304/917 Sophie: Une chanson c'est une lettre (Monaco 1975)

After several two or three pointers I'm more than glad to have random number generator draw me a full pointer for a change. The 304th song to be sung on a Eurovision stage is on the surface a boringly normal schlager sung in a very traditional way. But if you listen to it more, you'll find that there is more to it than meets the ear.

As mentioned before, André Popp is one of my favourite Eurovision composers. I have already given the full 5 points to his classic L'amour est bleu from 1967, and he also wrote two excellent entries for France in 1964 and in 1960 when Tom Pillibi would win the whole contest. Should these songs be drawn or requested to my blog, I promise to attribute high points to them as well. Apart from his four Eurovision entries, Popp has written numerous hits for French artists and scores for about ten films.

For his last (so far) participation in the ESC Popp also acted as conductor. Song Une chanson c'est une lettre was sung by 30 year old French singer Sophie Hecquet. Before Eurovision her main achievement in the music business was to have accompanied Johnny Hallyday on his tours in the mid 1960's.

Sophie is a good a singer and shining performer and she looks stunning in her red dress on a brigh blue stage. However the real star of this show is the song itself. The melody is simple and the chorus is almost naively repetitive. What makes the song stand out is the distinctive time signature that the song is composed on. Most of the song is in 6/4 time and in the verse Popp alters between 6/4 time and 4/4 time. 6/4 time signature is quite rare in a pop song, which gives the song a totally different feel and combined with a most ordinary melody the result is quirky and mysterious. Additionally André Popp's arrangement is excellent and the Swedish orchestra is up to the task.

On top of it all the lyrics are a poetic masterpiece telling in different ways and metaphors how a message of love is so much easier to put in a song or a poem than to tell someone face to face. A song is a letter, that is never sent. You can openly tell "I love you" in a song, when you are not the one to sing it. When one speaks of love the words get stuck in your throat, but in a song or a poem love is always perfect and you are not afraid to feel silly.

The lyrical genious Boris Bergman had already written song for Monaco in 1973 and he would eventually write the French entry as late as in 2013.

The juries in 1975 did not see this detailed perfection and awarded the song only 22 points and 13th place in the final results (among 19 participants). Neither has this song become particularly popular among Eurovision fans. To me this song, from the typical schlager intro through the affective key change and until the charming finale, is one of the dearest memories from 1970's Eurovision Song Contest, certainly one of the best songs in 1975 contest, which was filled with premium quality entries anyway.

Sophie would not continue her career as a singer. Instead  she made a career as a radio and television presenter and a producer in Monaco, Luxembourg and Belgium. She died in 2012 at the age of 68.

My points 5/5.

595/917 Lonnie Devantier: Hallo hallo (Denmark 1990)

Telephone in its differents incarnations has inspired Eurovision song writers during the decades. Already in 1957 Margot Hilscher demonstrated with a phone in her hand how this apparatus is used. 40 years later Kølig Kaj had a long distance romance with a switchboard operator. The 595th Eurosong reminds us of two things that today's generation have never used or even hear of.

If you want to find a happy, jolly, uptempo Eurosong and want to avoid gloom and doom, Denmark is always a safe bet. Especially during the 15 years after their long absence in the Eurovision (during 1967-1977) it was very difficult find a non smiling face when Denmark's team was on stage. Coincidence or not, eight of those 15 songs (from 1978 to 1993) had lyrics by Keld Heick.

That was also the case in 1990, when 17 year old Lonnie Devantier was sent to represent Denmark with a song about telephone booth, answering machine and a boyfriend reluctant to answer the damn thing (To my younger readers check Wikipedia for Answering machine and Telephone booth to know what this song is about.)

The song is very much a prototype of all the Danish Eurovision entries from the 1980's with catchy refrain, overtly smiling singer (although her boyfriend stubbornly refuses to return her phone messages) and hysterically whirling backing dancers. And of course, the song being Danish, there is a happy ending as after throwing her last coins into the public telephone the boyfriend finally lifts the receiver.

I was a friend of the jolly Danish tunes in the mid 1980's but by the the change of decade even I thought that enough was enough. Hallo hallo was not one of the better songs from our Scandinavian neighbours and instead of being genuinly happy the smiles and the movements looked to me very forced even then.

Lonnie Devantier made couple of records after her Eurovision debut, but she is mostly known in Denmark as a songwriter using the name Lonnie Kjer. If you want to know what she sounds like today, check her 2008 single Dina/Det bli'r ikke bedre at Spotify. She has really gone far from the telephone booth in 18 years.

