A rather fine year, all told. Even the duff ones have something to recommend them.
01 The Netherlands
B: “Als ik ’s morgens al wodka wil drinken / ... / Nou, dan is het geen vraag”: how Russian! There’s a definite ring-dinge-ding quality to the rhyming couplets in ‘zingen/springen’ and ‘drinken/klinken’.
A: Fabulous arrangement from the opening bars. Beautifully intertwined musical threads. It’s a bit twee perhaps, but does what it sets out to do with considerable finesse. There’s something about Ms Steinmetz’s voice that keeps me paying attention.
V: She looks like the kindergarten teacher you (and your randy father) always wish you had. She really commands the one camera angle she has to work with. The orchestra sounds fantastic.
02 Luxembourg
B: “Fou, fou, l’amour est fou / Fou comme toi et fou comme moi” make great closing lines.
A: Little Ms Leandros’ moment of unsung glory, thanks to the return of the composer with the most perfect name ever, André Popp. It’s vaguely Greek-sounding from the off. Love the minimalism of the beginning gradually built up with those rolling drums and gorgeous strings. I’m not overly familiar with the song, so it can’t be that, but it certainly has a sense of timelessness about it. It’s very comfortable for something that is quite complex in places. I would have thought it might start to drag, but it doesn’t. Love the way musically it ends on such a positive note.
V: The orchestral arrangement live is much dreamier to start with. Love the French horn that comes to the fore after the first chorus. Our Vassiliki (“Call me Vicky!”) does a very good impression of the demure school girl, presumably because she was one. Her voice, as ever, is enough without necessarily being convincing.
03 Austria
B: The “Warum es auch für Arme wieder Frühling wird / Oft schöner als für den, der Reich?” and the rest of the philosophy in this make it rather an unexpected anthem.
A: This has a surprisingly West Coast feel to it. Pity they don’t make more of it. Interesting vocal arrangement, but it’s not enough to truly hold your interest for the full three minutes. Lovely ending though, and certainly nothing to put them to shame as their home entry.
V: Mr Bean sings for Austria! Unless it’s just the lighting, he’s amazingly square jawed. The vocals have much more impact live.
04 France
B: “C’est l’hiver et le vent que je vais traverser / C’est pour toi maintenant l’été” is probably something we’ve all felt at some point.
A: Love the combination of the harp with those gossamer vocals. Another musical masterclass, completely of its time. Not surprising really when it comes from a composer and lyricist who together have written for France, Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
V: I dream of Jeannie! The revolving mirrors on the stage (which I love – there I was thinking Ukraine were being innovative in 2005!) suit this song down to the ground. It’s such a sign of quality that it’s difficult to distinguish between the studio version and live recording, although that’s pretty much true of all of them so far.
05 Portugal
B: “Vento, por favor, traz-me o seu amor” is a great line.
A: The choice of instruments here and the vocal arrangement perfectly capture the idea of the wind at the heart of the song. Love the double bass. There’s an edge to Eduardo Nascimento’s voice that’s just right.
V: He’s very charismatic on stage. I was a bit taken aback at first by the way they up the tempo for the live performance, but it really works. And given Portugal has often hung lead weights around the necks of its entries, that makes it extra special.
06 Switzerland
B: I adore these lyrics, probably because I can identify with them (“Quel cœur vas-tu briser / En lui donnant l’espoir / D’une vie de rêve pour deux?”).
A: The way they’re showcased lets them down a bit. There are some lovely touches vocally and musically, but the approach seems largely pedestrian. I guess I would have preferred something more... scathing? There are some cleverly effected echoes of sadness in the chorus, but a tad more emotion wouldn’t have gone astray. A bit more punch, figuratively or literally. I like it more by the time we get to the end of it.
V: Live, Géraldine brings a girly angle to it that works, I suppose. She can certainly sing, but she gives the least strong performance to this point.
07 Sweden
B: Maybe it’s just me, but lines like “Du och jag, vi sökte samma svar / Så trevande, utan att veta var” seem to hint at a certain kind of relationship here, an impression bolstered by the steadfast ambiguity of the lyrics generally.
A: Well, this has import. It seems terribly earnest; so much so that the sweeping first half of the chorus comes as something of a relief. You do become more inclined to like the song, but it takes a while. The ending’s a bit heavy, but the composition is actually quite clever, lending it a certain otherworldly quality in the verses.
V: Östen Warnerbring couldn’t look the part of the ’60s artiste any more if he tried. He has a fantastic voice. I’m glad he smiles a bit and puts some passion into it during the performance. The rims of his glasses are so black and so thick that it looks, from a distance, as if he’s blind.
07 Sweden
B: Maybe it’s just me, but lines like “Du och jag, vi sökte samma svar / Så trevande, utan att veta var” seem to hint at a certain kind of relationship here, an impression bolstered by the steadfast ambiguity of the lyrics generally.
