888/917 Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel: Tell me why (Romania 2002)

Two good singers together make usually a great duet, but not always. Sometimes when a good singer (or singers) and a good song meet, the result is not as good as expected. Sometimes the pieces don't fit because they are from a different puzzle. That is very much what I think of the Romanian Eurovision entry from 2002.

The first bars of this song are just like written me in mind. A delicate piano intro leads to a magnificently arranged ballad (love that saxophone break) that has a message and feeling which with a tender and thoughtful interpretation could have resulted a perfect schlager.

But the Monica Anghel is neither tender or thoughful. She is a good singer, she has a great presence and a voice that can carry a long way even with a less sophisticated melody. But her voice is just what this song does not need. She blasts out all her passion and despair leaving the melody in ruins.

Marcel Pavel is slightly closer to what this song would have needed. With his dynamics he could have given this song the interpretation it needs, but when he had to compete of space and volume with the mighty diva the song is turned into a race track of two singers that try to outdo each other.

And in this contest of egos the poor song is shred to pieces. All one can think is which of them won, Monica or Pavel. What a waste.

My points 2/5.

90/917 François Deguelt: Dis rien (Monaco 1962)

The first years of Eurovision Song Contest is considered by many as an uninteresting cavalcade of dull French (or french sounding) ballads with really nothing else to remember them by than the winning entries. While I think this is partly true, I also once in a while try to highlight the great unsung and unremebered masterpieces from these early Eurovision years which I think there are plenty of. The 90th eurosong is not one of those. In fact the whole 1962 Eurovision song contest is one of the dullest and most unforgettable contests ever.

The french singing star François Deguelt had represented Monaco already two years previously with an excellent song Ce soir-là by Hubert Giraud (my review to this great song can be read here) resulting the third place in the final results list. In 1962 Deguelt managed to improve the rating with the 2nd place with 13 points. The winning song, Un premier amour by Isabelle Aubret (in my opinion one of the best songs ever in the Eurovision history) gathered twice the amount of points.

But unlike the result would suggest, Dis rien (penned by well known French singer Henri Salvador) is far inferior to François Deguelts earlier song. Lyrically the song consist mostly of cliches of a French love song and the melody is uninspired. The slightly jazzy arrangement does little to improve the overall impression, which makes me wonder what the juries saw and heard in this song that made them attribute their points to it. Even the singer himself looks like having trouble in keeping awake singins this dull ditty. Maybe the overall low quality of songs (except of the winner and one or two of the other songs) made the juries to follow the old formula. It is in french, it is a ballad, therefore it must be good. 

My points 2/5

440/917 The Duskeys: Here today, gone tomorrow (Ireland 1982)

I have a difficult attitude to groups with three female singers and one male singer. Boney M. is maybe the only group that has used this formula successfully (although only half of the group actually sang on their records), but on other occasions I find this combination uneasy to follow. The Irish Eurovision representant of 1982 is a good example of a group that has a peculiar chemistry which all but ruins a plausible song in my opinion.

The Duskey sisters (consisting of two sisters Barbara Ellis and Sandy Kelly and their cousin Nina Duskey) had already participated in the Irish Eurovision selection one year earlier with a bouncy song Where does that love come from, and finished third in the results. Unfortunately the song that got the group finally to the Eurovision stage is much weaker.

Whereas the 1981 song is a charmingly old fashioned pop pearl with the threesome trading vocal lines and performing the song enthousiastically and inspiredly on stage, the 1982 song is very formulaic pseudo modern ditty with obvious lyrics and melody that stays the same after the first third is up. What makes the song interesting is a challenging orchestral arrangement which really gave the orchestra run for their money and the opportunity to spice up the otherwise rather tasteless soup. This wonderful orchestral backing is completely absent from a dull recorded version of the song.

To make the song more appealing the three Duskeys were joined by their Welsh cousin Danny Duskey, but this did very little to make the performance more interesting. Quite the contrary to me. The foursome sang together throughout the song without anyone (least of all poor Danny) having any moment to shine. Because the choreography of the four Duskey cousins was exactly the same and his voice was buried under the female voices, one wonders what the male member was doing in the group. Just like in the Belgian entry from five years prior, Danny seemed to be the silent boy who had been bossed around by the three female cousins to join them on stage to do exactly the same as they were doing. Well, that's the connotation I get from this song anyway.

Despite the mediocre result in the final results (11 among 18 participants) the group continued to be popular in their native Ireland. After a car accident the group broke up and the members continued their careers separately. Sandy Kelly found success in the country branch culminating with a recording done together with Johnny Cash. Danny Duskey would have his time to shine, when he participated in the Song for Europe contest in 1986 as a member of a group Palace. That song is also, in my opinion, better than the one he got to sing with his bossy cousins in Harrogate.

