269/917 Ben Cramer: De oude muzikant (Netherlands 1973)

The Eurosong 269 makes me think of the salty sea and the foggy and damp harbour. although the song does not talk about the sealife at all. With the help of translate.google.com I've found out that  De oude muzikant, the Dutch entry from 1973 tells a story about an old grey musician going the streets of Paris and playing accordeon. That's all there is to it, the song itself has nothing much to remember it for.

To get you in the mood, the lights in the Eurovision stage of Luxembourg in 1973 were dimmed for the Dutch entry, sung by Ben Cramer. Unfortunately it didn't help much, as the song is one of the least memorable songs of the 1970's Eurovision song contest.

To make matters worse, the dreadful sound mix of the 1973 contest lost about two thirds of the elaborate string arrangement of the song, all one hear is the singing voice, the bass and the occasional percussion and horns. Even the accordeon, the instrument of de oude muzikant, is barely heard. The song is one of many completely ruined by the sound mixer of the Luxembourg television, who seems to have gone for a two hour long coffee break during the contest.

This song leaves me completely indifferent. The juries seemed to agree, as Ben Cramer reached only the 14 place (of 17 songs taking part).

My points 1/5.