A: Well, this has import. It seems terribly earnest; so much so that the sweeping first half of the chorus comes as something of a relief. You do become more inclined to like the song, but it takes a while. The ending’s a bit heavy, but the composition is actually quite clever, lending it a certain otherworldly quality in the verses.
V: Östen Warnerbring couldn’t look the part of the ’60s artiste any more if he tried. He has a fantastic voice. I’m glad he smiles a bit and puts some passion into it during the performance. The rims of his glasses are so black and so thick that it looks, from a distance, as if he’s blind.
08 Finland
B: “Suojaan luokse kaipauksen hiljaisen” is somewhere we’ve probably all escaped to at some point.
A: Love the almost medieval sound this opens with. Fredi’s delivery could easily be misinterpreted, as it comes across a bit stagey. The song’s poppier than I remember it being, and I’m not sure it works as well as I’d like it to.
V: It’s almost a bit in-your-face live – albeit tempered by the softer, higher notes Fredi hits with such ease amongst the harder sounds – so I can see why some jurors may have been put off. Equally, I can see why it made favourite with a handful of them. It’s a terrific song, but perhaps not quite as solidly terrific as I originally thought.
09 Germany
B: “Denn er denkt an dich” has nice rhythm and alliteration.
A: I don’t really know what to say about this. It’s perfectly good, even if I don’t like the la-la-la bits. Doesn’t strike me as having sprung from any place particularly interesting though (unless California or thereabouts counts, as per Austria).
V: Lovely performance. The backing vocals are a bit shrill.
10 Belgium
B: “Oh oh, ik heb zorgen en dat verveelt me zo” – I’d be bothered too when that’s the best hook you can come up with and it accounts for about half of your song.
A: Makes me think How Much Is That Doggy in the Window for some reason. Great strings doing their thing in the background, but the song generally sounds about 10 years too late.
V: Darren from Bewitched sings for Belgium! The orchestra have fun with this. Louis sounds exactly the same live as he does in studio, and his performance sees me warm to the song a little more. He has an odd mouth though, which you can’t help but notice – like one of those fish that sits on the seabed and buries itself in the sand to ambush sardines and things. The false ending is irritating when you actually are ready for it to be over (as the audience in the hall clearly are).
11 United Kingdom
B: “In or out, there is never a doubt / Just who’s pulling the strings / I’m all tied up in you / But where’s it leading me to?”
A: A song that I will forever associate with an animated Monty Python sketch. In its way this is no different to Belgium in that there’s little of the especially modern about it, but unlike Belgium it still manages to sound completely fresh, and like nothing else in the contest. Everything works to create a well-crafted package. It has winner written all over it.
09 Germany
B: “Denn er denkt an dich” has nice rhythm and alliteration.
A: I don’t really know what to say about this. It’s perfectly good, even if I don’t like the la-la-la bits. Doesn’t strike me as having sprung from any place particularly interesting though (unless California or thereabouts counts, as per Austria).
V: Lovely performance. The backing vocals are a bit shrill.
10 Belgium
B: “Oh oh, ik heb zorgen en dat verveelt me zo” – I’d be bothered too when that’s the best hook you can come up with and it accounts for about half of your song.
A: Makes me think How Much Is That Doggy in the Window for some reason. Great strings doing their thing in the background, but the song generally sounds about 10 years too late.
V: Darren from Bewitched sings for Belgium! The orchestra have fun with this. Louis sounds exactly the same live as he does in studio, and his performance sees me warm to the song a little more. He has an odd mouth though, which you can’t help but notice – like one of those fish that sits on the seabed and buries itself in the sand to ambush sardines and things. The false ending is irritating when you actually are ready for it to be over (as the audience in the hall clearly are).
11 United Kingdom
B: “In or out, there is never a doubt / Just who’s pulling the strings / I’m all tied up in you / But where’s it leading me to?”
A: A song that I will forever associate with an animated Monty Python sketch. In its way this is no different to Belgium in that there’s little of the especially modern about it, but unlike Belgium it still manages to sound completely fresh, and like nothing else in the contest. Everything works to create a well-crafted package. It has winner written all over it.
V: It doesn’t even matter that Sandie Shaw lacks a particularly attractive or capable voice: she has presence in buckets. The little nod of the head at the end is a great touch. The audience are mad for her.
12 Spain
B: “*¿Qué nos importa? / Aquella gente que mira la tierra / Y no ve más que tierra” gets the thumbs up from me.
A: Gotta love that organ, and whatever that reed instrument is, because Raphael’s voice is a bit hard to take. He comes into his own in the chorus, which is wonderfully rousing. The problem is, the organ and whatever the reed instrument is actually render the verses very thin compared to the emotional and musical pull of the chorus. The overall impression is of something seeking balance but not quite finding it. Not that Raphael would care. He’d probably say that*.
V: I like the way he starts with his hands in his pockets. And he’s clearly familiar with the term ‘make love to the camera’ – or at least ‘make eyes at the camera’!
