Runner-up: United Kingdom 1968

You all know the story how one of the biggest favourites to win in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest famously gets beaten into second place at the very end of the voting and becomes the most famous of all runners-up ever.

Cliff Richard couldn't lose. He was a huge top-selling star and him doing the ESC was an incredibly big thing. Everybody knew he had to win.

Midway through the voting he also took the lead and seemed to be heading for a comfortable victory when Germany, voting second last, made their surprise move and turned the whole situation on its head. Suddenly Spain was in the lead and as the last country - Yugoslavia - gave him no points at all, Cliff found himself a sorely disappointed loser.

Of course it is easy to say he should have won as "Congratulations" became a huge hit and an evergreen, but then you forget the importance of the back story. The song is good but perhaps not as outstanding as people would like to think. People expected it to win and had it won it could easily have been just another winner and perhaps not even a highlight in Cliff's career.

Perhaps it needed to lose for people to fully appreciate it. Perhaps people needed to see their favourite fall in order to fully embrace it and catapult it into the success we know today?

A deserved 2nd place?
Personally I would have placed it third after both Spain and France, but that's just me. Of course it deserved its second place. And perhaps the second place was the icing of the cake needed to make it a huge hit.



Cliff Richard - Congratulations (United Kingdom 1968)

Nobody's favourite but mine, part 5

While making this series it seems one country pops up more often than most and that is Austria. I would perhaps not go as far as naming them my favourite country in Eurovision but few others have done so much for the diversity of the contest and few others have been so constantly ignored or misunderstood as the Austrians.

I often find myself liking Austrian entries more than most people do - at least judging from the not always too impressive scores they gather during the voting sequences - so because of that and in honour of their magnificent Conchita Wurst, who takes to the stage tonight, this is a special edition focusing fully on Austrian entries. And I had to make them ten instead of five…



The Milestones - Falter im Wind (Austria 1972)

So let's start from the top with my all time favourite Austrian entry. The Milestones were the second pop group ever to enter the eurovision stage and added an interesting touch to a contest formerly reserved for solo singers or love duets. The song is also highly personable with a long melodic build-up - and a hook that is played on a flute rather than sung - and when the chorus finally kicks in it is short and snappy and a surprisingly fulfilling climax. Douze points at any given time.



Karel Gott - Tausend Fenster (Austria 1968)

Austria was never afraid to speak their minds or make statements in this apolitical song contest and already in early 1968 they decided to lend their spotlight to neighbour country Czechoslovakia and the slowly nascent Prague spring. Winner Udo Jürgens composed an urban lament, about the loneliness of modern man, for Czechoslovakia's own Sinatra Karel Gott. For some reason, he only scored two points and Udo Jürgens famously stormed out of the green room mid-voting.



The Rounder Girls - All For You (Austria 2000)

ORF in Vienna were never afraid to make statements about Austrian matters either. At least that must have been one of the contributing factors that they chose - at the height of the controversies surrounding Jörg Haider, giving Austria a bad name around Europe - these soul babes to represent them in Stockholm. Unfortunately they didn't quite nail the live performance in the end but this is such a lively, happy and bouncy number all the same.



Westend - Hurricane (Austria 1983)

Austrians can't just yodel, they can also dress in red and yellow and dance in a group. Most of the Westend members - with the notable exception of Gary Lux - aren't really all that impressive singers but do parts nicely and with the aid of that dancing girl they manage to work up quite a storm before the song is over. This one was always one of my big favourites from 1983. Catchy and fun.



Marianne Mendt - Musik (Austria 1971)

If the host broadcaster went through all that trouble to assemble an orchestra for the occasion you could just as well use it to the fullest. I doubt there is a single instrument that isn't put to use in this massive arrangement and Marianne can't be accused of holding back her vocal abilities either. Extra plus for singing in dialect, that always goes down well at Eurovision. Well, it doesn't but it should.



Schmetterlinge - Boom Boom Boomerang (Austria 1977)

There just is no way around this one. Deeply political and deeply engaged and still devilishly entertaining. I doubt no protest song was ever as fun as this one, virtually mocking the record industry in general and the Eurovision Song Contest in particular. The group also scared the living daylights out of the BBC producers as they had interrupted a live show on Austrian television the week before the London final and made a political statement instead of singing. Being part of both this as well as The Milestones also qualifies Beatrix Neundlinger as a Eurovision Goddess in my book.



Wilfried - Lisa Mona Lisa (Austria 1988)

People I know, good friends of mine, would argue this is the archetype of a nul-pointer, that it has every ingredient of a perfect recipe for disaster. I see what they mean but I must disagree. Perhaps this one would have been better off performed by someone else, but I find a depth and an emotion here. Something the juries apparently didn't. Blaming the defeat on politics was not a brilliant move either, but Wilfried is hardly the only zero-scorer to mess up like that.



Bettina Soriat - One Step (Austria 1997)

At first I must admit to finding this pretty hopeless and doomed but at some point I took a long hard look at the live performance and realised what a professional that Soriat woman is. The amount of punch and energy she manages to squeeze into these three minutes is truly impressive.