My points 2/5.

857/917 David Civera: Dile que la quiero (Spain 2001)

Latino pop charmers like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias stormed the world charts in the late 1990's making the Spanish rhythms fashionable and a good product to sell. However in Eurovision it took couple of years before the Spanish television TVE caught on and tried to use the formula in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Eurosong 857 was first of several Spanish Eurovision entries trying to benefit the hype.

In the 1990's Spain had sent mainly ballads to the Eurovision song contest. These songs resulted both good placings (best being the 2nd place in 1995) and disasters (the last place in 1999). In the new millenium TVE tried to hit the jack pot sending a stereotypical latino charmer in tight trousers and white teeth to swing his hips on the Eurovision Stage.

22 year old David Civera delivered what he was commissioned to do. Looking comfortable on stage with his two backing dancers he did good job making the audience at the huge Parken stadium dance to the hot Spanish rhythms. The televoters, however, were not smitten as they were supposed to and awarded Civera and Spain enough points to climb to the 6th position in the final results, which must have been a disappointment for TVE. Spain tried to repeat the formula several times, but this sixth place remains the best position for a Spanish entry in Eurovision since 1998.

I have never been that keen on Ricky Martin or Enrique Iglesias and David Civera does not make me change my mind. Not his fault, but these Spanish swinging charmers are just not my cup of tea.

My points 2/5. 

399/917 Maggie MacNeal: Amsterdam (Netherlands 1980)

The Eurosong 399 was requested by my french friend Sebastien Berteaux. The song Amsterdam was performed by 30 year old Sjoukje van't Spijker under her stage name Maggie MacNeal. The song that represented the host country Netherlands came fifth after a very tight race.

Maggie MacNeal was known internationally as the other half of a "Beauty and a beast"-type of pop duo Mouth and MacNeal, which had had some big hits around Europe and their biggest hit How do you do made the charts even in the United States. The duo split up soon after their 1974 participation in the Eurovision song contest singing I see a star. Spiker has continued her solo career until the beginning of the 21st century.

Amsterdam was a big ballad very much different from the ditties sung by her former group. MacNeal took the stage wearing a glittering evening gown and singing a very traditional Eurovision ballad.

More than the song I remember the tight voting which gave the MacNeal and the Netherlands a convincing lead from the beginning and she was looked very much like the winner during the first third of the voting. After that, however, both Germany and Ireland stole the lead from the host country and Maggie MacNeal could later see herself driven over by Switzerland and the United Kindom as well.

Today I see the Dutch entry from 1980 an OK song, not a killer but certainly not one of the worst ballads ever sung in the contest. Not one of my current favourites anyway.

My points 3/5.

144/917 Michèle Torr: Ce soir je t'attendais (Luxembourg 1966)

During the first decades of the Eurovision Song Contest the French artists had more exposure to the European audiences than others. Apart from the French television, the French artists were usually asked to represent also Monaco and Luxembourg, and sometimes even Switzerland and Belgium. Several upcoming and already established French stars tried to enhance their careers or prepare themselves for the forthcoming stardom by taking part. One of these artists was  Michèle Torr, who took part in the Eurovision Song Contes twice representing both Monaco and Luxembourg.

Torr was part of the Yé-yé generation, a singer under 20 years of age singing mostly uptempo songs. Other famous yé-yé singers were France Gall, Françoise Hardy and Sylvie Vartan. A 19 year old Torr gave a confident performance in the 1966 edition of Eurovision Song Contest representing the host country Luxembourg.

I find her performance and the song one of the best in the 1966 contest, which was not of the highest quality contests in the 1960's. The result, 10th place among 18 participant was surprising and disappointing. I still like the song even though it hasn't aged as well as some other entries from the 1960's.

Michèle Torr was already a star and she returned to the Eurovision Stage in 1977 representing Monaco with a song Une petite française, which she preferred to her 1966 entry and which improved her result finishing fourth. She is still continuing her career performing regularly and releasing new material occasionally.

My points 3/5.

66/917 Lale Andersen: Einmal sehen wir uns wieder (Germany 1961)

This time the random number generator picked me a singer who had started her international known career earlier than anyone else ever in the Eurovision Song Contest. The singer of the 66th Eurosong is none other than the singer who made Lili Marleen a hit on both sides of the frontier during the second world war.

Lale Andersen was 34 years old when she recorded this war time classic in 1939. At first the nazi officials banned the recording, but after the song had became immensely popular among the German troops it was allowed to be played again. The song made Lale Andersen popular also on the other side of the frontier, as the sad story about a soldier and his lover separated by the war was understood everywhere during those years.