13 Norway
B: Strange that we should get two songs about puppets in one year with only one song between them. “Han lo av de dumme små dukker som danset / På ordre frå noe de ikke forstod” is a nice counterpoint to the British take on it.
A: Great rhythm in the opening for the whole marionette thing. Unusual timing in places, too, which feels right. Decent enough song, but come the end of it, it just makes me shrug.
V: Kirsti Sparboe gives it another go and does one place worse, but one point better. (4 points from three appearances isn’t much to write home about though, let’s be honest.) The higher notes seem to test her limits in ways I’d rather not be party to. She has the stance of a teacher convinced of the didactic value of the words she’s imparting, to which her bored students react with complete indifference.
12 Spain
B: “*¿Qué nos importa? / Aquella gente que mira la tierra / Y no ve más que tierra” gets the thumbs up from me.
A: Gotta love that organ, and whatever that reed instrument is, because Raphael’s voice is a bit hard to take. He comes into his own in the chorus, which is wonderfully rousing. The problem is, the organ and whatever the reed instrument is actually render the verses very thin compared to the emotional and musical pull of the chorus. The overall impression is of something seeking balance but not quite finding it. Not that Raphael would care. He’d probably say that*.
V: I like the way he starts with his hands in his pockets. And he’s clearly familiar with the term ‘make love to the camera’ – or at least ‘make eyes at the camera’!
13 Norway
B: Strange that we should get two songs about puppets in one year with only one song between them. “Han lo av de dumme små dukker som danset / På ordre frå noe de ikke forstod” is a nice counterpoint to the British take on it.
A: Great rhythm in the opening for the whole marionette thing. Unusual timing in places, too, which feels right. Decent enough song, but come the end of it, it just makes me shrug.
V: Kirsti Sparboe gives it another go and does one place worse, but one point better. (4 points from three appearances isn’t much to write home about though, let’s be honest.) The higher notes seem to test her limits in ways I’d rather not be party to. She has the stance of a teacher convinced of the didactic value of the words she’s imparting, to which her bored students react with complete indifference.
14 Monaco
B: I love the lines “Si mes jours me sont comptés / Je ne veux pas seulement aimer / S’il est d’autres paradis / Je veux les connaître aussi”.
A: Fab! Very ’60s, kind of arty, nonsense in parts, but it still has something to say. The slight aggression to Minouche’s delivery is great.
V: This is oddly faceless live, and she looks like she has her feet nailed to the floor. The static restrictions reduce the impact of what should be a performance bursting with energy.
15 Yugoslavia
B: “Zakaj me ta beseda trobente spominja na tiste / Ki nimajo na ustih pravih besed?” I don’t know: why does the sound of the trumpet remind you of those who don’t have the right words in their mouths? And which instrument would put you in mind of them if they did?
A: Well I never, a brooding Balkan entry. Starts to get uncomfortably chansonesque in the chorus, and the brass interlude is a bit militaristic, as perhaps was the point, given it’s meant to be a protest song (apparently). And then we get a James Bond ending. It all feels slightly disconnected? Admirable, but hard to like if I’m honest.
V: The spoken bits sound like they should be delivered with a snarl, so it’s nice to see that Lado just looks a bit frustrated with life. He also looks a bit like a Slovenian Beatle, front on.
16 Italy
B: “Non hanno niente, ma si sanno amare / E allora sono ricche più di te” would be brilliantly scathing in another context.
A: Astonishingly, for Italy, this seems about the least inspired or inspiring thing I’ve heard all night. It’s pure dance hall stuff. Classy, I’ll admit, with a great ending, but still.
V: Having said that, Claudio’s got a voice you’d have to be frozen not to be won over by. I suppose if he can make me want to listen to him for hours regardless of the song he’s singing, he’s doing something right. It’s all in the performance. What a turnaround.
17 Ireland
B: The lines “the turf smoke rising higher / Than the lark that wings and always sings of you” are very romantic, in every sense of the word.
A: Ireland has often entered songs in Eurovision that are well behind what everyone else is offering. The strings here make this one worth listening to, but only just. Eye-rollingly predictable self-important ending...
V: ...which is exaggerated live. Sean Dunphy appears to have borrowed Claudio Villa’s clothes, but looks much more handsome.
And so to the points...
1 point goes to Spain
2 points go to Monaco
3 points go to Sweden
4 points go to Finland
5 points go to Italy
6 points go to the Netherlands
7 points go to Portugal
8 points go to the United Kingdom
10 points go to Luxembourg
and finally…
12 points go to…
France!
The wooden spoon goes to Ireland.
2 points go to Monaco
3 points go to Sweden
4 points go to Finland
5 points go to Italy
6 points go to the Netherlands
7 points go to Portugal
8 points go to the United Kingdom
10 points go to Luxembourg
and finally…
12 points go to…
France!
The wooden spoon goes to Ireland.
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