My points 2/5.

67/917 Jean-Paul Mauric: Printemps, avril carillonne (France 1961)

The French entries of the first Eurovision decade can be divided roughly in two categories: atmospheric ballads and cheery ditties sung with an artificially wide smile. After winning the contest 1960 with the latter style France tried to repeat the success with another happy go lucky song about spring and birds singing.

I don't have much to say about this song. Although Jean-Paul Mauric sung his entry Printemps, avril carillonne to the respectable 4th place in the final results, the song is nowhere as timeless and succesful as its predecessor, the winner of the 1960 contest.

The song has a catchy hook but you grow tired of it already at second or third listen. In the end of his exhaustingly cheery performance Jean-Paul is so exited himself that he is having trouble in singing the song in tune.

Despite of the relatively good placement Jean-Paul Mauric remained a small star, popular live performer but hardly seen in the record charts. Nine years after his Eurovision performance he died of a heart failure at only 37 years of age.

My points 2/5.

812/917 Charlotte Nilsson: Take me to your heaven (Sweden 1999)

Each decade has one or two Eurovision winner that I don't get. The winner of the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest is one of the songs that I could not have predicted as a winner even in my wildest dreams and I am still puzzled how this particular song managed to please that many telephone voters to win the hela sjuttaballongen.

There is nothing particularly wrong in the Swedish entry in 1999. The melody of Take me to your heaven is catchy and Charlotte Nilsson (later to change her name to Charlotte Perelli) captures the attention of the viewers with ease.

The song was, already in 1999, violently out of date. This style was popular in Eurovision in the early 1980's, but among the neon tubes and laser lights of the Jerusalem Eurovision stage the song does not work at all. Originally titled Tusen och en natt the song loses it's particular charm when translated to the lingua franca.

But I was in the minority. The Swedish entry won the contest with convincing margin before Iceland and Germany. If the song was old fashioned, the 2000 contest arranged by the Swedish Television started the new and considerable more modern era of the contest. So one could deem Sweden the right winner of the last Euroision Song Contest of the second millenium after all.

My points 2/5.

119/917 Sabahudin Kurt: Život je sklopio krug (Yugoslavia 1964)

Yugoslavia provided soothing series of balkan ballads during the 1960's without notable success. The quality of these songs ranged from moving to pleasing but rather forgettable. The Eurosong number 119 falls in the latter category.

I cannot help but to feel warm when I hear this song chosen by the Bosnian branch of the Yugoslav television to represent the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest. The singer Sabahudin Kurt is on the top of his game, singing the entry with tender yet strong voice, and the arrangement makes the good use of the orchestra (the live version of the song is almost complete replica of the studio version).

The song falls down because of its melody and the lack of any real substance in it. For this blog entry I've listened to the song several times trying to get a hold of it, but without success. Very soon after listening to the song, it slipped from my memory.

The juries didn't catch the song either, it received the dreaded null points in the contest and shared the last place with three other countries.

My points 2/5.

242/917 Jaime Morey: Amanece (Spain 1972)

Often a most nondescript song turns into a masterpiece on a Eurovision stage with a tasteful arrangement, possibly a good stage setting and most importantly with a passionate delivery from the artist. Sometimes a complete opposite happens, a song with a great recording loses all its appeal when seen in the actual Eurovision song contest. This happened, in my opinion, to the Spanish entry from 1972.

The recorded version of Amanece (here linked to the original preview video clip) sung by Jaime Morey is not that special either, but I cannot say no to a good quality stereo recording of a song with powerful orchestral arrangement and the adequate performance of Jaime Morey with just enough pomp and circumstance. An ok song and an ok recording among many great entries by Spain.

I of course didn't have the opportunity to see and hear the song in person in Edinburgh 1972, so I cannot say what the song really looked and sounded like, but the video recording of the song is a real let down. Jaime Morey is slightly too earnest and tries too much to impress the audience, but the song is not enough for the audience to be impressed about.

Decades before the HD, digital surround sound and home theaters the average sound quality of a television broadcast was not suitable for big musical experiences and the elaborate arrangement by the composer Augusto Algueró is lost on its way from the Usher hall stage to the home of a television viewer.

The result is rather forgettable and bland Eurovision entry and not one of the better Spanish entries of the 1970's. Between the two runner-ups (En un mundo nuevo from 1971 and Eres tú from 1973) this song is mostly forgotten.

My points 2/5.

