While the hardcore Eurovision fan books tickets to Dansk MGP in February, the summer months here at ESC Insight continue with a mix of analysis of the 2014 Contest, and looking back over the full history of the Song Contest with Every Eurovision Song.
You can join in on a daily basis as Ewan Spence listens to Every Eurovision Song at our Tumblr site of the same name, or stick around here and pick up the weekly highlights every weekend on ESC Insight.
Every Eurovision Song, week 5 gallery
Ireland 1968: Chance of a Lifetime, by Pat McGeegan
Sitting squarely on the ‘older crooner’ genre of the late sixties – think Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, Roger Whittaker, but really this is ‘Gonna Be Strong‘ by Gene Pitney.
‘Chance of a Lifetime’ is impeccably sung, oozes class, and McGeegan and the Orchestra are working in perfect harmony. He varies the volume and impact of the lyrics. It’s delicate work to keep this restrained but still on show, and McGeegan nails it.
It does outstay its welcome a little bit, and a bit of a twist for the last minute would lift this from ‘very good’ to ‘excellent’. I’ve said it before, and this convinces me a little bit more… the 1968 Contest really was one of the best early Eurovision Song Contests.
(Via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
PS: Much like ‘Ik heb Zorgen‘ a few weeks back, this track has been my earworm of the week, you have been warned! And while it’s not been mentioned in the song review, Pat’s son is Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan…
Germany 1981: Johnny Blue, performed by Lena Valaitis
A ballad with bite from Germany now, and the pen of Ralph Siegel makes up for his ninth place in the previous year (‘Papa Pingouin’) with one of the big “how did that happen?” of this decade. Loosing out to the United Kingdom by three points, but singing at the top of the running order, everything here screams douze points.
There’s the broad appeal of English thanks to the title and some emotive singing, there’s enough variance in the melody to let Valaitis really attack the song when it is needed, and the backing singers harmonise well in the live environment.
The only mis-step I can see in a song about a lonely boy and his guitar, it why would you add to Valaitis and her four backing singers on stage with a lonely boy playing the harmonica.
Listening to the winners in the years before this song, and the years after, ‘Johnny Blue‘ sounds like a winner, fitting the pattern almost perfectly. So what was it missing?
Maybe Valaitis should have ripped her skirt off forty minutes before Bucks Fizz played their trump card…
(Via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).
Netherlands 1993: Vrede, performed by Ruth Jacott
This song, once it hit the chorus, sounded horribly familiar to me in a Euroivison context. Before then I was getting a strong sense of Soul 2 Soul’s ‘Back To Life‘ and the sheer majesty of Jimmy Nail’s ‘Ain’t No Doubt’. Which in a roundabout way marks out the song as relatively commercial, with a bit of Urban, a bit of Soul, and a bit of scratching trying to get past the orchestra.
That connection might be hints of other songs, it might have been hearing the english version at some point in the past (YouTube Link), or it might have lodged in a dark corner of my mind after the ‘93 Contest .
Anyway, it’s clearly a song with its heart in the nineties, and works better being sung in Dutch, because the English version is a clunky and cheese-ridden cliche fest. The dutch version probably is as well, but there’s less of a focus on the words and more on the performance and the structure.
Sixth place seems a bit low, but Jacott had a rather aggressive look on stage, and the fashion choice fails to win the Barbara Dex Award purely because this was the year of Barbara Dex.
(Via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr)
France 2002: Il faut du temps, by Sandrine François
It’s unmistakably French, it’s the epitome of a power ballad, and the live performance is top notch. Okay, it’s very much an old school style of song with a hit of Broadway Musical, but theta rarely goes out of style (case in point, the current chart success of ‘Let it Go’).
And when you remember that Maire N’s ‘I Wanna’ took the victory instead of this, you have to question what happened… I think the answer is the volume of female ballads in 2002 sharing the points out (notably Jessica Garlick,) so Latvia could sneak in at the end.
Let’s face it, if you wanted this song to win, you would have needed it to be sung for Switzerland and performed by Celine Dion. Still, we’ll always have the four minute english version ‘After The Rain‘ to rival ‘Think Twice’.
(Via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr)
Latvia 2007: Questa Notte, performed by Bonaparti.lv
Offered first of all to SVT for Melodifestivalen 2007, this number was seriously reworked from the female soloist to a six piece ‘manufactured; popera band, which they presumably found backstage at a performance of ‘Oliver!’
No matter where the raw material was found, thesis a cracking little number. Normally you would say there is no way this would score highly, but that 5th place in the semi-final is a result LTV would kill for nowadays. Stuck in a larger mix of songs it failed to reach the top ten in the jury votes, scoring a third of the points from the semi-final, but they’re having fun, they can all sing together, the ‘stop’; in the song before they all continue is timed to perfection, and…
…’Questa Notte’ finished 16th on the night. The winner of Melodifestivalen that year finished 18th. Sometimes it’s the little victories that count.
(Via Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr)
Who’s Next On The Stage?
You can follow the project every day at EveryEurovisionSong.com, or check back here on ESC Insight for the weekly highlights. For those of you keeping track, the project is now 174 songs reviewed, and 1182 to go.
Ireland 1968 & France 2002 – 2 songs I (re)discovered because of you. I have the France 2002 and now just finding the 1 from Ireland.
Latvia 2007 & Germany 1981 – 2 songs I still love.
The Netherlands 1993 – One of the strongest and best Dutch entry in a long time. Ruth Jacott is still a forceful singer who put a lot of passion in her performance and doesn’t sound like plastic doll performing what ever you put in her mouth. She sounds like she mean every word she sing.
And the Dutch version is much better-the English one doesn’t fit the music.