After the war Andersen's career stopped for a while, but in the 1950's she continued her career. In 1961, at the age of 56, she was chosen to represent Germany in the Eurovision song contest with a very traditional German schlager Einmal sehen wir uns wieder.

The dark and enigmatic voice was still there and the song was an excellent vehicle for the experienced singer. With a perfect performance, beautiful tune and the international fame of the singer, the 13th place among 16 participants was rather disappointing. It is possible that the juries did not like the long passages of spoken text in the song. I, too, prefer the recorded version with more music and less talking.

With a long and succesfull career behind her the poor result in the Eurovision did not do her harm. She continued to tour Germany, Europe and even United States until her death in 1972.

It would take 47 years and a Croatian disc jockey and rapper of 75 years of age before anyone older than Andersen would perform on the Eurovision stage.

My points 3/5.

362/917 Baccara: Parlez-vous français (Luxembourg 1978)

The first Eurovision Song Contest I remember watching from start to finish was in 1978 which was also the first contest I recorded on a compact cassette. One of the many performances I listened on this tape over and over again was done by a Spanish duo that had already become world famous for their songs Yes sir, I can boogie and Sorry I'm a lady. However, the Eurosong 362 they performed in Paris did not represent Spain, but Luxembourg.

Baccara is one of only few internationally famous artists that took part in the Eurovision to boost their career even further. Their entry Parlez-vous français was written by Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal, a german songwriting team that had written their earlier hits. 

The performance of Baccara in Paris was flawless. One of the charming details of the duo was their pronounced accent when singing in English. This time Mayte Mateos and Maria Mendiola were forced to use their equally broken French to sing the Luxembourg entry. Their other trademark was their black (Mateos) and white (Mendiola) dresses. The duo seemed to be at home on the wide stage managing to both talk, sing and dance to the song very much similar to their earlier hits.

The late 1970's Eurovision Song Contests are close to my heart (apart from being the first I watched) because of the great orchestral arrangements with the prominent use of strings. Parlez-vous français is one of the songs in 1978 which sound much better live than on record. The live version is about a minute shorter than the recorded version, the strings are mixed much higher than on record and the ending of the live version is much more effective than the fade out of the studio version.

Because of their recent hits Baccara was one of the biggest favourites of the evening. So it is safe to assume that the Luxembourg delegation was disappointed when this perfect little package came only 7th (among 20 participants). Parlez-vous français was one of the biggest hits to come out of 1978 contest. However, the career of the original Baccara would soon end in the declining sales and the differences between the singers and the record company. After splitting up in 1982 Mateos and Mendiola continued their careers both re-creating their own Baccara groups. 

Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal would return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986, again writing song for the Radio Télé Luxemburg.

My points 4/5.

835/917 Stefan Raab: Wadde hadde dudde da (Germany 2000)

Humor is difficult and in Eurovision almost impossible. Call me a Mr KillJoy, but so far I don't recall any good Eurovision entry that can be called funny. There have been of course numerous unintentionally ridiculous entries during the years, but if the song has been made intentionally to make the audience laugh, they seldom do, at least not me. The first German entry of the new millenium, the song number 835 managed to make some people smile, but I wasn't among them.

Stefan Raab got away with murder in 1998, when his song Guildo hat euch lieb, a pretentious comedy moment sung by "character" Guildo Horn managed to gather enough points for the 9th place. Two years later Raab decided to improve the result by singing himself his own entry, which was even more pretentious.

Raab and his team put on a great show, I don't deny that. Glittering clothes, suggestive choreography, lightning tricks, dashing girls (who would take off some superfluous clothing during the finale in a good Buck's Fizz fashion) and childish lyrics repeating the same phrase over and over again, managed to hide quite well the absence of any substance or even melody in this entry, that I can hardly call a song. The televoting audience seemed to have fun, they voted the song fifth in the final results (among 24 songs competing).

I disagreed violently, hating this "song" from the first time I heard it and after 13 years it hasn't come any better. Luckily this song and the 1998 German entry are not the only things to remember Stefan Raab by. In 2004 he wrote a decent ballad Can't wait until tonight for Germany playing guitar in the backing band. When Germany hosted the contest in 2011, he was one of the competent trio that served as hosts in the contest.

When thinking of Stefan Raab, these two moments are the ones I prefer to his 1998 and 2000 entries, which both deserve the lowest points on my scale.

My points 1/5.