Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1985

While Gothenburg had learned fast on how to make a better tv show, Malmö would prove to have greater difficulties understanding what had gone wrong the first time. In an attempt to keep the budget to a strict minimum, the whole show was pushed inside one of their rather small studios, allowing only a limited audience and no room for any orchestra.

Using pre-recorded backing tracks was a good idea since everything sounded an awful lot better compared to two years earlier but some other production ideas didn't go down equally well. Turning the studio into a disco could have been a good idea but only looks cheap and tacky. Who'd like to be seen dancing in this scenery?

If Bibi Johns hadn't been inexperienced enough in 1983, this time Malmö opted for someone with even less television experience: a former miss Sweden who had no idea how to improvise or handle a situation like the scoreboard running amok. Which it did.

The general standard of entries was less impressive again. There exists an LP with 16 songs entered but rejected for this final and it is a mystery how some of the finalists were selected. What was the jury thinking?

Picture borrowed from oppetarkiv.se

10. Suzanne Frölén / Vänner
Suzanne was still a teenager but had released a number of singles and had been sent to Germany to record with an international team. A good voice and an obvious talent are totally wasted on a mind-numbingly dull song with amateurish lyrics. Whoever on Suzanne's team thought this would be a good idea?
Grade: 1/5

9. Per-Erik Hallin / Morgonluft
Per-Erik didn't give up and decided to try his hand at making gospel a popular genre in this contest and brought along a backing group of his own to add some temper to the performance. He should have worried more about the actual song that doesn't feel finished and contains a few abrupt changes too many to work. Feels like it is over before it even begins.
Grade: 1/5

8. Li Berg / Jag vet hur det känns
Just like Suzanne Frölén, Li had a few records to her name and seemed to operate in a very different musical landscape as she was suddenly pushed into melodifestivalen with a fairly basic entry. They both shared the same label and were possibly victims of the same poor decision-making. The best part of this is Li's helmet-like hair (as she makes a pirouette, not a single hair is moving) as well as the Prince Charming who is coming on to her as part of the performers. The stuff that nightmares are made of.
Grade: 2/5

7. Stefan Borsch / Sjung din sång
The Mariann label didn't always pay much attention to styling or staging and this is one case where it back-fired. This is quite a good and fairly bombastic schlager ballad that could easily have been improved and made more marketable. Stefan Borsch was a huge name on the dansband circuit and recorded several ESC entries in Swedish versions, often with pretty good results.
Grade: 2/5

6. Ritz / Nu har det hänt igen
A mature pop schlager that only made the final cut after one of the originally selected songs had been disqualified (and the first reserve met the same fate). More likeable that exciting and more of an album track than an entry that would stand a real chance in a song contest.
Grade: 2/5

5. Göran Folkestad / Eld och lågor
Second consecutive attempt from Göran who would never really impose himself as a solo singer. This chorus has a kind of call-and-response between him and the backing group that you hardly ever find anywhere else but in 1980's schlager. Nice and upbeat but that's pretty much it.
Grade: 2/5

4. Pernilla Wahlgren / Piccadilly Circus
A mega hit and a huge breakthrough, which probably goes out to explain why most people tend to remember this pretty standard schlager as better than it really is. Most Swedish people my age visiting London will start humming this to themselves when passing the place in question.
Grade: 3/5

3. Bel Air / 1 + 1 = 2
Proof that enough wrongs piled upon each other will turn into something rather fantastic in the end. The lyrics are forced, to say the least, and these three sisters weren't quite ready for the big time. If you listen carefully, you can probably hear the sound of a choreographer crying backstage. This is what Belle & The Devotions would have looked like had they grown up in the Swedish countryside and I love it.
Grade: 3/5

2. Dan Tillberg / Ta min hand
If this is Malmö, then you can be sure there will be some local talent involved. Just like Nils-Åke Runeson in 1983, Dan Tillberg sings in the local dialect of Scania but has a much better song. A fine example of clean-cut Swedish soft pop of the 1980's.
Grade: 3/5