Blue Danube - Du bist Musik (Austria 1980)

Austrian television was never afraid to be deadly serious and send in poignant entries that actually mean something. But then they could get really tired of that and go for something like this instead: a big fluffy piece of nonsense with five people randomly namedropping famous composers and musical terminology all over the place just to make sure that somebody somewhere understands something. It is perfectly ridiculous but also really rather catchy. Group member Marty Brem would be back again already the next year with the sweet but confusingly staged Wenn Du da bist, featured already in Part 3 of this series.



Anita - Einfach weg (Austria 1984)

This could be a crash course in how to take a perfectly good song, rip it to shreds and crush every single chance it might have had of impressing anyone. If you just listen to it with your eyes closed you'll hear what a good song it is. Then you open your eyes to find that the woman who sings about being strong and independent and gone before you know it is a polite little flower in a pink dress, a sweet hairdo and not a drop of attitude anywhere. Add the dance orchestra background musicians and the stiff backing vocalists - again Gary Lux, not at his finest hour - and your song is doomed. Despite a very clear last place - 21 points behind Yugoslavia placed second last - it was a big hit on home ground and is still seen as a bit of a classic. Made for radio, so to speak.

Song of the Day: Finland 1968

On Wednesday, I will leave for Baku and there seems to be a million tiny things that needs tending to before that. It is easy to stress out a little bit and then I tend to think of Kristina Hautala.

Why is time in such a rush? Why can't the clocks just stop?

According to the lyrics, Kristina is afraid to be left alone and old with only memories of youth and love. I am, frankly speaking, more afraid of finding myself in Baku without chargers for my technical devices.

I'm also a bit concerned that some brilliant songs will completely miss out in the competition, just like "Kun kello käy" did in London 1968.

But this is not a time for worries - this is the time to rest a bit and enjoy the fact that there is plenty of good music in the world. Regardless if the juries understand or not.



Kristina Hautala - Kun kello käy (Finland 1968)

ESC 1964: what would Wenche do?

In my last post I concluded that Eurovision (or Eurovision juries, rather) were not ready for pop and youthful sounds in 1964, explaining why the excellent Dutch entry was left with only two points far back in the results.

Of course, you can never know for sure about these things. Maybe it was just another case of "the curse of number two", as Anneke was drawn to sing as the second act on the night (and no song ever won being performed second on the night)? Maybe the juries just didn't think "Jij bent mijn leven" to be all that?

I wonder what they would have made of Wenche Myhre, had she won the 1964 Norweigan final with the almost violently up-to-date "La meg være ung".



Wenche Myhre - La meg være ung (Norway 1964 national final)

Composer Arne Bendiksen (who happened to sing the winning song of that selection) blames the failure on NRK - every song was performed twice by different performers and the second version, by a male pop band, was (according to Bendiksen) impossible to recognise and only confused the juries.

Anyhow, this song was the start of Wenche's long career in Germany (where she spelt her name Wencke Myhre to facilitate pronounciation) where she, among many other things, sang the 1968 German entry to a sixth place in London.



Wencke Myhre - Ein Hoch der Liebe (Germany 1968)

Tobson's winners: 1966 - 1970

During this period, the ESC gets what could be described as its greatest innovation of all time as the contest was broadcast in colour from 1968 and on.

A politically turbulent period of time in Europe and elsewhere, especially the mythical year of 1968, and pop culture began to take over also at Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson.

By now, the contest was a commercial hitmaker and big labels wanted to send their most interesting names into competition, in hopes of breaking the international market.

On the continent, the German market was by far the most important one to crack in terms of record sales and it was about as common to record German versions of eurosongs as making the English versions.

1966 - Luxembourg



Michèle Torr - Ce soir je t'attendais (Luxembourg 1966)

France Gall sent shivers through old Europe and her fresh faced appearance inspired no less than six countries to send more modern and upbeat entries, performed by young women, to see if the success could be repeated.

It couldn't - the young ladies most probably stole points off each other and a convincing victory was given to a male solo singer instead.

The best one of these six was, in my opinion, the best song on the night, competing for host nation Luxembourg, performed by Michèle Torr who was about to recieve star status in her native France a few years later.

For me, this is an irresistible piece of French pop: inspired, lightweight but not silly and, above all, very well performed. Strangely enough, it was heavily ignored by most juries with the exception of Sweden, giving it top marks.

Real winner:
Udo Jürgens - Merci chérie (Austria)


1967 - France



Noëlle Cordier - Il doit faire beau là-bas (France 1967)

It would be absolutely impossible to rank all songs that ever took part in the ESC, but if I could, this one is very likely to be in the top ten.

A power ballad of a rare sort, complimented by a surprisingly raw lyric, not at all sticking to the usual voice of the modest heartbroken woman we often hear in song lyrics.

This woman is sweet at first, then scornful ("When you left it was to get happy / if it worked, then good for you") and then falls out into a bitter chorus about how much she hates all the people around her. "I hate them because they never talk to me about you."

