10 Surprisingly Great Performances From Eurovision’s 60-Year History
It may be true that Eurovision is something of a mystery in the US, but for those of us in Europe (and even a few places outside — Australia is the latest addition to this year’s contest), it’s become a cultural staple that’s as much ridiculed as it is beloved. The longest-running song competition in history, each participating country submits a song and then votes for the other countries’ entries to determine the winner. Most watch it as a guilty pleasure, delighting in the cheesy and often terrible entries, bizarre and sometimes outrageous performances, quirky representations of different cultures, and the constant fear that your country will end up with the dreaded “nul points” at the bottom of the board (often more for political reasons than song quality these days). Where else would you find winners as diverse as a bearded drag queen (the fabulous Conchita Wurst) or a Finnish heavy metal band dressed like demons (Lordi)?
Incredibly, tonight’s Eurovision is the 60th edition of the annual contest, and it’s true that in all those years it’s never been exactly cool, but every once in a while, particularly back in its heyday of the ’60s and ’70s, it’s accidentally thrown up a few truly fantastic songs by some great artists. We’ve gathered together some gems from the contest by acts that you may not have realized are featured in the hallowed halls of Eurovision’s history.
1) “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu,” Domenico Modugno (Italy, 1958)
You may not recognize its original Italian title, but “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” (“In the Blue-Painted World”) is one of the biggest songs Eurovision has ever produced, and yet, it only came in third in 1958. Most people will know it better as “Volare,” which of course became one of Dean Martin’s signature tunes and has since been covered countless times by everyone from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald to David Bowie. The song may not have won Eurovision, but it sold 22 million copies worldwide and won Modugno two Grammy awards. His musical success led to a career as a movie actor in his homeland and later as a politician before he died aged just 66 in 1994.
2) “L’amour s’en Va,” Françoise Hardy (Monaco, 1963)
These days, Hardy is an icon of eternal French cool but as a fresh-on-the-scene 18-year-old, she wasn’t too cool yet to try her hand at Eurovision in 1963 (albeit representing the glamorous Monaco rather than her homeland of France). The song only came in fifth, but it’s classic Hardy: sultry vocals and a plaintive melody with sweeping strings. Eurovision may not have recognised its greatness, but thankfully France did, honoring the song with the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque award the same year.
3) “Poupée de cire, poupée de son,” France Gall (Luxembourg, 1965)
The first great song to actually win Eurovision came courtesy of Serge Gainsbourg and his protégé at the time, the then-17-year-old France Gall, and was later covered by British pop star Twinkle as “The Lonely Singing Doll.” The upbeat song — the first up-tempo song to win the contest — was such an anomaly at the time that it was apparently booed in rehearsals for the show. Gall later fell out with Gainsbourg, feeling he really was using her as his “singing doll” and manipulating the innocent teen yé-yé star to unknowingly sing rather risqué lyrics (her hit “Les sucettes” or “Lollipops” being the last straw) and, sadly, these days refuses to sing any of the songs he wrote for her.
4) “Puppet On A String,” Sandie Shaw (UK, 1967)
It’s said that Sandie Shaw didn’t like her huge hit, “Puppet On A String,” at all. It was chosen for her out of five songs by a public vote and was by far her least favorite, yet would not only win the Eurovision contest that year (the first UK entry ever to win) but also became a worldwide smash and her third UK #1. Shaw actually re-recorded the song in 2007 for her 60th birthday, but she still has reservations about it to this day, recently saying, “It is a song which has been the source of much grief, hilarity, circumspection and I have to admit, financial reward, for many years.”
5) “Congratulations,” Cliff Richard (UK, 1968)
There’s no denying that Cliff Richard’s 1968 entry is Eurovision at its corniest, but it’s also one of his most famous and most played songs (the recorded version also features Led Zep’s John Paul Jones on bass which ups its cool somewhat). It was catchy and ubiquitous enough that George Harrison even recorded his own quirky version of the song for John Lennon’s 30th birthday as “It’s Johnny’s Birthday,” which featured in the “Apple Jam” section of his 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass. Despite wearing an outfit that looked like it came straight out of Austin Powers’ wardrobe, the song only came second in the contest, losing by just one point to Spain’s far less memorable (and much more annoying) entry “La La La.” Richard tried his hand again at Eurovision in 1973 with the slightly more rocky “Power To All Our Friends,” which did even worse, coming in third, Europe apparently unable to appreciate Cliff’s bendy-legged dancing and red leather outfit on the night.
6) “Boom Bang-A-Bang,” Lulu (UK, 1969)
Is there anything Lulu can’t do? The tiny Scot with the huge voice has been an actress, pop star, TV presenter, and even has her own line of skincare products, so not surprisingly she also helped the UK win Eurovision back in 1969 (albeit a joint winner with three other entries). The song was a huge hit in the UK and throughout Europe at the time and, best of all, inspired a Monty Python parody, “Bing Tiddle-Tiddle Bong.” Years later, in 1991, it was also bizarrely banned by the BBC for a short time during the Gulf War with the lyrics deemed inappropriate by the overly cautious Beeb.
7) “All Kinds Of Everything,” Dana (Ireland, 1970)
It’s true that Dana’s winning tune for Ireland in 1970 (Ireland, by the way, has had the most winning entries over the years) is as twee and syrupy as can be, but there’s also something undeniably lovely about the Irish lilt to her voice and the sweet way she sings “wedding bells” in the song. At the time, the teenager was about to start training as a teacher but her career choice was derailed by the song’s huge success, and even though Ireland went on to win Eurovision six more times (including twice by Johnny Logan), she remains Ireland’s most famous and most loved Eurovision contestant.
8) “Knock, Knock Who’s There?” Mary Hopkin (UK, 1970)
The runner-up to Dana in 1970 was another fine song courtesy of Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkins. The Opportunity Knocks winner (the X-Factor of its day) was one of the first artists signed to the Beatles’ Apple label and with a Paul McCartney-produced album under her belt, Hopkins was naturally the favourite to win the contest that year. Unfortunately, Hopkin hated the song, which was voted for by the British public and rather different to her folk material, and later confessed, “I was so embarrassed about it. Standing onstage singing a song you hate is awful.” Forty-five years later it actually sounds rather nice, perhaps thanks to Hopkin’s beautiful clear voice. It also did well on the UK charts, reaching a very respectable #2.
9) “Waterloo,” ABBA (Sweden, 1974)
Although ABBA is by far the most famous act to come from Eurovision, it would be impossible not to include “Waterloo” in this list. It’s not only one of the greatest Eurovision winners ever but simply one of the greatest pop records full-stop. Who else could sing a love song comparing romance to Napoleon’s surrender at his final battle and make it so catchy? The famous clip of their performance from the night is also still incredible, with Agnetha as a blue-satined glam rock goddess and Frida looking like a glamorous rodeo queen.
10) “Let Me Be the One,” The Shadows (UK, 1975)
How great is this 1975 UK entry from the legendary Shadows? It has hints of Paul McCartney during the Wings era and ELO, and features some great vocals courtesy of Bruce Welch (despite a flubbed line on the night!) and of course, Hank Marvin’s unmistakable guitar work. Sadly, it only came second that year losing out to a truly terrible Dutch song called “Ding-A-Dong.”
