01 Finland
B: Great rhythm to these lyrics. Despite the difference in the lengths of the lines, there’s never more than six words in any of them!
A: Clearly one of Finland’s most cherished Eurovision entries, and it’s not hard to see why. Marion Rung can be justifiably proud of the results she brought the country. I love the purely musical moments in this, and the rhythm and rhyme offset it perfectly.
V: Fabulous arrangement for the orchestra, particularly in the opening bars of the chorus. Marion’s performance is charmingly unexaggerated. Nice to see her sporting the tired-housewife-who’s-just-been-to-the-salon look so characteristic of the era!
02 Belgium
B: I love the way the line “Pour qu’elles se fondent ensemble” melts into one.
A: Monsieur Leclerc’s voice suits this down to the ground, adding the passion the arrangement sometimes only hints at. It’s clever how it goes off on a more stylised ‘look at me’ tangent when referring to cinematic romances.
V: Within moments of the conductor taking up his baton and Fud opening his mouth you’re reminded how harsh the voting was back in the day: that something this accomplished and attractively presented should end without a point (and at that be one of four to do so in a field of 16) is scandalous. Well, unfair anyway.*
03 Spain
B: “Eres la rama podada / En el árbol de mis sueños” is an opening couple of lines for you!
A: The accompaniment to them is perfect. After that it heads in an altogether different direction to the one I imagined from lines likes “no me pidas que crea en ti otra”, the sting in the tail. It almost seems to want to be an American bop-a-do-wap number without quite having the wherewithal to pull it off.
V: You can’t fault its professionalism, and the orchestra again sounds amazing, but this isn’t nearly as engaging as the Belgian entry. Mr Balaguer gives it a lot of wally, especially on that last note, but comes across as slightly aloof in doing so.
04 Austria
B: It amazes and bemuses me that there are lines as delightful as “Sausend und brausend wie ein Kind der Phantasien” brushing shoulders with those that mention grilled chicken and Schubert in the same breath.
A: The music and arrangement are lovely and Ms Schwarz has the old-fashioned charm to make the most of it (doing some phenomenal things with her voice), but in the end it seems less like a convincing song and more like a tourist guide set to music. Albeit a good one.
V: Technically brilliant, and German actually sounds romantic for a change. But that’s opera for you. As talented as our Eleonore undoubtedly is, it really does come across as little more than highbrow advertising.
05 Denmark
B: “Se nu blev i dag i går” has such an unbidden flow, given what it’s saying.
A: Ms Winther sounds exactly as I imagined she would, which I suppose is a good thing. Is that an oboe enchanting me? It certainly has a convincing lullaby quality to it, the whole thing, but that tends to have the effect of you not taking as much notice of it as you perhaps should. Another delightful arrangement though, and in fact I could listen to this dear lady over and over. Voices like this no longer exist, do they?
V: Ellen deserves an award for her contrived but effective eye choreography. Her voice and presence are enchanting.
06 Sweden
B: Girls of and in this age had a hard time of it really, didn’t they? “När det är sol och vår och man är nitton år / Är det så lite man förstår” and so on. I love songs that tell stories that affect you. This one’s brutally honest.
A: I’m glad in a way that they chose to treat it with such lightness then: it might have been a bit too much to take otherwise. There’s even a couple of key changes. I bet it was a man who wrote the music, sympathising with the villain.
V: It’s funny how these performers seemed to form an easier relationship with the camera than many do these days. Perhaps it’s because they generally only had one or two to deal with. In any case, Ms Berggren has them eating out of her hand. Upbeat performance of a stand-out song in the field so far.
07 Germany
B: “Eine Reise in den Süden ist für andre schick und fein” is a great opening line by anyone’s standards, full of rhythm and intrigue. The whole thing’s kind of sad, actually, when you think about it.
A: But jauntily optimistic nonetheless. Sounds a bit like Tipi-Tii in fact. Is this one of the earliest examples of one country adopting the style of another as a bit of a gimmick? Works for me in any case, and certainly seems authentic enough.
V: This feels a bit shorn without a choir of backing vocalists beefing it up, although Conny still pitches it right, and it maintains the energy of the Swedish entry.
08 The Netherlands
B: Two men singing about an underage girl? Mum will never know! Flash us a bit more of that nubile leg! I assume it’s all sweetness and light, but I have my reservations.
A: Not a foot is put wrong with the music but it still seems quite flat for some reason. I’m not nearly as taken with it as De Spelbrekers are with Kokettish Katinka. Their charms obviously don’t work on me.
V: Huug Kok! Theo Rekkers has a very Viktor Klimenko jaw, and is a bit of a looker. The song is the only one of the four that got no points that actually makes me understand why it didn’t. What happened to the lights?
