Runner-up: United Kingdom 1977

To hit rock bottom is to go as low as you can go, and the BBC probably felt pretty close to that when they had to tell the EBU as well as the other participating countries that the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest had to be cancelled.

The final was supposed to be held on April 2 at Wembley, but at this time people going on strike were about as common as rain or fog or sunrises. The BBC technicians went on strike and only a matter of hours prior to the respective delegations travelling to London, the contest had to be put off.

A similar problem had occurred already at the national final, which in the end was never televised but only broadcast on radio. If the eternal striking had any influence on the result isn't clear (at least not to me) but the winning entry was a good-hearted, light-weight nod towards the state of British society. If it isn't working, then rub it out and start it again.

Or postpone it, at least. Europe had to wait five weeks until the contest was given its green light and went on air on May 7 instead. The delay probably meant that a few more modern entries had already peaked in the charts, and some juries may have grown tired of them before the final.

The UK delegation seemed to be forgiven for the long wait, and Europe generously voted the home team into second place and made the song a bigger hit on the continent than in the UK charts.

A deserved 2nd place?
Not really, no. I personally like it quite a lot and find it really pleasant, but it is more a fun performance than a really solid song. There were other songs that would have deserved these points better - Germany, Greece, Italy - but Lynsey de Paul's smile and the sight of Ronnie Hazlehurst conducting the orchestra with an umbrella puts me in a very forgiving mood.



Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran - Rock Bottom (United Kingdom 1977)

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.

Absent friend: Portugal

Eurovision 2013 is shaping up to be quite a good year with a solid selection of songs, perhaps not the strongest edition ever but more than acceptable.

Too bad then that there are several good friends from the past who decided, for various reasons, to give the Malmö party a miss. I thought I'd lend some of them a thought, at least. To show them they are not forgotten.

Portugal being absent isn't really a big shock, there were indications already last year that the budget of RTP might not allow any kind of excesses. As far as I can understand, they plan on being back as soon as the figures have improved.

Portugal has the less than flattering distinction of being the country with the biggest number of participations and no victory - but they have had some really good entries through the years.



Anabela - A cidade até ser dia (Portugal 1993)

Already from an early age I had an ear and an eye out for the underdogs of the contest, the countries whose songs stood out but kept scoring poorly, and was happy whenever they did a bit better than expected. I was cheering when Anabela got two top marks during the voting, but still would have wanted this very sweet song to do even better.

But regarless what the Portuguese opted for, the juries remained unimpressed. Ballads got thumbs down as well as this truly bang-up-to-date pop number from Dora.



Dora - Não sejas mau p'ra mim (Portugal 1986)

Well, whatever the Portuguese say or do, the remain the only country to date to ever enter a piece of revolutionary socialist disco. That must be worth something.



Os Amigos - Portugal no coração (Portugal 1977)

During the days of the Portuguese dictatorship, the local musicians and intellectuals gladly made use of this naive and innocent song contest in order to whip up some controversy and - if possible - protest about the regime without the censorship picking up too much of it.

Maybe it didn't result in fantastic scores or high placings, but it created some really original and engaging songs, most of which really should have done better.



Simone de Oliveira - Desfolhada portuguesa (Portugal 1969)

These are just a few of my personal favourites - I could easily have added at least ten more - and I really hope Portugal soon will burst back into the ESC in top form. I know they have it in them - it was only three years ago that they contributed a masterpiece like this.

And typically for Portugal it should have scored much better.



Filipa Azevedo - Hà dias assim (Portugal 2010)

2013 Finalist: Germany

Eine kleine Dance Musik? That could be a good idea also in Eurovision. It sort of worked for a certain Loreen last year.



Cascada - Glorious (Germany 2013)

Right after the German final, there was plenty of talk about whether Cascada's winning entry was a plagiarism of "Euphoria" or not. As usual with that kind of discussion, most of what was said was uninformed rubbish. The songs are similar in style, and that's all there is.

The question is rather if lightning can strike in the same place twice in a row. Can two dance songs win after one another? Of course they can. Nothing ever stopped similar songs to win on consecutive years in the past.

Germany's problem is really that Loreen had more than a fresh sound under her arm - she also had a strong visual identity and a simplistic, tasteful performance that stood out from the rest. In the German final, Cascada offered a stage show that was indeed simple but also bland and forgettable.

There is work to be done here, many things to shape up. The more power, geist and punch they can add, the better the score. It's far from impossible that they will succeed.

Potential winner:
Perhaps not after all. This song is designed to be a chart hit rather than a eurovision winner, but most probably this will be another top ten result for Germany.

My grade: 3/5

Germany gave us up-to-date trendy dance music already in the past and was a highly tipped winner back in 1977. Unfortunately the contest was postponed five weeks and their entry peaked in the charts and passed its sell-by-date before the final. But this is perhaps the best disco anyone ever brought to the ESC.



Silver Convention - Telegram (Germany 1977)

1977 - a slight delay

Thirty-five years ago saw an event that had never happened before and that has not occured since. The technicians at the host broadcaster BBC went on strike and a little over a week before the final, the entire contest was postponed.

Most countries had already broadcast the previews and started speculations about who might be the winner, and then everyone just had to cancel their tickets and sit back to wait for a new date.

Instead of April 2nd, the eighteen competing countries had to wait another five weeks and on this very day, 7th of May, the delayed contest was held.

