(*Which is something of a surprise, given the preoccupation with the seasons; but then they are very colourful. Even the songs that weren’t about months and seasons managed to squeeze in some kind of imagery that made you think of them anyway.)
01 Spain
B: I love the lines “Tengo... / ...la luz de tu mirada dentro di mi corazón” and “Cuando amanece nevando / ... / ...los copos de la nieve me parecen de color”.
A: Wonderful melodramatic beginning, quite appropriately. Doesn’t really sound anything like I expected it to, but I’m not overly disappointed. The arrangement and the lyrics form an excellent working relationship.
V: Dramatic entrance. I love the fact that Conchita looks like a housewife in a pretty frock but still does the whole shawl thing and turns her fingers into castanets, adding a touch of national flavour to what is essentially a very pan-European sound.
02 Monaco
B: “Le ciel... vous offre ses champs d’étoiles” and “Une belle page blanche... s’ouvre maintenant” are without doubt my favourite lines.
A: This, meanwhile, just had to sound like this, didn’t it? School ma’am head over heels recounting to her pupils. I love the snare skipping along in the background, tugging at her skirt and struggling to keep up as she sashays through the meadow à la Julie Andrews.
V: Très jolie!
03 Austria
B: It’s so right that he should revel in the jealousy of the rest of the world once the object of his affection is back in his arms, particularly when that’s exactly what he hasn’t got.
A: More French horn, and it comes in exactly where it should. Not entirely arresting though as a piece of music.
V: Mr Makulis has very expressive eyebrows. The quieter moments here where he stares down the barrel of the camera between the grand sweeps of the strings are lovely.
04 Finland
B: There’s something quintessentially Finnish about the story here for me. I automatically depict it as being a winter setting, even though there’s nothing to say it’s not high summer. The idea of singing a song “kautta hiljaisen yön taakse tähtösten vyön” is lovely.
A: Another superior debut. I love the way the music is very much secondary for most of it, but completely in tune with what’s being said: the arrangement is delightful for its insight and finesse.
V: The orchestra really make the most of this, and Laila gives a charming performance. It’s interesting that after the first line, which almost sounds like an attempt to ease the audience into the language, the idiosyncracies of Finnish soon make their presence felt. It must have sounded very odd to the ears of listeners used to the Romance and Germanic languages that had dominated the contest since its inception.
05 Yugoslavia
B: More great lyrics: “Stari put od lišća sav žut / ... / San od zvezda tako je žut” and “Dok čekam, dok ćutim i tonem u san”.
A: What a perfect voice Ljiljana has for this kind of song. To be honest though it’s a little too mournful for me, perhaps because it comes straight after the much more hopeful Finnish entry, with which it shares certain similarities. Bit too heavy on the clarinet or oboe or whatever it is. The arrangement is very classy though, and the ending is nice.
V: I’m not au fait with the history of lingerie, but if the lift’n’separate bra hadn’t been invented by 1961, I’d say whoever did invent it must have been inspired by the way the light catches Ljiljana’s frock there at the beginning.
06 The Netherlands
B: Fab admonition in “Hé, ouwe buur / Kijk niet zo zuur”!
A: One of the pupils has learnt from her teacher. I’m glad this ups the tempo as it goes into the first chorus – it would have been far too laid back otherwise, like she’d been slipped a Rohypnol. Letting the music take centre-stage in the mid-section is inspired, as it gives it all a greater sense of cohesion by the time the vocals come back in. It still feels a bit underplayed overall, again probably coming after the similar but more spirited Monegasque entry.
V: Coquettish and forthright by turns, which results in Greetje coming across as slightly restrained at times. The instrumental mid-section is a reminder that back in the day this was still as much a radio contest as it was a television one. It also makes you sympathise with the juries: when the orchestra handles all of the numbers equally well – especially when there’s not a whole lot to tell them apart, to be frank – the songs and performances really need something about them that makes you go “Yes, that’s it”. What A Duck! is lovely, but I’m not sure it has it.
07 Sweden
B: There are some great jaunty rhymes and rhythms here: the bop-along-a-opening-line, “Alla pigga, glada fågla sjunger kvitt, kvitt, kvitt” and “En vår är här... och jag är kär...”.
A: Brilliant double bass. I would normally find whistling and do-dee-do interludes irritating, but Lill-Babs sells it: she does a much better job convincing me that she means what she says than Greetje Kauffeld, so I’ll let it go.
V: Full of character, this performance. I wonder whether Babs was named after her impossibly narrow waist?
08 Germany
B: Pity half the lyrics are missing in the studio version – the early ones set the tone for me, which the version we have here doesn’t really live up to. It’s one of those ones I’d prefer to be much darker, even though I complained Yugoslavia was too maudlin. The lyrics as a whole ring very true…
A: …so I’m a little disappointed that they’re given such a hackneyed treatment musically…
V: …and in terms of performance. A drag queen would have a field day with it – and yet “die Hoffnung bleibt züruck”. Lale strikes an imposing figure, and the French is a nice touch, but she was either past singing or never really could.