09 France
B: Another French song with lyrics that are lovely without particularly standing out in any way. Even the repetition feels right.
A: The arrangement here and Isabelle Aubret’s delivery are spot-on in terms of what the song is saying, encapsulating both the laid-back bliss of first love and the hint of suspicion and regret that it can never be recaptured. In a class all of its own in this field.
V: Now this, unlike the Dutch entry, sounds like something you know the juries are going to fall in love with from the off, and rightly so: it’s utterly beguiling.
10 Norway
B: To me there’s something firm but gentle about “Holder på vår kjærlighet”. As there should be.
A: The strings in this are wonderful, telling the story as much as the words do. The funereal uncertainty of the mid-section adds an unwanted touch of melodrama (for me) to what is otherwise a perfectly lovely if perhaps nondescript song.
V: Love the jazz overtones – they suit Ms Jacobsen’s wonderfully rich vocals perfectly. Not the most immediate of songs or performances though.
11 Switzerland
B: I can’t tell whether the line “À chacun son tour, c’est le retour” and its variations represent something clever or lazy.
A: And suddenly we’re in Bond theme territory, for half of each verse at least. The balance of musical styles is quite insightful for the most part, given what Jean Philippe is on about. Having said that, it does come across as striving a bit too much for gravitas, especially towards the end.
V: The arranger didn’t skimp on the OTT opening, did he? Nice to see Jean and his amazing migrating eyebrows back. He gives a flawless performance of a not very exciting song, to which the unenthusiastic response of the audience possibly attests.
12 Yugoslavia
B: The story here seems quintessentially black-and-white ’60s to me. You’d never hear the likes of it nowadays. I love the metaphor.
A: The music’s nicely judged but a little underwhelming, possibly only because it’s at this end of the draw. Sounds like something the Pet Shop Boys might have covered when they went through this phase. Very romantic.
V: I love the way Lola’s staring at the orchestra at the beginning like she’s wondering what they’re doing there. This is another lush arrangement; a real slow burner, fittingly.
13 United Kingdom
B: I wonder whether “I was strollin’ through the park one evenin’ / When a strange feelin’ came over me” alludes to a penchant for cottaging.
A: Yet again the UK comes up with something that sounds a hundred times more danceable and contemporary than anything else. The ring-a-dings get a bit much, but otherwise you can’t really fault it.
V: If Ronnie Caroll was any more angular you could use his jaw and cheek bones as a set square, not to mention his teeth. Makes me think of Darren from Bewitched for some reason. This is crying out for the backing vocals that enrich the studio version, too. Not the explosion of passion I expected it to be.
14 Luxembourg
B: Lovely: a mother/son story narrated with feeling by the father figure. At least I hope that’s what it is: it’s strangely seductive in places, raising an eyebrow or two. Or is it just me?
A: That huge final note caps off a charming if forgettable piece of music.
V: This ought to be touching but just comes off a bit creepy, perhaps because Mr Felgen looks like he should be taking the lead in a Hammer Horror production.
15 Italy
B: “Il nostro amore, acqua di mare, è diventata sale / Le nostre labbra inaridite non hanno più parole” are a great couple of lines. They were eager to set their heartbreak to music back in the day, weren’t they?
A: Love the changes in tempo here as glimmers of hope return to the lyrics. I wouldn’t have thought that pain so drawn out could prove to be enchanting, but it is in its way. Albeit not entirely.
V: This has Domenico Modugno’s flare for drama written all over it. Thankfully Claudio Villa is more than up to the challenge. The orchestra’s at the most fraught it gets all night here, layering it on a bit thick in parts, with some of the subtlety of the arrangement (however dramatic as a whole) getting lost. Still a good performance overall.
16 Monaco
B: “Je ne sais plus où nous sommes / Tu es femme et moi - un homme.” Which rather begs the question: what was he expecting?
A: Takes a while to get started, this: appropriately enough, considering how caught up François is in the emotion of it all. A good song for lovers to slow dance to. Certainly builds in passion, with some effective musical touches used to reflect it.
V: If Ne Pali Svetla U Sumrak was slow-burning, this is positively smouldering. Mr Deguelt knows how to give the fire a good stoking, too.
And so to the points…
1 point goes to Italy
2 points go to Denmark
3 points go to the United Kingdom
4 points go to Germany
5 points go to Finland
6 points go to Monaco
7 points go to Austria
8 points go to Yugoslavia
10 points go to Sweden
and finally...
12 points go to…
France!
The 1962 wooden spoon is awarded to the Netherlands.
*Oh... He missed out on my top 10 as well. Only just, but still.
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