1. Kikki Danielsson / Bra vibrationer
Apparently nobody saw this one coming. Kikki thought the song was too modern to suit her and was reluctant to sing it. The label never saw it as a winner. The press award went to Dan Tillberg. Everyone expected Pernilla Wahlgren to win. How come nobody heard what a terrifically strong entry this was? Obviously the best one of 1985. By miles and miles.
Grade: 5/5

Conclusion:
Again Malmö had extreme luck and managed to find the golden ticket in a pretty weak final. Maybe this final left the heads of SVT in doubt of Malmö's abilities after all? It would take three years until they would have another shot at hosting and then they would show a very different approach to the event.

In a parallel universe:
Nobody else from this bunch could have impressed like Kikki did in Scandinavium. She was at the height of her popularity and was both professional and radiant. Dan Tillberg would have looked weak and lost on that big stage and Pernilla Wahlgren's song wouldn't have carried far at all. I doubt either one would have made into the top ten.



Kikki Danielsson / Bra vibrationer (Sweden 1985, NF performance)

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1984

In most people's minds, 1983 stood out as a success due to the tremendous breakthrough of Carola and her sensational third place in Munich. Perhaps thanks to this, the Swedish final stayed out in the districts (as opposed to returning to Stockholm) and this time Gothenburg took on the task.

SVT Göteborg proved to be fast learners and presented a final that was much more solid than the one in 1982. It was colourful and most entertaining, given the standard of your regular entertainment shows back in the mid-1980's. The level of competing entries was much higher and everyone was eager to see if there was a new Carola-phenomenon in making.

What transpired later was that the selection process was a bit suspicious as Bert Karlsson - the head of the Mariann label - had debated with members of the jury before the final cut had been made and made sure they changed their minds to include his new act Herreys in the lineup.

Picture borrowed from oppetarkiv.se

10. Per-Erik Hallin / Labyrint
At the time he was almost more famous for providing the Swedish voice for Donald Duck than for his own singing, and Per-Erik wanted to use Melodifestivalen as a platform for himself. The song, with its religious theme, means well but makes no greater difference. Most probably chosen for the sake of diversity.
Grade: 1/5

9. John Ballard / Rendez-vous
Written as a schlager parody, stapling every conceivable musical and lyrical cliché in existence, before getting taken very seriously by performer John Ballard himself. Very popular at the time but I have no warmer feelings for this.
Grade: 1/5

8. Rosa Körberg / Schack och matt
Tommy's baby sister had been the front woman of a rock band before ending up with this surprisingly standard schlager. Not a bad song as such but the vocal performance leaves quite a lot to be desired.
Grade: 2/5

7. Janne Önnerud / Nu är jag tillbaks igen
Another case of when a pretty good little schlager is wasted on a complete mismatch of a performer. This guy was experienced and well-known at the time but takes his entry nowhere and especially misses the opportunity of doing anything with the pretty good lyrics of the verses.
Grade: 2/5

6. Thomas Lewing / Tjuvarnas natt
Another mismatch but the other way around. Young Lewing has the voice as well as the looks and squeezes as much as anyone ever could out of this song. An amusing bagatelle but nothing more than that.
Grade: 3/5

5. Göran Folkestad & Lotta Pedersen / Sankta Cecilia
It is endearing to think back, knowing he was supposed to be the big star and she was hired to be his cheerful but anonymous sidekick. Today Lotta Engberg is one of Sweden's major household names while nobody knows what happened to Göran Folkestad. Bouncy but nowhere near as outstanding as the juries thought is was.
Grade: 3/5

4. Herreys / Diggi-loo diggi-ley
Most professional. Sweden had never seen anyone perform like this on a melodifestivalen stage before. Effective in every way, but I never fully recovered from my 1984 Diggi-loo diggi-ley overdose and just can't place it higher than this in my list.
Grade: 3/5