09 France
B: This is lightweight in terms of themes but still with some of the most wonderfully constructed and lush-sounding lyrics French can provide: “les abeilles bourdonnent”, “...le vent tourbillonne / En semant des papillons sur chaque buisson”, “Une gross feuille de nénuphar couve des têtards” et al.
A: Ooh, this is a bit ’20s or something. Big Band. Charlston. Whatever. It’s pretty much perfect for this kind of song.
V: I guess this would have qualified as retro by 1961 standards. Jean-Paul seems to take it in the manner intended: if his eyebrows arched any further they’d disappear into his hairline. I wonder whether he qualifies as our first almost-but-not-quite in the contest: come the key change, and from there to the final note, he’s about a quarter of a something away from wherever he’s meant to be. Still, he remains perfectly charming throughout.
10 Switzerland
B: Once again these lyrics provide some sparkling lines: “Le berceau de la chance que nous aurons demain” and the last two lines in particular, “On n’habite jamais les châteaux en Espagne / Mais faut-il... refuser d’en bâtir?” which seem simultaneously tragic and sanguine.
A: The woodwind strikes me as a little too whimsical, or perhaps too coy for someone who understands relationships this well. Then again, maybe that means it fits. I like it – and the arrangement generally – rather a lot in any case.
V: Beautifully judged delivery here from Ms di Rienzo, who is quite clearly Italian.
11 Belgium
B: With lines like “De dagen vertragen en schuiven toe / De zomer wordt moe” this is essentially quite a depressing song, but truly lovely and in fact uplifting nonetheless. I love the image in a “rode wingerd kluistert aan een raam”.
A: Musically this starts off in perfect keeping with what the lyrics are saying, but it takes until ‘the first leaves are falling in the woods’ for it to show the restraint I feel it somehow ought to do throughout. But when it’s composed this delightfully it would be churlish to complain. Bob Benny makes Dutch sound like the most poetic and romantic language in the world and gives French a real run for its money.
V: Performance-wise there’s little if anything to distinguish this from Austria, except that Bob Benny has a bigger voice. They both just stand there and sing their songs, and sing them well, without being particularly remarkable. Which perhaps explains the fate they shared.
12 Norway
B: “Nattens bønn” indeed. My favourite couplet is “Kan ei ditt språk, det er som musikk / ... / La meg da nok en gang høre dets klang”.
A: Another lovely voice; yet more wonderful orchestration. Enchanting. I love the descending strings accompanying the line “Lytte til sydens sang” and all the other touches to the arrangement that bind it to the story being told.
V: Nora makes it look and sound so effortless.
13 Denmark
B: “Men alle muser gav mig nej / ... / Så jeg føler mig som... en enkelt lille brik / I dit livs mosaik.” Someone give the man a hug!
A: Dario Campeotto has a voice you could fall in love with. I can’t think of anything much else to say. It’s all so right.
V: That’s the least Danish-sounding Danish I’ve ever heard, probably on purpose. And possibly because the singer’s Italian. (Which makes two so far, and we’re not even up to Italy.)
14 Luxembourg
B: For years I had no idea this was about a gay relationship, but it makes perfect sense when you look at it. I subscribe to the lines “rien n’est plus évident que l’amour” and “Nous les amoureux – le soleil brille pour nous” wholeheartedly.
A: Listen to those Rs! Listen to it all, really; you can’t help but be mesmerised. It’s not exactly the most immediate of songs in this selection, but it oozes quality, and I imagine that’s what swung it.
V: “Sixteen-foot-nine!” I think they fell in love with the roll of his tongue and the touch of nonchalance.
15 United Kingdom
B: The twist in the lyrics here is great, with lines like “You’ll be sorry, wait and see” and “We’ll grow lonely... / Dreaming of each other” revealing that it’s the persona himself who has the problem with the end of the relationship.
A: I can see why this divided the juries: it’s unlike anything else; wonderful in its own way, but so not the thing half of them were going to go for. It shows though that the UK were almost always intent on bringing uptempo and/or contemporary into the contest while those around them clung to tradition.
V: Vitriol! Messers Allison look shifty and uncomfortable for most of this – neither seems to want to look at the other, lest it be misinterpreted perhaps (they weren’t actually brothers, after all) – but their harmonies are perfect from the off.
16 Italy
B: This is terribly lovely in what it’s saying – “Al di là delle cose più belle / Al di là delle stelle, ci sei tu” – but…
A: …it goes on a bit, and comes across (to me) as trying to emulate something else, or imitate it at least. It’s rousing in parts, but you get it well before she’s finished telling you. It sounds like Unchained Melody at the start and end. The male backing vocals are annoying.
V: Plenty of passion and drama, which the audience clearly appreciates. I have much more time for this when it’s just Ms Curtis emoting away with the orchestra supporting her so well.
And so to the points...
1 point goes to Monaco
2 points go to Sweden
3 points go to Denmark
4 points go to Spain
5 points go to Belgium
6 points go to Italy
7 points go to Switzerland
8 points go to Finland
10 points go to Luxembourg
and finally...
12 points go to...
Norway!
The wooden spoon goes to Germany.
I’d just like to add before I forget that I love the opening sequence: the only logical consequence of that long pan across the beach in Cannes is for the IT’S! man from Monty Python’s Flying Circus to shamble in looking bedraggled.
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