September 04, 2005

Eurovision winning songs: all the the kitsch and talent of Eurovision winners going back to 1956. [Each song is streaming/.wma format]

I haven't listened to them all; admittedly some are kind of pedestrian. I found the 1975 entry kind of catchy, and surprisingly reminiscent of Abba, who won the year before. Any ones in there you recommend hearing?

posted by rolypolyman 19 years ago
  • There are only two amazing things about the Eurovision. One is how it has failed to generate any real, international, long-standing hit (apart Abba's Waterloo). It's a tired, flat joke that keeps being repeated over and over: dumb songs with titles like "la la la" or "diggy loo" or "ding ding" or "boom bang". The other (and more positive) thing is how it embraces the idea of a larger Europe that includes Israel, Turkey and all of Eastern Europe. Somehow it's the retarded child of the European dream, the one that people have to love anyway. Rolypolyman: France Gall's "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (1965) was written by Serge Gainsbourg and is certainly a good song (and still a popular one in France), though France Gall's little girl voice may be annoying by modern standards. I guess it was supposed to be sexy at that time, in a Lolita sort of way.
  • 1967's "Puppet On A String" would have to have been a pretty big hit yes? I looked up Sandi Shaw on wiki and it said she covered a version of Lloyd Cole's "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" I love that song, was her version good?
  • Actually, I've never paid much attention to the Eurovision contest, but quite a few of these sound familiar. I need to start taking the stairs more.
  • Sadly, the Eurovision Song Contest doesn't have anything to do with a united Europe - it's for countries who are members of the Eurovision TV network, which also covers parts of Asia and Africa. By far the best thing about the Eurovision is the hilarious commentary done for the BBC broadcast by Terry Wogan, whose legendary sarcasm and downright rudeness about all countries and contestants that aren't British gets increasingly vitriolic as the evening wears on and he gets more and more inebriated. Some sample Woganisms here (flash) but they're tame compared to some of the stuff he comes out with. Nice post, rolypolyman, douze points!
  • And here I was thinking I'd never get to hear a feathered-up Israeli drag queen sing 'Viva la Diva' again -- Thanks, rolypolyman, thank you so very much... *wipes tear* That's beautiful, man. Just beautiful. *sniff*
  • Actually, "La la la" wasn't half bad. But I think that Wogan and other Brits took very badly that it beat Cliff Richard's "Congratulations" (a summit of schmaltz if there was ever one). As an aside, its singer, Massiel, wasn't supposed to take part in the first place, but the original Spanish nominee, Joan Manuel Serrat, wanted to sing in Catalan. This, as could be expected, went down badly with the Franco regime. Ironically, Massiel went on to become a left-wing icon...