3. Elisabeth Andreasson / Kärleksmagi
Chips broke up pretty quickly after the 1982 melodifestival and while Kikki's solo career took off like a rocket it never looked good for Bettan. Bert Karlsson had advised her not to take on this one, and during rehearsals she famously lost her nerves and started singing badly. Luckily some singing lessons and a certain career offer from Norway would come in handy later in the year, but this pretty suggestive little piece would deserve more appreciation too instead of just being remembered as the song that almost wrecked Bettan.
Grade: 3/5

2. Vicki Benckert / Livet är som ett träd
Borderline aggressive/cheerful, this little gem really stands out as the closing number of this lineup. Vicki had written the lyrics to three of the ten songs in the running and kept the best one for herself. She'd seen enough focus more on being a studio musician and would famously show up in Tommy Nilsson's backing group in Lausanne in 1989.
Grade: 3/5

1. Karin & Anders Glenmark / Kall som is
Clearly the best pop song on offer. Bert Karlsson (or possibly Bruno Glenmark, depending on who's telling the story) objected to this one not being cheerful enough and maybe that's why the juries kept their points down. After one solo attempt each, this brother/sister-act decided it was better to sing together and had notable success under the name Gemini, co-produced by Björn & Benny.
Grade: 4/5

Conclusion:
A strong and consistent lineup that was surprisingly hard to rank. Is "Kärleksmagi" really that good? Should "Schack och matt" come in so low? At the time, Herreys was the clear and deserved winner and the boys would have deserved a bit of a warmer reception from Swedish showbiz in general.

In a parallel universe:
Never argue with a winner. If the selected song goes on to win the ESC, it was the right choice. I would still have wanted to know what would have become of "Kall som is" on a Eurovision stage. The 1984 jury manifested a clear disinterest in anything bold or experimental, so probably the Glenmarks could have scraped in at a 7th place or so. Possibly.

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1983

If Gothenburg got to have a stab at Melodifestivalen, why shouldn't Malmö get the same kind of break? Said and done and the third biggest of Sweden's eleven television districts got themselves busy showing they knew how to make things work.

Only they didn't. In retrospect, Melodifestivalen 1983 stands out like a broadcast from another planet. Or another country, at least. The songs are weak, the orchestra is sub-standard and makes everything sound dated, and the host - without any particular experience of hosting tv-shows - is let alone without a decent script.

It looks cheap and it sounds cheap and if it hadn't been for the complete bullseye that was the winner, you can wonder if Malmö would ever had had a second chance to host.

Pictured borrowed from Expressen

10. Peter Lundblad & Agneta Olsson / Vill du ha mig efter gryningen
These two had plenty of experience both as solo singers and backing vocalists, but this love duet sound more like a beginning quarrel than two potential love birds. Strained singing and no memorable melody line in sight.
Grade: 1/5

9. Kerstin Dahlberg / Här är min sång till dig
Kerstin Dahlberg - described by the host as a most ambitious singer - had recorded a full album for the Mariann label two years before but was dumped by them after that. Here she was with a new record deal and a most approximate idea of how to hit the notes in her pretty forgettable entry.
Grade: 1/5

8. Karina Rydberg / Nu börjar jag mitt liv
SVT:s own tv magazine made a big feature on young Karina who hoped to leave her life as a shop attendant for a career in showbiz and painted the picture of her as The Next Big Thing. Too bad someone else would nick that very title before the night was over and too bad that poor Karina - who actually possesses both a good voice and a commanding presence - was given such a dull and nondescript song to perform. This is the last MF entry ever written by legendary Peter Himmelstrand who really didn't have one of his best days penning this.
Grade: 1/5

7. Nils-Åke Runeson / Värmen som du gav
If SVT Malmö would prove to have a mission when hosting MF, then it would be to push local talent into a bigger spotlight. This is the first MF entry ever sung in the dialect of Scania and would probably not have been among the ten selected, had the final been held by another district. Still it is a sweet, if slightly anonymous, song.
Grade: 2/5

6. Maria Wickman / Okej, jag ger mig
Since her 1982 entry, Maria Wickman had landed herself a deal with Epic records and was about to release a typical female rock/pop-album. In its recorded version, this is quite a well produced and catchy little number (even if the songwriting is weak in the verses). The orchestra in Malmö makes the whole thing fall to pieces and come to nothing, and Maria's album never really took off either.
Grade: 2/5

