917 songs have been sung in the Eurovision Song Contest between 1956 and 2003. In this blog I go through these songs in a random order and tell you what I think of them. What song would you like me to review?
Nowadays it some times refreshing to hear a Eurovision song composed to the rhythm of a classic dance f.eg. waltz or tango. In the early decades of Eurovision this was more commonplace. The 55th eurosong was based on the rhythms of a latin dance bolero.
Wyn Hoop was only 23 years of age when he took part in the Eurovision Song Contest, that took place in London. His entry Bonne nuit ma chérie was a tender lullaby where the singer puts his love to sleep promising he will never forget or leave her.
To me everything is in place in this entry. The song is easy going, yet gentle song where the latin rhythms is used tastefully without clashing with the idea of a lullaby. The arrangement is superb and the young singer gives a confident and at the same time very relaxed performance on a stage.
This song continued Germany's good streak in the early years of Eurovision with 4th position in the final results and Wyn Hoop would continue to have a good career in the German showbusiness until the end of the 1970's. After retiring, he has written articles and books about sailing and travelling.
There are quite a few songwriters who have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest several times during several decades. But there are only few composers who have done it with constant quality from the first song to the last. The composer of the Eurosong 79 is one of them, and one of my favourite Eurovision songwriters ever.
Hubert Giraud was already established songwriter before his participation to Eurovision Song Contest having written songs for films (f.eg. Sous le ciel de Paris made famous by Edith Piaf) and for the other major french artistst (Yves Montand and Dalida to name a few). Later his catalogue would include such a world hit as Mamy blue.
His Eurovision career started with a bang when his entry Dors mon amour won the contest in 1958 for France. He would participate in the international finals four years in a row when his songs represented France also in 1959 and Monaco in 1960 and 1961. Later his entries would be sung for France (1967 and 1979) and Luxembourg (1971). Each of his entries will get either 4 or 5 points from me should I stumble upon them in this blog later.
In 1960 the song Ce soir-là (with lyrics by Pierre Dorsey) was sung by 28 year old french singer François Deguelt. In the era of big French ballads, it was difficult to stand out of the rest, but this song (with a rhythm loosely based on Rumba) manages to do that. The song goes forward and is arranged perfectly. Although François Deguelt is not a very shining stage personality, he sings well and uses wisely the nyances of the song, from the quiet start to the loud ending. In 1960 this song got well deserved third place in the final results.
This song is not the best Hubert Giraud has done, but definately worth the promised four points.
