Runner-up: France 1957

Paule Desjardins has the distinction of being the first ever official runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest. It is believed that Walter Andres Schwarz ended in second place in Lugano the year before with one of the two German entries, but it has never been officially confirmed.

Paule was a former fashion model that had a short but successful career as a singer before she felt the musical trends change and decided to leave room for a new generation singing rock instead of chanson.

Chanson is exactly what "La belle amour" is - and let us all remember that the original name for the Eurovision Song Contest hinted that chanson was a most suitable genre to enter with.

Just as Paule felt in her musical bone, there would be a big and profound change in light music only a couple of years after this. That's why the first years of the ESC can look like a completely different planet for younger viewers, as it took a few years for pop music to work its way into this family friendly programme.

However, anyone should be able to appreciate "La belle amour" as it is a beautiful timeless piece of chanson, elegantly performed. A child of its time but a most endearing one.

A deserved 2nd place?
Absolutely. No other song in this edition has aged as gracefully as this. Perhaps not quite as personable as the winner, but a most qualified runner-up.



Paule Desjardins - La belle amour (France 1957)

Tobson's winners: 1956 - 1960

I can't help it - it is in my nature to make charts and review things. Maybe it is easier to be a real Eurovision nut if you have this quality, what do I know?

But now that my big 2011 review is over and done with, I still want a running series for the blog. So I will go through Eurovision, year for year, and select my own personal winner.

No consideration has been taken to what would have been a good winner, a commercial choice et cetera. These are my favourite songs, according to my very personal preferences.

1956 - Switzerland



Lys Assia - Refrain (Switzerland 1956)

I must admit that 1956 is the year I know the least out of all. The contest, organised for the first time, hadn't found its formula as yet - and why would it? It wasn't even supposed to be more than a one-off anyway. There is no video copy available and the songs are old-fashioned to say the least.

I do have a certain fondness for "Ne crois pas", one of Luxembourg's two entries, but the eventual winner is a classy ballad in old style. Nothing that I find bewildering in any way, but a stylish opener and a good choice for first winner.

Real winner:
Lys Assia - Refrain (Switzerland)


1957 - France



Paule Desjardins - La belle amour (France 1957)

Again, this song is not one that would qualify as a personal favourite on any level, but still it is a pleasant and elegant reminder of what popular music sounded like once upon a time in an era long ago.

Paule Desjardins also performs elegantly, sporting the gracefulness and chic that France would turn into their very own trademark for many years to come in Eurovision.

Real winner:
Corry Brokken - Net also toen (Netherlands)


1958 - Switzerland



Lys Assia - Giorgio (Switzerland 1958)

Lys, present for the third consecutive edition, almost pulls a double with this entry which is, how should I phrase it, original.

An almost violently weird, tempo-filled little oddity, performed in a mix of almost all Swiss national languages, about flirtation and romance (and - highly possibly - something far more advanced than flirtation, judging from the emphasis on "molto amore" in the lyrics) by Lago Maggiore.

Most atypical compared to the very well-mannered style Switzerland mainly would come to cultivate at Eurovision throughout the years, and the first of these songs I really feel for. A classic!

Real winner:
André Claveau - Dors, mon amour (France)


1959 - Denmark



Birthe Wilke - Uh, jeg ville ønske, jeg var dig (Denmark 1959)

1959 is the first contest where I begin to feel slightly more at home - the pace and the format begin to fall into place and the songs have more evergreen qualities and be more light hearted than the years before.

This year, the eventual winner was the first to combine a catchy chorus with a little bit of tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, but the Danish entrant did it even better. Birthe Wilke, who two years earlier had set the world record for longest kiss in a eurovision entry, is in top form and is taking the edge of the heavy air of seriousness that sometimes found its way into early editions of the ESC.

Real winner:
Teddy Schoelten - Een beetje (Netherlands)


1960 - Switzerland



Anita Traversi - Cielo e terra (Switzerland 1960)

Switzerland - again! There is something about the early Swiss entries that touch a string inside of me. This is just a bagatelle of a song, but a very charming one, convincingly performed by Anita Traversi.

But already here - still in an era where all light popular music was written with some sort of orchestra in mind - we get proof that the live orchestra got in the way of some songs at Eurovision.

The recorded version of this song has a faster pace and feels more slick and less heavy than this slightly pompous live version.

All the way until the orchestra was abolished after the 1998 ESC, there were conductors who could not resist including as much orchestration as possible, just to show off their skills.

Not a practise all songs would benefit from.

Real winner:
Jaqueline Boyer - Tom Pillibi (France)