5. Karin Glenmark / Se
Swedish legendary singer/songwriter Östen Warnerbring had been so impressed with Karin Glenmark that he wanted to write her the perfect entry. Ambition is a good thing to have, but this one clearly suffers from the three-minute-rule. There are so many things Östen wanted to fit in and in the end you won't really retain anything. It's pleasant and beautifully sung but that's pretty much it.
Grade: 2/5

4. Ann-Louise Hanson & John Ballard / Bara en enda gång
I must admit that I first heard this song in its English version and after that, the Swedish original could never measure up. It always felt clunky and half-baked somehow. But if you are willing to overlook that, it's still a sweet song and the idea to turn Ann-Louise into a cougar and pair her with young and sweet John Ballard is a strike of genius.
Grade: 3/5

3. Ritz / Marionett
Let's just put one thing straight: in my world Monica Forsberg is a cultural monument. She should be the Queen. Or a president. She cannot do anything wrong. And as lead singer (and lyricist) she manages to turn this little ditty into a classic. Lands in exactly the right landscape between silly and cute, between catchy and annoying.
Grade: 3/5

2. Kikki Danielsson / Varför är kärleken röd?
Nothing could have stopped Carola from winning anyway but Kikki had good reason at cursing at the orchestra. What is a slick and elegant number in its recorded version is savagely trampled on until only scattered bits and pieces remain. Kikki's solo career took off anyway with a string of hits this year, while this really nice one remained pretty overshadowed and forgotten.
Grade: 3/5

1. Carola / Främling
Nothing could have stopped Carola from winning anyway but it was a happy circumstance for her that her song was the only one the orchestra know how to play without making it sound sloppy or hopeless. Lasse Holm had perfected his craft and written a close-to-perfect song tailor-made for Carola and has denied the story that Kikki was the first choice to perform it. Full marks from every jury is no surprise given how everything else sounded on the night.
Grade: 5/5

Conclusion:
Carola was obviously the best choice for Munich but again I would have loved to seen what could have happened in a parallel universe where Kikki Danielsson had had a better management, better styling, a choreographer and an orchestra able to actually play her entry. Maybe it wouldn't have topped Carola's third place, but it would have been worth the effort for sure.

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1982

Maybe Stockholm got punished for downscaling the 1981 Melodifestival, but the competition was about to leave the capital and not come back for five years. Instead, Gothenburg had its real first shot at organising a Eurovision pre-selection.

Gothenburg had in fact hosted the 1975 melodifestival but the whole thing had been masterminded by the same old people in Stockholm. This time, Sweden's second city unleashed their own team and were determined to breathe new life into the show.

The biggest change of format was the introduction of a superfinal: five of the ten competing songs would qualify for the superfinal and get voted upon by the juries while the five non-qualifiers would all officially share the 6th place.

Maybe the ten selected songs don't constitute the strongest line-up ever but at least SVT Göteborg would learn fast how to do things better.

10. Little Gerhard & Yvonne Olsson / Hand i hand med dig
The whole show opened with this jaunty but lukewarm old schlager of a kind nobody wanted anymore (if ever). Half-heartedly performed by a duo without any trace of chemistry.
Grade: 1/5

9. Annika Rydell & Lasse Westmann / Här har du din morgondag
Would you believe? Another jaunty but lukewarm old schlager of a kind nobody wanted anymore (if ever) performed by another duo without any trace of chemistry. At least young Annika showed some temper and talent, totally wasted on a non-song like this.
Grade: 1/5

8. Charlie Hillson / Då kommer min ängel
Let's be kind and call this one an interesting fiasco. An attempt at Swedish rock with contemporary and slightly humorous lyrics that could, perhaps, have amounted to something in the hands of a better performer. The most intriguing part about it is the echo chamber effect performed live by the backing vocalists.
Grade: 1/5

