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Every Eurovision Song: You Get One Chance Written by on July 21, 2014 | 1 Comment

As always, you can have a great song in the studio, you can work on the sound with your technician, but the Eurovision Song Contest is all about your three minutes on stage. It’s live, there’s no retakes, and your result is down to not just the Song, but to the performance on the night.

That’s one reason that Every Eurovision Song is focusing on the live performances. The project is reviewing every song that has taken to the competitive stage, but it’s also looking at the actual competitive performance. Who makes a difference, who bottles it, and who sounds nothing like the studio vision?

Every Eurovision Song, week 7 gallery

Every Eurovision Song, week 7 gallery

What compositions been turned into an ear worm this week for the team? Here are the highlights…

Spain 1967: Hablemos del amor,  by Raphael

Finishing one place higher than his appearance in the previous year, ‘Hablemos del amor‘ builds on the promise shown by the showman at Eurovision ’66, and dragged Spain kicking and screaming to the doors of modern pop music.

Everything you need for success is here, there’s a huge amount of control in his voice, but it has such a wide range every part of the song is under his command… yet I can hear vulnerability, power, anger, and strength as well. And he really knows how to use the camera to connect to the audience.

One of the delights of ‘Every Eurovision Song’ is listening to a track, thinking ‘wow, this is a corker, did he do anything else?’ and then looking up Raphael’s biography:

Raphael can be singled out as one of the most important singers in the Spanish language for the second half of the 20th century, along with Joan Manuel Serrat, Camilo Sesto, Juan Gabriel, Julio Iglesias, Rocío Dúrcal, Rocío Jurado and José José.

Guess who’s ‘Greatest Hits’ album is about to go on repeat for the rest of the day….

(From Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr).

Austria 1978: Mrs Caroline Robinson,  by Springtime

Well this is insanely catchy – and I know I’m not one to talk about mispronunciation, but I wonder if this ‘Kier-o-lane’ is related to Simon and Garfunkel’s Mum?

Presentation has rarely been Austria’s strongest point at the Song Contest, and even with three static guitarists the shots are hugely uninventive. That weakens what is a rather lively song that strikes a nice beat (especially as I listen to this walking down the street).

This is also a rare Eurovision song (at least for me) that actually improves when switched to English. Normally I prefer songs in the native tongue, but in this case, I think an English Kierolane is needed – head to YouTube and let me know if you agree.

(From Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr)

Belgium 1989: Door de wind, by Ingeborg

Ooh this is quite nice! ‘Door de Wind’ is a simple song, but it’s sung very well by Ingeborg. It plays nicely with the melody, and it keeps the interest high with some nice melodic changes over the three minutes, and of course the doo-doo-dah coming in from the male backing singer in the shadows.

It’s helped by Ingeborg’s stage presence, and it should come as no surprise that she went on to have a long-running career in Belgium as a TV presenter. In a way she reminds me career wise of Cilla Black – able to take a song and possess it, make you love it, and then spend years on Saturday night television hosting ‘Blind Date’.

(From Every Eurovision Song on Tumblr)

Finland 1996: Niin kaunis on taigas, by Jasmine

I disagree with the YLE 2010 poll that has Jasmine’s ‘96 song down as the worst Finnish Eurovision Song ever (for a start it was before Kuunkuiskaajat triumphant appearance in Oslo…). As always it’s the song that generates a huge amount of negative emotion, that gets remembered as the ‘bad’ one. I’d argue that it;s the bland and forgotten songs that are far more pungent.

Music should stir emotions, and ‘Niin kaunis on taigas’ comfortably manages to do just that. Yes it’s a Finnish folk number, yes it’s the sort of thing that YLE should know never tops the table, but it’s Finnish music, given a worldwide platform, so let’s embrace the cultural exchange, and enjoy a track that is (a) unashamedly Finnish, and (b) not afraid to enjoy itself no matter what everyone else might think.

(From 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. 202 songs completed…

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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One response to “Every Eurovision Song: You Get One Chance”

  1. Paul says:

    I love “Niin kaunis on taivas”. In my opinion, it is one of the best folk numbers in Eurovision history because of its simple but effective guitars and the beautiful text. A little masterpiece.

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