113/917 Rachel: Le chant de Mallory (France 1964)

As I've told couple of times earlier, André Popp is one of my favourite songwriters ever to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. And his entry in 1964, the 113th song ever to take part in the contest was one of his great entries.

Chant de Mallory is a very traditional French love song that there was abundance of during the first decade of the Eurovision Song Contest. Somehow the song written by the same team (Popp and the lyricist Pierre Cour) as the 1961 winner Tom Pillibi and the 1967 evergreen L'amour est bleu manages to rise above the others.

I find the song touching and the arrangement makes it go forward even when the melody repeats the same verse. The song's success (4th in the final results) is partly due to the faultless and sincere delivery of the singer Rachel (no video recording of the 1964 contest exists, but she can be seen singing the song here). I think that this song is an example of a conventional French eurovision ballad at its best.

Chant de Mallory became the biggest hit of Rachel's career. She did record some other singles during the 1960's but apparently her singing career did not carry her to the 1970's. Pity.

My points 4/5.

239/917 Mary Roos: Nur die Liebe lässt uns leben (Germany 1972)

Germany has sent to the Eurovision stage an impressive legion of their most popular and famous singers. One of them was Rosemarie Schwab, better known with her stage name Mary Roos.

I got to know Mary Roos in 1984, when she represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with song Aufrecht Geh'n. I was impressed with her voice which was vulnerable and strong at the same time. It was many years later that I heard and saw hers first Eurovision entry, which took part 12 years earlier.

When watching for the first time a bad quality VHS copy of the 1972 contest held in Edinburgh Scotland I was puzzled by her performance. Here was 23 years old singer singing un upbeat happy song with the same vulnerable strong voice I had heard singing a heartbraking ballad of separation in 1984. Somehow I felt her voice did not mach the song Nur die Liebe lässt uns leben.

During the years I've grown to appreciate her performance in 1972 as much as her appearence 12 years later. The song is good and she is clearly having good time on stage. The relaxed feeling, smile, the sparkle in her eyes (contrary to her 1984 performance) and of course her confident singing make the song work and the third position in the final results was well deserved.

My points 4/5.

480/917 Maria Guinot: Silêncio e tanta gente (Portugal 1984)

Right until 2013 the order of songs in the Eurovision final was chosen by a draw, although it was not always that obvious. There were numerous occasions when right songs have been drawn to exactly right position in the starting list as if it was decided in advance. That was often the case with the last song sung every year. The 480th Eurosong is one of those that you could not think of been performed anywhere else than the last position of the magical Eurovision evening.

Silêncio e tanta gente by Maria Guinot was not only the perfect closer of the 1984 contest, but the only song that I could think of finishing the contest after the astounding Italian entry Il treni di Tozeur. Together these two songs made one of the most memorable and moving endings ever in the history of Eurovision Song Contest.

At 38 years Maria Guinot was not old, but still much more experienced singer (and songwriter) as most of her collegues taking part in the 1984 song contest. Her entry was also far from the perky pop ditties that represented most of the countries that year. Also unlike many of the young performers that year she performed her song with charisma and had no trouble singing in tune and bringing real emotion to the song. At that time it she was one of the rare female singers who had composed her own song.

And what a song it is. Well built, emotional ballad that starts calmly but ends with such a passion that the inexperienced singers from the UK, Luxembourg and Norway (to name just a few) could only have dreamed of.

Although the last song in the running order was arguably at the best position to impress the juries, the song was not appreciated as it should have. Uncharacteristically, the best position in the 1984 running order was number one, where Herreys with their golden shoes scored the winning amount of points. Maria Guinot had to settle for 11 position among 19 entries. Unfair and undeserved faith, if you ask me, for this wonderful song and amazing artist.

My points 5/5

792/917 Mélanie Cohl: Dis oui (Belgium 1998)

The 792th eurosong brought on stage a french singing girl with a baby face and voice of a teenager. For some reason it always reminds me of some entries sung in french of the 1960's.