7. Shanes / Fender '62
A harmless but slightly sexist set of lyrics - "I always admired the shapes of her body" - that finally turn out to be about a guitar and not a woman. Oh, well. Acceptable.
Grade: 2/5

6. Liza Öhman / Hey-hi-ho
Liza's solo career kick-started in Melodifestivalen 1980, but only two years later she didn't seem to keen on it anymore. She was already well established as one of Sweden's top backing vocalists and maybe that seemed more appealing. Anyhow, she is by far the best thing about this catchy but fairly mediocre piece of schlager rock.
Grade: 2/5

5. Chattanooga / Hallå hela pressen
This was the song that was hailed as the winner by the younger generation that found something off-beat and less streamlined than the general melodifestivalen output. Charming in its own well but also slightly amateurish. Could have been more than it was.
Grade: 3/5

4. Maria Wickman / Dags att börja om igen
Far too low-key to stand any major chance in 1982, but this is a sensitive little break-up-ballad well performed by another one of all those talented singers than never really made it big in the business.
Grade: 3/5

3. Lena Ericsson / Någonting har hänt
Another soft-spoken but suggestive pop gem with very sweet lyrics about finding love (and sex, most probably, from the sound of a line or two). Lena Ericsson always deserved more attention as a solo singer and despite ending in second place, this song went nowhere commercially after the contest.
Grade: 3/5

2. Ann-Louise Hanson / Kärleken lever
Now we are talking power schlager as Ann-Louise takes to the stage dressed up as the coolest chick in town, armed with a brilliantly arranged pop song written by Anders Glenmark. For some reason the juries gave this one the cold shoulder after voting it into the superfinal, but Ann-Louise still is the coolest chick in town and would still be a good choice for Eurovision.
Grade: 4/5

1. Chips / Dag efter dag
"A mutant schlager monster that crushes every piece of resistance" as one of the evening newspapers put it and I can only agree. The first tangible evidence that Team Mariann had started to master the art of crafting Eurovision songs. There were still a few wrinkles to iron out but this one still feels like an early classic and the shameless nicking of the "wa-wa-wa"-hook from "Waterloo" is the final touch.
Grade: 4/5

Conclusion:
The jury made the right decision - of course. No other song in the running would have had a chance of impressing an international audience more than "Dag after dag" in Harrogate. Possibly Ann-Louise could have given Arlette Zola a run for the money, but we will never know.

Then sadly Chips didn't do as well as anticipated in the ESC final. For some reason their performance felt more forced and less lively compared to the one in Gothenburg. An 8th place was Sweden's best showing since Abba - shared with Lasse Berghagen - but was still disappointing. Time to gear up.



Chips - Dag efter dag (Sweden 1982, melodifestivalen performance)

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1981

The 1981 Melodifestival is really the odd one out in many ways. There was no sort of open competition where people could send in entries and had only five songs in the running, written by the five composers achieving most success in the Svensktoppen chart during the last year.

The show didn't even have its own slot but was organised as an appendix to another popular entertainment show. Björn Skifs took his second victory in four attempts and got to show himself in a tight, body-hugging outfit on the stage in Dublin.

Björn Skifs with host Janne Carlsson. Picture borrowed from oppetarkiv.se

Ranking the songs really is a real walk in the park. Very easy to know what is good and what is not. Had I been the jury, the evening would have ended this way:

5. Anders Glenmark / Det är mitt liv, det är jag
Anders Glenmark is a great composer, arranger, producer and occasionally a nifty hitmaker in his own right. However, I never got my head around this particular song which fails to trigger any major emotion in me apart from stress.
Grade: 1/5

4. Janne Lucas / Rocky Mountain
Following up his silly but charming song from 1980 with this even sillier but weaker ditty about musical Indians singing scales together every day at eleven sharp. Not unpleasant but pretty pointless. And nowhere near as charming as Växeln hallå.
Grade: 2/5