905/917 Esther Hart: One more night (Netherlands 2003)

The Dutch Eurovision entries from the 1990's and the early years of the new millenium were a collection of peppy and in principal perfect popsongs that in paper should have provided the country with good final results. The 905th eurosong, the Dutch entry for the 2003 Eurovision song contest is a good example.

At first view the performance works very well on stage. The artists are enthousiastic but also very competent to give a well rehearsed choreography and pitch perfect singing at the same time. The song itself is like a rerun of the 1999 Dutch entry (written by the same songwriter team), which was my favourite song four years earlier. What could go wrong.

The televoters were rather hesitant to share my view. The 13th place among 26 participants must have been a big disappointment to the Dutch team, which apparently had put a lot attention and money to make the entry as perfect as possible.

Now, 11 years later, it is quite easy to see what went wrong. In their pursuit of perfection, Esther Hart and his team had created a rather cold and indifferent entry. Already at second view the flawless choreography starts to irritate, and the wide smile on everyones faces seem rather forced. There is not even the intriguing Dutch language to give warmth and personality to the song. The choice of language saved many Dutch entries from the 1990's from mediocrity.

The song itself is catchy and fun but not an evergreen quality. In all an entertaining but rather disposable Eurosong.

My points 2/5.

5/917 Mathé Altéry: Le temps perdu (France 1956)

As mentioned in my earlier article, during the last twenty years lots of new countries have introduced themselves in the Eurovision Song Contest presenting their first entry ever to the European ears. It is easy to forget that even the most established countries in this occasion also had their first song sung at some point in the mists of history. Even France.

France took part in the Eurovision Song Contest of course from the very beginning. The first French entry was the fifth song ever to be sung in this television series that next year celebrates its 60th episode. The honor was given to Mathé Altéry, a soprano that sung both chanson and classical music. Her entry leaned more to the classical side of her talent, a short ballad sung with the prominent accompaniment of piano, oboe and some nice strings.

The good arrangement of the song managed hardly to hide the fact that the composition had not much to talk about. It is not terrible but nothing really to remember it by. The operatic vocals by Altéry alienates the song further from its audience. Apparently no studio recording of this song was ever made and I can understand why.

But what did it matter, no final results (except for the winner) have ever been released from the 1956 contest, so both French entries (as all seven participating countries had two songs in the contest) shared the second place in the final results. I doubt that if the results had been revealed, this song would not have been in the upper half of the list.

My points 2/5.

311/917 Peter, Sue & Marc: Djambo Djambo (Switzerland 1976)

As I wrote in my article about the 422. eurosong, the Swiss trio Peter, Sue & Marc are one of five artists to have taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest for four times. To their credit, they hold the so far unbeaten record of singing their four entries in four different languages.

In 1976 Peter Reber, Marc Dietrich and American born Sue Schnell chose english as their singing language, even though their entry Djambo Djambo has also been recorded and released in german.

The song is about an old circus clown who reminices his past and pays barrel organ in the park for the kids and birds surrounding him. The melody and the syrupy text is written by Reber, who also penned the other three of groups Eurovision entries.

Whereas the groups entries from 1971, 1979 and 1981 feel earnest and entertaining, Djambo Djambo is irritatingly saccharine partly due to the lyrics and theatrical vocals of Schnell. I find the german version (to which I unfortunately could not find link to) slightly more tolerable, But the 311th Eurosong is not the one I want to remember Peter, Sue & Marc for. In addition to their four Eurovision participations the group took part four times in the Swiss and German Eurovision selections without success. Maybe one of these songs would have been better entries than this.

My points 2/5.

p.s. The other three artists that have took part in the contest for four times are Lys Assia (Switzerland, two songs in 1956, 1957 and 1958), Fud Leclerc (Belgium 1956, 1958, 1960 and 1962), Anita Skorgan (Norway 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1983) and Elisabeth Andreassen (Sweden 1982, Norway 1985, 1994 and 1996). Thanks Tobias for reminding me.

520/917 Kate Guldbrandsen: Mitt liv (Norway 1987)

After their first ever Eurovision victory in 1985 Norway had a good run of success until the 1980's. Quality entries and handful of good results as well. Their 1987 entry, the 520th song ever sung on a Eurovision stage was particularly anticipated since it was composed by the composer of the 1985 winning song with lyrics by another half of Bobbysocks.

An unthinkable thing happened to a dedicated Eurovision fan in 1987. I forgot to watch the first preview show on television and didn't remember it until first three songs were already presented. Even more incredible happened a year later when I missed the first episode the same way.

