I was, this week, asked what my favourite ever Eurovision song is. Put on the spot, it was very difficult to answer, so I said I would answer by way of a website post instead.
Note: This was previously published without mention of a certain Israeli entry in Stockholm…
Given that we have up to 43 entries every year, along with all the songs that don’t even make it through their national finals, eventually you lose track. For instance, Moldova had just under 100 entries to their selection process this year – you just can’t remember everything!
So, here is a list of top fives – my top five Eurovision entries since 1997, and five notable for other reasons. I will, later, post my highlights for this year, along with some that didn’t get through to Düsseldorf. Click on the song name for a YouTube link.
Top Five Eurovision Entries
5. Alexander Rybak (Norway, 2009) – Fairytale
Fifth place on this list was actually the hardest of all to pick, because there were a number of other songs that could have made the list.
Alexander Rybak won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 in Moscow with the highest points total ever seen in the contest. This was in part because of the number of countries voting in 2009, but even disregarding this, he was untouchable in the voting all evening. It was clear from about ten minutes into the results that there was no stopping him and we’d be going to Norway in 2010.
Ironically – and for this reason, I almost took this out of the list – the success of the song is not the song itself; it’s the performance and the backing track that made it connect with people. You see, in Eurovision, although the singing is live, the instruments are not. But let that take nothing away from the performance, for he is a fantastic violin player also, but Eurovision rules are Eurovision rules…and they are there for a reason – it’s the only practical way the contest can run on the night. It would be a nightmare from a technical point of view if everyone played live.
Anyway, the performance was brilliant, with some very good background dancers doing rolls, flips and all sorts of other things that I would end up in hospital attempting. And despite the violin being part of the backing track, it’s rather good. And it’s Norway. So Rybak slides in at five…who’s next?
4. Olsen Brothers (Denmark, 2000) – Fly On The Wings Of Love
In 2000, Stockholm hosted the Eurovision Song Contest following Sweden’s win in 1999. From memory, not a spectacular affair, this one, although Israel certainly caused a stir – but more of that later on. 2000 also featured the debut of Latvia, but it was the Danish who took the spoils, quite rightly, with the Olsen Brothers’ Fly On The Wings Of Love. At first take, it’s a couple of old guys on guitar, but it worked fantastically. A ballad, nothing special about the performance itself, but a well-composed and beautifully-delivered performance, nothing else looked like winning all night. And certainly not Israel…
3. Anna Bergendahl (Sweden, 2010) – This Is My Life
Now, if anything on this list is going to be controversial, this is the one! This song didn’t even qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest! It is an absolute travesty that it didn’t. Anna Bergendahl was well-fancied to do well last year, seen in some circles as the main competition to Lena. Needing to finish in the top ten to go through to the final, she finished eleventh; cue streams of tears in the Green Room and utter incomprehension from hordes of Eurovision fanatics and purists. A fantastic song, well-delivered, with passion – and, I should mention, a very beautiful woman too – she was very well received in the arena, but just didn’t get the votes. An utter travesty. It peaked at number six in the Norwegian charts, was number one in Sweden for four weeks, but the rest of Europe couldn’t quite bring itself to embrace it. Which rather annoyed me, because it meant I couldn’t appreciate it live in the final.
Okay, so we’ve had Norway, Denmark and Sweden, so maybe we should branch out from Scandinavia. Well, what can I say? they do make some great music. But the top two aren’t from Scandinavia.
2. Katrina and the Waves (United Kingdom, 1997) – Love Shine A Light
Yes, it’s hard to believe, isn’t it?! The UK can make decent attempts at winning Eurovision! And, indeed, we have won Eurovision! Way back in 1997, riding high on the back of New Labour and Tony Blair, back in that era in the late 1990s, with the dawn of progressive government, when we dared to have confidence on the world stage, before we ruined it and reduced ourselves to bit-part, colonial conquerors, hated the world over.
But enough of the politics, Katrina and the Waves’ win in 1997 was the first since Bucks Fizz won with Making Your Mind Up in 1981. And, just like in 1981, it was won in Dublin. It captured the whole atmosphere of Britain finding its feet again on the world stage – and it’s for that as much as the song that puts it so far up this list. No doubt, it was a very good entry, but there’s a certainly sentimentality to it too. 1997 was certainly a significant year in Britain, for a whole multitude if reasons.
N.B. This is also the only song in the list featuring a live orchestra, which was removed from the contest soon after.
1. Birgitta Haukland (Iceland, 2003) – Open Your Heart
So, remember Latvia, who first entered in 2000? Well, they only went and won in 2002, didn’t they! So, off we went to Riga in 2003. Katrina and the Waves were long forgotten. Britain was now seen with contempt across Europe, faced sabotage, and, to boot, sent people who couldn’t sing. But enough of that, we’ll come back to that later…
And whilst we’ve not gone back to Scandinavia, we have, inevitably, gone back to Northern Europe, to the Nordic country of Iceland. Birgitta Haukdal actually only finished eighth in Riga, but she was by far the best of the entrants. Unfortunately, she drew the one of the worst draws possible… first. She had to open the show. To win with the show opener, in a time when voting opened after the last song, was always like trying to scale the Berlin Wall, except without the help of Gorbachev.