3. Björn Skifs / Fångad i en dröm
Björn Skifs and his songwriting partner Bengt Palmers were about to turn the opportunity down as they were busy writing their musical Spök and had no time throwing anything else together. Instead they decided to enter one of the musical's tunes and get a bit of free promotion. The song won and the show went on to be a smash hit, running for a long time on stage in Stockholm.
Grade: 3/5

2. Kicki Moberg / Men natten är vår
Abba were about to start recording "The Visitors" but Agnetha Fältskog took precious time off and composed an entry, complete with the first lyrics Ingela "Pling" Forsman ever competed with in MF. Today an event like this would have blown all competition out of the water but for some reason the juries largely overlooked this one. Maybe because newcomer Kicki Moberg was nervous and sounded slightly sharp and shrill when singing live, but this entry clearly deserved better than a last place.
Grade: 4/5

1. Sweets 'n' Chips / God morgon
Chips temporarily had to change their name due to another band claiming the right to that band name, and sported a new and better line-up compared to the year before. Lasse Holm and Kikki Danielsson were still there, now accompanied by Tania who had been performing solo in 1980 and a brand new talent named Elisabeth Andreasson who was about to make quite a mark on ESC history. This was slick, elegant and catchy but it seems the juries were reluctant to vote for any song entered by the Mariann label. At least for the time being.
Grade: 4/5

Conclusion:
It remains puzzling as why SVT decided to downgrade Melodifestivalen this year as well as why it was so hard for the juries to reward anything coming from the countryside hit factory in Skara. "God morgon" would have been a fresh and energetic ending to the ESC lineup in Dublin and my guess is it would have improved the Swedish showing a bit. An eighth place, perhaps?

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1980

Usually I take on the ESC finals and rank all the songs for the entertainment of my readers (and myself) but life is more than just Eurovision finals. It is also national finals. And since I grew up in Sweden in the 1980's, that particular decade of melodifestivalen means a lot to me.

So I thought I'd do a little special and rank the songs of Melodifestivalen each year for the 1980's and what place is better to start than at the beginning?

The 1980 Melodifestival was held in the largest studio available at SVT Stockholm and was the first edition in many years to be broadcast live. Ten songs were in the running, presented in a fairly relaxed way by television veteran Bengt Bedrup, and Tomas Ledin finally won on his fifth attempt.

Picture borrowed from svt.se

If I had been the omnipotent jury, this is how I'd rank the songs:

10. Chips - Mycke' mycke' mer
The first edition of Chips - featuring Kikki Danielsson and Lasse Holm - was the red hot favourite to win and the song the relatively new label Mariann had pinned its hopes upon. I can see the charm but the song is weak and the lyrics even weaker. Not bad but nothing to write home about.
Grade: 2/5

9. Paul - Tusen sekunder
Quite an elegant little ballad that was later recorded also by Chips in an English version. Melodic and pleasant but Paul - former known as Paul Paljett - isn't much of a performer and makes very little of his song. Would have needed a much more convincing act to get anywhere.
Grade: 2/5

8. Kenta - Utan att fråga
"Off-beat" is nowhere near enough to describe this odd entry by occasional singer Kenta, more known from a number of documentary films about young people at the outskirts of society. Rather poetic but not really my cup of tea.
Grade: 2/5

7. Lasse Lindbom - För dina bruna ögons skull
Written by Per Gessle at the height of his career with his first band Gyllene Tider. He didn't want to enter himself and Lasse Lindbom feels like a pretty poor replacement that lets the song down a bit. Good and unusual chorus, however.
Grade: 2/5

6. Eva Dahlgren - Jag ger mig inte
Eva Dahlgren didn't want to be there. She wanted to be somewhere else. Any place would do. And you could sort of tell. Her lyrics hint at her not being at ease in this competition and in the end she refused to even smile to the cameras. She'd go on to do fantastic things in the Swedish pop world, but Melodifestivalen just wasn't her thing.
Grade: 3/5

5. Tomas Ledin - Just nu
A fairly good rocker and clearly my favourite of Tomas Ledin's solo attempts in Melodifestivalen but the live version never reaches the climax of the studio version. I like my rock songs with sharper edges.
Grade: 3/5

