We all love the Eurovision finals on a Saturday night, invite some friends over, couple of glasses of wine, order some pizza, maybe have the odd wager on one or two songs and win a few pennies? Sound like you?
Well, in some countries around Europe the exact same thing may happen on a Tuesday and a Thursday? “Huh?”, you cry, well that’s because there are two other shows during the week – these shows chose ten of their best to go forward to the Grand Final the following Saturday.
I know you knew that – you wouldn’t be visiting this site if you weren’t a EuroFan. If you missed why I am doing this article then visit last week’s piece about the history of the semi-finals, or head to the YouTube playlist, where I list the first 25 songs (from number 100 to 76), of the very best 100 songs to not ever grace us with their presence on the Saturday. It’s a shame really there are some very good ones that didn’t quite step up to the plate and garner enough points. Others, quite frankly, should never have been heard at all.
Who’s Outside The Top 100?
There are 152 songs in total that never made it, I’m only looking at the top 100. Just before we delve into the next batch of 25, let’s have a look at a couple of those, erm, dodgier ones that maybe should not have seen the light of day; never mind the production time they cost!
At no.149 we see ‘Copycat’, by Copycat (Belgium, 2009). Couldn’t even think of an original title, or band name, whichever. Who the heck wrote this? And worse still, who the heck thought it was a good Eurovision entry? Wallowing at the nether regions of the chart with just 0.44% of the votes it could have got. And that was far too many.
Or how about #129, ‘Leto svet’, by Kreisiraadio (Estonia, 2008). Now when I flew out to Belgrade this band was sitting right next to me on the plane, maybe I should have had the courage to say to them there and then “get the next plane back boys!”. Alas, I didn’t. And I ears bleed as a result.
Now at No.124 we have a good one – Little by Little, by Laura and the Lovers (Lithuania, 2005). One of their best ever entries in my view, it’s a shame this did so badly on the night. A lot to do with their performance I think, make your own mind up (pun not intended!).
Get On With It!
So now the next batch of the chart – to recap on how I’ve worked this all out – I have taken the total number of points they earned and divided that by the total they could have achieved if every country had given them maximum points. 2004-2012 is easy to calculate, 1993 and 1996’s results are a bit odd in the way the countries were scored so I have included those two years in the tally below but not numbered them.
- 75 – Hasta La Vista by Ruslan Alenho (Belarus, 2008)
- 74 – Lorraine by Kaffe (Bulgaria, 2005)
- 72= – Why by Geir Rönning (Finland, 2005)
- 72= – Eyes That Never Lie by Petr Elfimov (Belarus, 2009)
Inside this Belarussian performance is a pretty important moment in Eurovision history, so I want to stop for a moment and salute, once more Karsten Jacobsen’s steadicam shot. From the back of the Russian Olympic Stadium, he jumped on a Segway and went to full power and accelerated towards the stage… he steps off just as his wheels crash to their death, sprints towards, and then round, singer Petr Elfimov, before smoothly leaving the stage. Which won him the Guild of Television Cameramen Worldwide’s Award for Excellence.
- 71 – Vjerujem u ljubav by Dragonfly featuring Dado Topić (Croatia, 2007)
- 70 – Mr Nobody by Anžej Dežan (Slovenia, 2006)
- 69 – Amar by 2B (Portugal, 2005)
- 68 – Your Heart Belongs to Me by Hind (Netherlands, 2008)
- 67 – If I Had Your Love by Selma Björnsdóttir (Iceland, 2005)
- 65= – Love? by Donna & Joseph McCaul (Ireland, 2005)
- 65= – My Impossible Dream by Glenis Grace (Netherlands, 2005)
- 64 – Nomads in the Night by Jeronimas Milius (Lithuania, 2008)
- 63 – Haba Haba by Stella Mwangi (Norway, 2011)
This number was certainly a departure for Norway, and many fans were convinced it was going to qualify. Alas it carried on Norway’s poor run of form following Alexander Rybak’s ‘Fairytale‘… a run of form that Margaret Berger is hoping to break this year.
- 62 – Firefly by Christina Metaxa (Cyprus 2009)
- 61 – Why Angels Cry by Annet Artani (Cyprus, 2006)
- 59= – The Social Network Song (Oh Oh – Uh – Oh Oh) by Valentina Monetta (San Marino, 2012)
- 59= – Verjamem by Eva Boto (Slovenia, 2012)
Valentina is back this year, with a more mature song, so rather than listen to that song once more, let’s go for another ridiculously tall Slovenian.
- 58 – Zjarr e ftohtë by Luiz Ejlli (Albania, 2006)
- 57 – Comme ci, comme ça by Evridiki (Cyprus, 2007)
- 56 – Takes 2 to Tango by Jari Sillanpää (Finland, 2004)
- 55 – Ik ben verliefd, sha-la-lie by Sieneke (Netherlanbds, 2010)
- 54 – Time by Izabo (Israel, 2012)
- 53 – Congratulations by Silvia Night (Iceland, 2006)
- 52 – Stand By by Senit (San Marino, 2011)
- 51 – Femme fatale by Evdokia Kadi (Cyprus, 2008)
So there you have it, numbers 100 to 51 are all now available on the ESC Insight Channels playlist for your listening pleasure. Just remember to keep the windows closed and the curtains pulled – you don’t want your neighbours seeing what you’re doing, do you?