Following on from our announcement of ‘Every Eurovision Song’ last week, the project to listen to all 1356 entries that have taken to the Song Contest stage continues.
We’re doing a ‘decade at day’ on the Tumblr site (www.everyeurovisionsong.com) where we post the video of every song, details on the singers and writers, points and placings, and our own thoughts on the performance. You can subscribe to the Tumblr site to get a nudge every time we post. We’re also linking each track from our Twitter account (@escinsight) and a select number are cross posted to Facebook and the main ESC Insight Tumblr.
Here’s who we’ve been listening to this week, is your favourite there?
We’re also going to post some highlights from the last week’s songs here on ESC Insight. So without further ado…
Italy 1968: Marianne, by Sergio Endrigo
Ah, the grand tradition of naming your love song after the girl you are singing to. Given this is a singer-songwriter combination, I wonder if Endrigo is writing this about anyone in particular?
Coming straight out of the 1968 San Remo Song Contest (winning it with ‘Canzone per the’) Endrigo is a charismatic singer, emotive, and arresting on stage. He also looks like he should be the manager of Inter Milan rather than a Eurovision singer.
Also, glance at the running order… Performing after Endrigo was Cliff Richard (with ‘Congratulations’). I think Richard must have been a bit jealous, because after the contest he had Bill Owen (Compo from ‘Last of the Summer Wine’) write the english lyrics (here’s the YouTube link) so he could take ‘Marianne’ to #22 in the UK charts.
(via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
Belgium 1980: Euro-Vision, by Telex.
Even with Kraftwork and Gary Numan leading the popular charge of electronic music, having the genre turn up at Eurovision was a bit of a surprise in 1980. Belgium’s Telex brought their eclectic mix of humour and electronica to The Hauge, and the invited audience were unsure if they should applaud.
Telex did what every performer should do with Eurovision, and used it as a launching pad for recognition and a career. Continuing to perform until the death of Marc Moulin in 2009, they are still remembered for an entry that is a mix of banality, belgian bonkers, scarf dancing, and a fantastic audio computer between the synths on stage.
Now it sounds like a pastiche of the Song Contest, but there’s no mistaking the honest humour, the first mention of the Contest in the lyrics, or the fab-u-lous riff on Marc Antoine’s Prelude at the very end.
(via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
Hungary 1994: Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?, by Friderika Bayer
Never let it be said that Eurovision is all ‘bing bong boom a get it on with love’. Here’s a cracking little ballad with a lot of darkness just under the surface.
Hungary, it does’t get any better than this. 4th on their debut on the main stage at Eurovision, and they’ve never achieved a result that big since.
It’s easy to see why. Considering that Eurovision is (just) a 100% jury led Contest, a simple song, sung well, with some ‘authentic’ guitar work (including hearing the fingers slide up and down the strings – which I live), this was always going to perform well.
Perhaps the downbeat nature of the song dulled the points scoring potential (your English language version can be found here on YouTube), and if you read the song carefully, singing this song in Ireland was a gutsy call.
(via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
Andorra 2008: Casanova, by Gisela.
And here we have a textbook example of a song that works in the studio and probably felt like a good idea at the time, but goes out on stage and turns into a car crash.
You really should have a listen to the released version (here on YouTube) and you can hear the volume of voices, the driving ryhtym, and the delicate touches that Gisela brings to the lead vocals. All of those features must have been left behind in Andorra because none of them are evident on the Eurovision stage.
Maybe you can get over the vocal issues by saying ‘well, it is live’, but you then have the visual assault of the outfits.
It will come as no surprise that Gisela won The Barbara Dex Award for worst dressed performer that year.
(via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
Who Shall We Listen To Next?
You can follow the project every day at EveryEurovisionSong.com, or check back here on ESC Insight for the weekly highlights.
87 down, 1,269 to go…
Friderika is one of my all-time favourite entries, and by far the best song Hungary have ever entered. It’s a real shame that they followed it up with Tesco Value Boyzone and Lidl Michael Bolton. At least entries like Compact Disco and Kállay-Saunders have put them back on the right track again.
Oh, and in reference to your 2006 entry, boots like that are never wrong! 😉
Like Peter above me, I like the 1994 Hungarian entry a lot.Remarkably, the English version is as powerful as the Hungarian one.
I actually like the Hungarian entries. 6 of their 9 entries are on my play list. They mange to surprise me every year with something that sounds different. Even the songs I don’t like are better than the average ESC song
Sorry, a small correction-the 2008 & 2009 songs were simply awful.No wonder they aren’t on my play list