer, actress, and activist. Active since 1969, she established herself in the German music scene with the Schlager genre, singing catchy, light pop tunes.
Ebstein is an enduring figure in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, having represented Germany three times without ever winning. She achieved third place in 1970 and again in 1971. Her best result came in the 1980 contest, where she finished a close second with the song “Theater.” This performance made her the only performer to appear in the top three on three separate occasions, marking her as one of the most successful non-winning artists in the contest’s history.
Beyond pop music, Ebstein has maintained a broad artistic career. She’s been a stage performer for over 50 years, playing leading roles in theatre and on TV, and has recorded a wide range of musical and literary material. Besides her native German, Ebstein has sung in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish during her career.
This 7” German single from 1969, ‘Warum ist die Welt so schön’ or ‘Why is the world so beautiful’ carries a Bond connection on the B-Side. While the title track is catchy even if you don’t know German, the song that caught my attention was ‘Wovon Träumt Ein Weihnachtsbaum Im Mai.’ Now, while that roughly translates to ‘What does a Christmas tree dream about in May,’ it is a German cover of the song ‘Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown.’ If I knew German, I might say it’s as good as the original sung by Danish singer Nina in OHMSS, but I’ll leave it as a close second, and ahead of the instrumental version I shared last year. (See Bond on Vinyl 109). Anyways, it sounds like Bond and Christmas to me.
142. Katja Ebstein – Warum Ist Die Welt So Schön
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