A powerful, original and beautiful entry, but the juries wanted a happy pop tune instead. Not a bad choice, either.

Real winner:
Sandie Shaw - Puppet On A String (United Kingdom)


1968 - France



Isabelle Aubret - La source (France 1968)

For the second year in succession, the French entered a good song with somewhat controversial and, this time, slightly disturbing lyrics, inspired by "The Virgin Spring" by Ingmar Bergman.

Isabelle Aubret was good already when she won in 1962, but now she is sensational, telling the story of the innocent girl who gets raped and killed by three men in the forest. Yes, all of this is there in the lyrics. So much for family viewing.

One would think that a classical piece like this would be perfectly suited for the grand orchestra, but the musicians let this song down as well.

Maybe that is why it was beaten by two pop songs instead? Or maybe the mood of this song wasn't quite the party starter people needed in these troubled times?

Real winner:
Massiel - La la la (Spain)


1969 - Spain



Salomé - Vivo cantando (Spain 1969)

To be honest, I'm not sure about this one. Or, I'm sure I absolutely adore song, singer, performance and outfit. But I'm not sure it is my outright favourite.

1969 is a very strong and even year where several songs claim the title as my favourite: Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, France...

But the massive madness in Salomé's way of attacking this entire number casts makes this a winner. At least it is the best out of the four songs sharing the trophy this year.

Real winners:
Salomé - Vivo cantando (Spain)
Lulu - Boom Bang A Bang (UK)
Lenny Kuhr - De troubadour (Netherlands)
Frida Boccara - Un jour, un enfant (France)


1970 - Germany



Katja Ebstein - Wunder gibt es immer wieder (Germany 1970)

Watch out, modern times are coming. In more ways than one.

Television-wise, Dutch television (selected to host after a draw between the four winners of 1969) invented the postcards, partially to make up for the low number of participants. Only 12 countries took part after Sweden, Norway, Finland and Portugal dropped out after the split winner fiasco in Madrid.

But the German entry also signalled that new musical influences would, again, find their way into the ESC. Hippie-esque, with a touch of flower power, this song had a groove never before heard in the ESC.

Or it should have had, since this is yet another song the orchestra is unable to do justice. Also Katja is yet to compose that stage magic she would develop later in her career.

But in its recorded form, this song is stunning and a brilliant example of the creativity in the German market at this time.

Real winner:
Dana - All Kinds Of Everything (Ireland)

Magical Nina for Serbia

Serbia has selected for Düsseldorf and indeed came up with something very different to anything they ever sent in before.



Nina - Čaroban (Serbia 2011)

I love the madness and the 60's vibe in this number, full of energy, quirk and fun. "This guy is magical", Nina sings. Maybe so, but so is her dress. And her funky backing vocalists.

They must have been taking advice from the backing group of this ESC winner:



Massiel - La la la (Spain 1968)

A song about the Big Bomb

"You should never mix politics with Eurovision!" That is what many people say. Fine. But politics is an odd mixer, it works its way in anyhow. Big things will not go unnoticed even in the ESC.

The cold war was an ever-present influence on life in Europe during the 60's. It is more surprising than anything that not more songs bore some kind of influence from the international tension.

In 1967, however, former winner Serge Gainsbourg (writer of "Poupée de cire, poupée de son") decided to enter a protest song: noisy, shouty, relevant and bang-up-to-date at the time.



Minouche Barelli - Boum badaboum (Monaco 1967)

The lyrics were extremely straightforward: "before you decide to blow everything up, leave me some time to love, let me live a little bit before you decide to kill me." The translated lyrics can be read in full here .

Heavy stuff, indeed. No wonder the international juries preferred a happy, cheerful song about a certain puppet on a certain string instead.

At least it made an impression on some people. Ten jurors gave their vote to it, leaving it in an honourable fifth place.

Also, the Swedish delegation seems to have listened carefully. The same songwriting team entered Melodifestivalen the year after with "Låt mig få va' ifred" (sadly unavailable on YouTube) by Cecilia Stam - a raunchy, modern pop song with a certain amount of attitude, not unlike "Boum badaboum" at all.

But with a lot less menacing lyrics, dealing with love rather than the apocalypse. But then again, it didn't win either.

UPDATE
I found this lovely clip with "Boum badaboum" in its studio version. Even more aggressive and very provocative indeed.



Minouche Barelli - Boum badaboum (Monaco 1967 studio version)

Soon there will be more action...

What can I say, who can I blame? I blame my lack of time and claim the last week has been stressful enough.

But now I will start blogging for real. In good time, as the season is beginning to heat up. The semis are well under way in several countries, and I will of course put extra focus on Finland - my adopted home country.

The first semi in Finland was held last Friday - review on its way, but tonight my thoughts are too dim. Not a good idea to let yourself get too stressed.

Odd Børre of Norway knew that already back in 1968... (If you understand the what the NRK commentator says, you will find not even he believed in this entry.)