So I saw and heard the Norwegian entry of 1987 for the first time during the actual Eurovision final evening, when Kate Gulbrandsen opened the show with Mitt liv. Expectations were high for the song because it was written by none other than Rolf Løvland and Hanne Krogh, who had given Norway its first Eurovision victory two years earlier. Kate Guldbrandsen gave a professional but also quite cold performance and received an OK 9th place on the scoreboard.

I had also waited for this song with anticipation but didn't really get what I was waiting for. And today, 27 years later the song still gives absolutely nothing to me. Professional, yes. Well performed, yes. International, yes. But moving, no. Warm, no. Personal, no. Kate Guldbrandsen fails to reach out to me and Rolf Løvland had better songs to come both inside and outside Eurovision circles.

My points 2/5

494/917 Vikki: Love is (United Kingdom 1985)

After a very good run of high placings in the Eurovision (four victories and only four times outside of top 5) culminating to the victory in 1981, United Kingdom seemed to lose their interest in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1980's. Good placings here and there, but the overall quality decreased dramatically. Most of their songs in the 1980's were either embarrassing or easily forgettable. The UK entry from 1985 is one of the latter ones.

Very bluntly titled love song Love is is as simple and forgettable as its title. 28 years ago it sounded modern disco ballad, but now it's synthetic and sparse arrangement is as outdated as Vikki Watson's hairdo. On recorded version the arrangement sounds slightly better but still very 1980'ish.

Watson herself gave a confident, if restrained, show on stage singing faultlessly but also without much passion. The song did reasonably well, the fourth position in the final result is no surprise when I think of the other sounds and songs you heard in Gothenburg 1985. Now almost 30 years later the song has nothing to give.

Ms Watson did not make a career out of radiofriendly europop. Instead after changing her stage name to Aeone she has become successful composer for film and television and recorded several albums of celtic folk music in a New Age style. For example her version of Scarborough fair could not be further away from the Eurovision stage.

My points 2/5.

327/917 Ambasadori: Ne mogu skriti svoju bol (Yugoslavia 1976)

The next Eurosong is chosen by a fellow eurovision lover Antti Salmela. The 327th song sung on the Eurovision stage is favourite among many Eurofans, but unfortunately I am not one of them.

The Yugoslavian entry in 1976 was chosen by the Bosnian television. The song was a folk orientated pop song by a Sarajevo group Ambasadori, member of which Slobodan Vujović also composed the song.

The song consists of two parts that to me are like day and night. The verse is promising and sung beautifully by the soloist Ismeta Dervoz but as she is joined in the chorus by the rest of the group the whole thing falls apart. Perhaps it is the arrangement (or is the group singing out of tune?) or the melody, but the chorus puts me off every time I hear it.

As many of my Eurovision friends have persistently told me how good this song actually is, I've tried to start liking it. But I'm sorry, I've failed.

My points 2/5.

33/917 Liane Augustin: Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe (Austria 1958)

In the early 1950's the singers representing their country were often experienced and classically trained professionals. They sang a song written for the occasion and rarely recorded the song or sung the song since. The eurosong 33 is apparently one of these.

The 1958 contest was only the third Eurovision Song Contest ever arranged. I find it therefore quite remarkable that the video recording of the contest from 55 years ago is such a good quality picturewise and specially soundwise.

With such a good and dynamic sound quality it is a joy to watch and listen to the contest, which gave us some of the first world wide Eurovision hits (Nel blu di pinto di blu from Italy and Dors mon amour from France).

The Austrian entry is not one of those. Liane Augustin, was a popular actress and singer from the last years of the 2nd world war until her untimely death in 1978 (at only 51 years of age). In Eurovision she sang beautifully the otherwise unremarkable ballad and received the unremarkable fifth position (among only 10 participants). Even with a good singer, the Austrian entry was overshadowed by other entries of this, rather good quality Eurovision Song Contest of 1958.

My points 2/5.

730/917 Miriam Christine Borg: In a woman's heart (Malta 1996)

Malta and me, we've had a very troubled relationship ever since they returned to Eurovision in the early 1990's. They tend to make professional but also sterile pop tracks with no human factor anywhere in sight. With the exception of the three entries sung by wonderful Chiara (1998, 2005 and 2009) and their fun entries from 1972 and 2000 I cannot really find anything I like in their entries. The Eurosong 730 is a good example of a Maltese entry that tries hard, but goes nowhere.