Some of the red hot favourites had cooled down considerably and the juries chose to ignore the disco hits from Germany and Belgium, who had already had their heyday in the international charts. Instead a piece of classic French chanson stood the test of an extra five weeks and won through in the end after an intense battle with the home team, while Sweden ended in last place with a tribute to the legendary Beatles.

Not only did Marie Myriam win and land a huge hit single with her song, she also celebrated her 20th birthday on the very day of the final. A double celebration for her, in other words.

France has not won the ESC since and Sweden has not been last in a final since either.



Marie Myriam - L'oiseau et l'enfant (France 1977)

Song Of The Day: Germany 1977

In a parallel universe, had everything gone according to plan, Germany would have won the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest with its very contemporary disco sound, effective chorus and flawless performance. Then the BBC technicians went on strike and ruined the whole thing.

It had never happened before and it has not happened again that the ESC was postponed, but the initially scheduled London final had to be pushed back five weeks from April 2 to May 7.

In the world of disco, five weeks equalled half a dozen light years. Silver Convention's hit was timed perfectly to co-incide with the final and to sound as fresh and exciting as only possibly, but was already growing off people when the juries finally sat down to vote.

The world had moved on to other disco songs (and there were plenty of them around at this time) so the glitzy trio had to content themselves with a pale and disappointing eight place.

Unlike most of the disco songs of the era, however, "Telegram" was not going to vanish. It has eaten its way into the eurovision history books as possibly the best disco track ever ignored by the juries, complete with a choreography that anyone can have a stab at on any old dance floor.



Silver Convention - Telegram (Germany 1977)

Everybody wanted to be Abba

At some point in life, all children just want to close their eyes, make a wish and transform into something else. At some point, every little girl would want to be a princess and every little boy an astronaut.

In the late 70's, quite a few groups entering Eurovision really wanted to be Abba.

Not surprising, given Abba's remarkable success at the ESC itself and even more so afterwards, when conquering the world.

But being Abba takes a little bit more than just being two girls and two guys singing together. As the juries cast their votes, it was time for these acts to wake up and face the music.

(At some point, maybe Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida watched the ESC, looked at each other with puzzled facial expressions, thinking to themselves: "is this really what these people think we sound like?")




The Swarbriggs Plus Two - It's Nice To Be In Love Again (Ireland 1977)



Gemini - Dai-li-dou (Portugal 1978)



Nazar - Sevince (Turkey 1978)

The five best winners ever... according to Tobson

For the people who know me, it will come as no surprise that I am hopelessly down with old, bombastic and dramatic eurosongs in French. And when I compile my all-time top five of winners, that the French dominate completely.

The most surprising and unpredictable thing about my list is that it includes six songs, not five. Silly, I know. But these six songs are so clearly above the rest of the winners in my list, it would be blasphemous not to include them all.

Sixth place:



Corinne Hermès - Si la vie est cadeau (Luxembourg 1983)

Wonderfully breezy, airy big ballad - the last winner representing this genre - in a great vocal delivery by Corinne Hermès. It wasn't a huge commercial success at the time and is a bit forgotten among winners these days. Which is ridiculous. Fantastic stuff!

Fifth place:



Séverine - Un banc, un arbre, une rue (Monaco 1971)

This is such a fantastic evergreen - a mega hit at the time, translated into most languages. In Finland, for instance, I'm sure more people think of this as a Finnish song rather than an ESC winner because the domestic version was so popular. Classic but not dated.

Fourth place:



Marie Myriam - L'oiseau et l'enfant (France 1977)

This could be a bit old-fashioned in the sense that it keeps growing on me and the older we both get, the more I love it. In my eyes, it keep unfolding and growing intro something bigger, better and more beautiful every time. Also this one made it big in various versions around the continent, and maybe nothing can be better praise than people thinking your song is their own.

Third place:



France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Luxembourg 1965)

It is beyond me how a song written in 1965 can still sound so modern and up-to-date as this one. Shockingly modern at its time and the first song with a pop sound ever to win the ESC. Do not think we are not grateful! France herself has had a bit of a problem accepting this older part of her career, but I hope she also recognises what a fantastic song this is. The ever-growing number of cover versions of it just underlines how indestructible this masterpiece is. If you want to see the performance from Naples (impossible to imbed for some reason) it can be found here .

Second place:



Vicky Leandros - Après toi (Luxembourg 1972)

When the sun sets in Euroland, it is never to rise again. When the heart is broken, no glue can put the pieces back together. The emotion of this song is strong enough to knock down an elephant, and the performance by Vicky is almost frighteningly spot on. Surprisingly, and disappointingly, it works very badly in its English and German versions, where some silly lyricist made happy, cheerful lyrics for it. How do you ever come up with such a bad idea, when it is so clearly a song about heartbreak?

Number one:



Anne-Marie David - Tu te reconnaîtras (Luxembourg 1973)

What can I say? Every time I hear it, I am surprised at just how good it is. The powerful intro, the fantastic verse, the explosive chorus... And then the marvel of the piano bridge between the chorus back to the verse. I am totally blown away. Both by the song and by Anne-Marie. The best winner ever in my book, and very likely to stay at that number one spot for a long time to come.

Out of these six, all but one is produced in France ("Après toi" is a German production), and all of them won before I became an active follower of Eurovision.

Maybe I am a bit hard on the newer songs - there are many brilliant winners after 1983 as well - but they don't have the same magic and shine about them.

What are your favourite winners? Let me know by leaving a comment!