the only song previously not recorded by francis was "heißer sand". gerhard mendelson had insisted that the album should feature at least one song of german origin which had gained the status "world wide hit". since mina – another international star protégéed in germany by mendelson – had brought "heißer sand" not only to # 1 of the german charts but also made it an international success by recording it in italian, french, and spanish, followed by cover versions in dutch and english by anneke grönloh as well as an instrumental version by ron goodwin and his orchestra, the inclusion of the song on "melodien, die die welt erobern" was an obvious choice. for the francis recording, mina's original backing track from 1962 was used.