4. Tania - Åh, sjuttiotal
Tania was one of those talents that Mariann records never quite knew what to do with. She had an intriguing voice and presence but never got the right material. This is a good effort, marred by an ill-advised decision to sing the whole thing in a falsetto voice. Also, there are limits to how much you can borrow from other songs and get away with it. Anyone not thinking about Abba's "Gimme Gimme Gimme" after hearing this one can please raise their hand.
Grade: 3/5

3. Janne Lucas - Växeln hallå
A silly but hyper-effective little song about longing for someone you've fallen head over heels in love with but ending up with a snotty receptionist on the line instead. A big hit and an evergreen and deservedly so.
Grade: 3/5

2. Ted Gärdestad & Annica Boller - Låt solen värma dig
Last year's winner came back in the company of his then girlfriend, armed with a song that is obviously a plea against nuclear energy. The presence of this song is nothing short of a mystery. Sweden held a referendum on whether to discontinue its nuclear plants or not a few weeks later and this lyric should normally have been deemed too politically charged to be performed on tv at the time. Also, Ted's record label manager - the incomparable Stikkan Andersson - was famously pro-nuclear power. How did he allow this song to go through? It's a catchy little protest, however. Arguably better than Ted's entry for Jerusalem the year before.
Grade: 4/5

1. Liza Öhman - Hit men inte längre
I'd love to peek into this parallel universe where Liza and her attitude-packed piece of disco rock had represented Sweden in The Hague. It was enough to kick-start her solo career that would result in her being awarded the title "Female Singer of the Year" in Sweden 1980. The best one by a mile.
Grade: 4/5

Conclusion:
Quite a good year and Tomas Ledin is an OK choice. My guess is still that Liza would have scored better internationally, perhaps somewhere around 7th place. (And if Ted would have won, I predict all hell would have broken loose over the content of the lyrics.)

Tobson takes on 1983

This series makes its comeback with another one of those totally crucial years for me and the ESC. In my native Sweden Carola-fever reigned and there was a bit of hysteria building up for the final in Munich and I have vivid memories of watching the first preview show on SVT.

So vivid that I in fact remembered several of the preview clips and even the odd line spoken by the presenter, and when I saw the show again years and years later it was just as I remembered it.

Ranking these songs is a very difficult task as I would want to place perhaps ten of them in my top five, but that is not allowed. And it also shows that being disastrously bad can be a quality in its own right.

20. Turkey - Opera / Cetin Alp & The Short Wave
This entry poses the question how much you can possibly fail when devising a Eurovision entry. This one has it all: fake pompous opera singing, outrageous costumes, bits and pieces of famous arias (Bizet could be spinning like a propeller in his grave) and when you think it can't get worse you get a trad jazz breakdown. Everything is so fantastically wrong and it totally deserved the nul points it got in the voting but I also love it. I love it because it is so disastrously bad that it forces me to love it. It wouldn't be right and deeply unfair to place it anywhere but last.
Grade: 0/5 (or 5/5, depending how you look at it)

19. France - Vivre / Guy Bonnet
Should be right up my alley, this moody and difficult French ballad, but for some reason it just leaves me cold. It's nice, even interesting, but I can't shake the feeling everyone on stage is merely mimicking a French ballad instead of truly performing one. Leaves me stone cold every time. It should have been La Compagnie Creole instead, that would have been a lively start.
Grade: 1/5

18. Netherlands - Sing Me A Song / Bernadette
Another one that leaves me cold is this cheerful little singalong accompanied by a disco beat at a time when disco was not only dead but super dead.
Grade: 2/5

17. Cyprus - I agapi akoma zi / Stavros & Constantina
I always sort of liked this one and am always surprised not to rank it higher. It's pleasant and harmless but totally lacking in temper. It goes on and on until it's gone and nobody remembered it was ever there.
Grade: 2/5

16. Portugal - Esta balada que te dou / Armando Gama
It's not often that Portugal sends in a song as hit friendly as this one and it sounds really good and suited for the airwaves. Unfortunately nothing much happens in it. A bit of a climax would have been nice.
Grade: 2/5