17 years old Miriam Christian Borg was one of the favourites in 1996 when the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Oslo Norway. Her entry was composed by Paul Abela, who had already written two eurovision entry for Malta (in 1991 and 1992). The song was a modern, well arranged pop track which, however, continued Malta's line of entries that played it safe and did nothing to break any barriers. Like it's predecessors, the song floated inside one ear and out of the other leaving no traces in my mind. The song would have needed something special to wake the sleepy listener up.

Despite of her young age and insecure singing perky Miriam Christine made a good impression on stage and Malta finally reached the 10th position (among 23 participants). This result can be considered a disappointment, since the recorded version of the song had come as high as to the fourth position in the semifinal. Since the 1996 contest I had almost forgotten about this song.

Miriam Christine Borg has continued to sing and she has apparently had a considerable career in Malta. To see and hear what she sounds like now, listen to her song Mystery Mama from 2011. I prefer her 21st century style and voice to her 1996 Eurovision entry.

My points 2/5.

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. 

394/917 Vesa-Matti Loiri: Huilumies (Finland 1980)

After a very controversial local selection procedure Finland chose one of the most loved actors, comedians and singers to represent it's colours in Hague in 1980. The 394th Eurosong was composed by the celebrated songwriter Aarno Raninen (who had composed the Finnish entry three years back) and on paper it looked very promising indeed. In reality the hopes were not that high.

 

Vesa-Matti Loiri was, and still is, one of the most popular actors in Finland. He became also famous as a singer of old poetry set to contemporary music. Apart from this he also is a competent jazz flutist. This versatility of talents was vey useful when he was asked to participate in the Finnish selection of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980 with a song Huilumies (= The flute man), which combined schlager and jazz tunes with a hint of comedy added. 

The two part selection in Finland caused loud outcry as the people's favourite artists and songs failed to proceed from the semifinal to the final. The lineup of the final consisted of more artsy and jazzy songs, none of which were worthy of the international final (according to the loudest protesters). When Vesa-Matti Loiri was chosen, the general public was unanimous, Finland was not to expect high points in the international final.

Despite of this Vesa-Matti Loiri and his backing team managed to put some fire on the final performance, which is much better than the version in the Finnish selection or on the record. The song is well arranged and the conductor Ossi Runne is clearly enjoying himself during the instrumental break (check the video above from 2:00 on). Hardly no-one was surprised, that Finland received its fourth last place.

To me time has healed the wounds and the performance by the team Finland is fun to watch and to listen to. The last place in Hague did nothing to Vesa-Matti Loiri's career, he continues to act and sing to this day to enthusiastic audience.

My points 2/5.

821/917 Ping Pong: Be Happy (Israel 2000)

The Eurosong 821 was requested by Asko Murtomäki, the former Eurovision expert of the Finnish broadcasting company YLE. Ping Pong was a israeli pop group that took part in the local selection as a joke. When chosen to represent Israel they made controversial changes to their act and made the israeli authorities withdrew all their support from the entry.

The opening song of the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest looked quite a haphazard entity. A group of strangely dressed young people jumping and running around, singing something that sounded vaguely like a tune and shouting  the title Be happy among the otherwise hebrew lyrics. No wonder the song received only handful of points and 22th place (among 24 participants) in the final results list. The controversial lyrics (apparently, as very few of the audience understood hebrew) and the waving of Syrian flags caused some controversy, but mainly within the Israeli delegation. For others it was just a fun number easily forgotten.

The melody of the song is actually quite good and the bridge (where the soloists sings about her lover in Damascus) alters the mood nicely. The song has an interesting structure and works well as the opener of the contest. The group, however,  manages to make a total mashs out of the performance so this is definately not one of the better songs from the 2000 contest. If interested, I'd suggest you find the recorded version of the song (with the hebrew title Sameach) which gives you better idea what the song actually is like.

My points 2/5

PS. is there a Eurovision entry that you would like me to write about? Comment on this blog or send me a tweet (to mikko_suhonen) and I'm sure to put your song in my list. The only condition is that the song has taken part in the Eurovision song contest between 1956 and 2003.

19/997 Bob Martin: Wohin kleines Pony (Austria 1957)

Back to random choises. www.random.org draw the number 19, so we go way back to the first years of Eurovision. Austria took part first time in the Eurovision Song Contest in its second year 1957 with a less memorable song.

I have very little to say about the song Wohin kleines Pony. The first Austrian entry was a jolly song about a pony and its rider who asks his steed where it wants to run today. Nothing more.

Not the worst song in Eurovision but it certainly does not belong to the most memorable ones, not even among the 1950's entries. Bob Martin did his job as he is supposed to, but that didn't convince the juries even then, with three points this song came last among ten participating countries. No studio recording of this song was ever made.

My points 2/5.