I am not quite sure what in Dis oui makes me think of the entries from 30 years ago. It sounds quite contemporary for 1998 and the singer, 16 year old Mélanie Cohl is dressed very unlike the young vedettes of the 1960's. Still her young face, innocent performance and the song itself remind me of for example the Monegasque entry from 1965, the Swiss entries from both 1966 and 1967 and the Luxembourg entry from 1971, which all were sung by a newcomer artists (in French) aged just under or slightly over 20 years of age.

The young age of Mélanie Cohl (her real name being Mélanie Picron) is present in her performance on Birmingham stage in both good and bad. Her performance certainly is fresh and to some extent she seems to enjoy being on stage. On the other hand her inexperience is both shown and heard which, to me, is a little uneasy to watch.

I liked the 1998 Belgian entry very much 16 years ago, but it hasn't aged that well over the years. Despite of her 6th place in the final results, the representation in Eurovision didn't grant young mademoiselle Picron a steady career in the francophone, or even Belgian showbusiness. She made one album, sang on couple of Disney movies but then concentrated on other matters in life. According to some sources she took her chance at the French version of "The Voice" as late as in 2013, but without success.

My points 3/5.

356/917 Harmony: 'tis OK (Netherlands 1978)

For the second time in this blog the random number generator picked a song that I had already reviewed, and so I chose the next song myself. Eurosong 356 does not change the world, but behind the smiles and fun show you find a very good song that makes the sun shine.

Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the first one I watched from start to finish as a seven year old schoolboy. I also tried to record the contest on tape, but because of empty batteries the cassette recorder managed to tape only the first ten seconds of each song before slowing down. I would have to wait another couple of years before I got a copy of a tape with full versions of the song. It took over ten years before I saw the video recording of the contest for the first time.

One of my fondest memories of this great contest was the Dutch entry. Harmony was a perky and colourful group (apparently assembled with the contest in mind) with Rosina Louwaars as their talented soloist. Despite of their faultless performance, the song only got 37 points and 13th place in the lineup of 20 countries.

This song always gets a smile on my face. In a good "ding a dong"-fashion the melody is catchy and has a great orchestral arrangement (with ever smiling Harry van Hoof conducting). The Dutch language is cream of the cake making a nice but ordinary pop ditty a little more pecial.

My points 5/5

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

139/917 Vice Vukov: Ceznja (Yugoslavia 1965)

In the 21st century a balkan ballad has become a genre that collects easily points from all over Europe. During the first half of the Eurovision history the story was quite different. In the 1960's Jugoslavia provided the contest with great lovesongs from year to year, but they never fought over the highest positions in the final scoreboard and were soon forgotten. The 139th Eurovision entry is one of my biggest favourites ever in the Eurovision Song Contest, but I have hardly ever heard anyone else even remembering the song.

Croatian singer Vice Vukov had represented Yugoslavia already in 1963 with almost equally haunting ballad Brodovi (to which I promise to award high points as well should that song be drawn by the random number generator) reaching the 11th position (among 16 participants) in the final results. In 1965 the result was practically identical, as Ceznja received two points and came 12th (among 18 participants).

When I first heard the song from a bad quality tape, I was enchanted by the appealing melody which starts silently and opens into full bloom with no real distinction between the verse and the refrain. Vukov has bright and strong but also unpretentious voice which matches the melody and the arrangement to the full. My favourite part, however, is the instrumental break during the last third of the song with dreamy string and horn arrangement. After listening to the song I am mesmerized and want to listen to the song again.

It seems that after many years of winning ballads the Eurovision juries did prefer perky young female stars instead of serious male singer, so the song or the singer didn't get the recognition it deserved. Vice Vukov continued his career in Yugoslavia until he was forced to go exile for four years because of his political views. After returning to his home country he was blacklisted until the change of political climate in the end of 1980's when he became popular again. When Croatia became an independent democracy he served as a member of Croatian parlament for couple of years.

For a long time Ceznja could only be heard from the live recording of the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest and bad quality copy of the recorded version. Luckily by the change of the millenium a compilation cd by Vice Vukov came up with a pristine original recording available of this magnificent song. The live version from 1965 Eurovision Song Contest is worth full five points, but the recorded version (available at least on YouTube) is even better.

My points 5/5