15. Switzerland - Io così no ci sto / Mariella Farré
One of the big pre-contest favourites in the Swedish papers. I like the verse and I like the chorus but can't shake the feeling they don't belong to the same song. And Mariella's voice does turn a bit harsh at times.
Grade: 2/5

14. Denmark - Kloden drejer / Gry
This is like a foreshock of the almost manically happy and super-effective schlager Denmark would hammer out at Eurovision for the rest of the 80's. This one gets close but doesn't quite go all the way.
Grade: 3/5

13. Norway - Do Re Mi / Jahn Teigen
Very inoffensive and likeable family entertainment that I loved very dearly as a young boy. I still see its charm but have grown more and more immune. Give me "Mil etter mil" any time instead.
Grade: 3/5

12. Italy - Per Lucia / Riccardo Fogli
This is where the ranking really gets hard. This is a sweet little song, very well performed, but this is a hard top ten to crack. This one falls short due to very heavy competition.
Grade: 3/5

11. Germany - Rücksicht / Hoffmann & Hoffmann
The German answer to Simon & Garfunkel deliver their song with style and conviction and it is a most likeable ballad. But it would have been even better had Mary Roos agreed to sing it, like she was originally supposed to.
Grade: 3/5

10. Greece - Christie / Mou les
Another very fine song in a delicate arrangement. One I enjoy listening to at anytime without manifesting itself as a breakout favourite. I like everything about it but would possibly have left out that screechy saxophone break in the live version.
Grade: 3/5

09. Austria - Westend / Hurricane
How much can go wrong when you put together a group of people to sing and dance together? Westend comes close. Only one of the boys can dance and only Gary Lux can sing, and the others just fill out the numbers. But for some inexplicable reason this one works and I'm very fond of it.
Grade: 4/5

08. Yugoslavia - Julie / Daniel
Have there ever been happier backing vocalists than these ones? I can't think of any. Who would that be? Who could not break into a wide smile when watching this? If the song had been slightly less obviously stolen from Shakin Stevens it would be even further up my list.
Grade: 4/5

07. United Kingdom - I'm Never Giving Up / Sweet Dreams
Like many other UK entries in the 1980's this isn't highly original but it's so terrifically performed and so violently catchy that it is hard to resist. Every time they flip those chairs over I feel I want to do that too.
Grade: 4/5

06. Sweden - Främling / Carola
Främling stranded in sixth place on my list only goes out to show what a strong year this is. A very good song indeed with a flawless performance by a future winner. Class.
Grade: 4/5

05. Finland - Fantasiaa / Ami Aspelund
One of the most elegant entries Finland ever sent to Eurovision. I love the drama, the long intro, the key change and the way they don't overuse the chorus. It's a great chorus but you only get to hear it twice and when the song ends you want to hear it again. Not a bad idea for pop music in general.
Grade: 4/5

04. Israel - Hi / Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza had that fantastic way of doing something I always admire: perform and make it seem easy. Excellent singing, excellent presence and a touch of typically Israeli choreography. Very good.
Grade: 4/5

03. Spain - Quien maneja mi barca? / Remedios Amaya
The 1980's were not a great time for anyone interested in breaking out of the ESC formula and that was never better illustrated than when this exciting and sensual masterpiece didn't get a single point and was left in a last place shared with the complete meltdown that is Turkey's "Opera".
Grade: 4/5

02. Belgium - Rendez-vous / Pas de deux
In consistency with the no originality-approach of the times, this one really should have been left with a big fat zero too. One of the boldest and more unique entries ever with it's hysterical beat and intense brass, and just one nonsense phrase repeated over and over again.
Grade: 5/5

01. Luxembourg - Si la vie est cadeau / Corinne Hermès
Being original is fine and all that but in my world you can't argue with an excellent ballad in French of the kind they simply don't write anymore. Pure class from the first note to the last and a most deserved winner.
Grade: 5/5



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