Still, it was a fantastic performance, and, in my view, thoroughly deserves to be at the top of the list!
Honourable Mentions: There are a few who just missed the cut on the list, who should get a mention:
- Run Away, Moldova, 2010 – featuring Epic Sax Guy, who, after the 2010 contest, became an Internet celebrity in his own right;
- In A Moment Like This, Denmark, 2010 – with Chanee and N’evergreen, but N’evergreen’s vocals in the final were a little lacking to make it; still worthy of a mention, for it was a fantastic track;
- If My World Stopped Turning, Ireland, 2004 – Chris Doran with a rather good ballad, but not special enough to break in to the list.
Five Other Notable Entries
Okay, so we’ve had the best five, but here’s five that are never going to make that list. They aren’t all the worst, some are just a little wacky, but they deserve a mention at least!
Dustin The Turkey (Ireland, 2008) – Irelande Douze Points
A turkey. Yes, a turkey. Famous in Ireland, loudly booed in the arena after his performance in Belgrade, this performance was seen as an insult to Eurovision, presumably because Irish ballads kept scoring badly. Irish people also felt some embarrassment at this entry. Although, to be honest, replace Dustin the Turkey with a real person and the track gets much better. I was quite amused by it, although I’d hesitate to call myself a fan! My highlight of this song: “Eastern Europe, we love you; do you love Irish stew?”
Pirates Of The Sea (Latvia, 2008) – Wolves of the Sea
A Latvian pirate entry. I have to say, it was quite good. It was very different, it got ten points from the UK, I think. This was a light-hearted entry, but with a real beat behind it, so it doesn’t look like a blatant piss-take. The entry split people down the middle. It certainly wasn’t universally popular. I don’t mind the odd entry like this, but if there were quite a few, it would rather spoil the show.
LT United (Lithuania, 2006) – We Are The Winners
They weren’t… This is a piss-take. I did not appreciate it. I say no! to football chant nonsense at Eurovision.
Guildo Horn & Die Orthopädischen Strümpfe (Germany, 1998) – Guildo hat euch lieb
This was just a bit weird. Guildo was a joke entry, supposedly, but managed to finish in the top ten. He also managed to climb scaffolding and get up to other mischief in his three-minute escapade on stage.
Jemini (United Kingdom, 2003) – Cry Baby
Boy, did they cry over it…this was a total embarrassment for the UK. I hope we took their passports away, that’s all I can say. Iraq? No, you can’t really blame Iraq. People weren’t deaf too. Apart from Jemini. The country is cross out due to national embarrassment.
And Finally…
This has to be a contender for “most infamous Eurovision entry ever”…
Ping Pong (Israel, 2000) – Sa’me’akh [Be Happy]
Please forgive me for this one, I just can’t keep a straight face as I watch this back! Okay, so a group called “Ping Pong” entered the Israeli national selection for a joke. Somehow, to the tone-deaf Israeli public, they won – in a field of 84 entrants. Their song, called “Sa’me’akh“, or “Be Happy” in English, was about an Israeli girl who meets a Syrian from Damascus. You would think the Israeli national broadcaster would have weeded them out, given the obvious political connotations in this – banned at Eurovision – but they didn’t. And it turned into a complete disaster for the Israeli delegation. It takes a little explaining…
First off, the song was written in Hebrew. Thus, outside of Israel, the song itself wasn’t particularly well understood. The group sing of sitting in their kibbutz, bored, depressed by world events, along with the dreadful line, “I want, I want a cucumber”. They then released a video of them performing the song in Hebrew before Eurovision, which caused consternation amongst the Israeli delegation who accused them of bringing Israel’s entry into disrepute by, “performing suggestive acts with cucumbers“, and also featuring male-male and female-female snogging in the same video. But no, it didn’t end there. Sexual provocation was one thing, but it was about to get political too…
In dress rehearsals for Eurovision in Stockholm, the group launched a new dance routine – featuring waving Syrian and Israeli flags together. The Israeli delegation went ballistic. Straight after coming off stage, the group were informed by the Israeli national broadcaster that they were not to, under any circumstances, reproduce the Syrian flags on stage at Eurovision.
They refused. The Israeli delegation responded by disendorsing the group and cutting all ties. They went ahead and reproduced their horrifically out-of-tune, Syrian-flag-waving performance in the final – the opening performance, no less – finishing in front of only France and Belgium.
The track, amazingly, went top of the charts in Israel. Unfortunately, I have only been able to track down a very poor quality copy of the racy cucumber-snogging-fiasco video. Perhaps the Israeli national broadcaster tried to wipe it from the history of the earth.