Eurovision: forgotten gems

One of the very first records I bought as a kid was this double LP compilation of all Eurovision winners from its beginnings in 1956 to than present 1981. It was a great joy for little me and I loved it dearly, kitch and all, probably also because it was my window to different sounds of various countries and very first introduction to such distant languages as Dutch or Danish that our local radio never played otherwise - in those pre-Internet days we could often hear French or Italian or even occasional German song but this LP opened my eyes to other places and unconsciously made me daydream about those countries. Naturally Eurovision was always from the start a family entertainment TV show so music presented here was hardly something groundbreaking, it was more or less always safe and mainstream but thanks to this occasion, audience trough the whole Europe heard something different. Even now after all these years I like the idea (if not necessary music itself) that different cultures meet here in this melting pot and compete for attention - naturally times have changed and its all reflected in festival itself, where at first it was all very tame and sophisticated, it eventually turned into gimmicks and circus but that is the nature of show business. I don't always have chance to actually follow Eurovision because most of the time I am travelling (last time I watched it was in 2013) but it occurred to me that I can actually check it all on Internet - there are serious fans and specialists who really invest lots of time & energy to list every detail, song and gossip that happened during last 59 years and since I always loved first start of it, I decided to check the early years and what else was there, what actually didn't win but perhaps should. My favourites were always songs that never won and I clearly remember being upset about it, seems that melody or singing was most of the time overshadowed by bombastic performance, dance or something else. 

1956:

Very first Eurovision was organised in Lugano, Switzerland and nobody expected it will became such institution - only seven countries participated, voting was secret and each country had two songs. Contrary to what I expected, it wasn't all brilliant and sophisticated, most of the songs were actually very bland pop of the day. The only exception was Italian "Aprite le finestre" which was a very famous winner of prestigious San Remo festival and its actually wonderfully happy little ditty that was huge hit in its homeland. I am naturally familiar with majestic Swiss winner "Refrain"but now during my research I have discovered that Germany had something completely unusual, it was actually true Rock & Roll song (completely unexpected for festival like this and for Germany) called "So geht das jede Nacht" and this comes as a huge surprise, if this kind of song have won it would have changed the complete nature of Eurovision festival because focus would be on more upbeat, dance music instead of huge, orchestrated ballads.

1957:

At this time nobody still came with rule that next Eurovision should be organised in winner's country - it was still relatively small TV show with only ten participants. So festival was held in Frankfurt. Previous winner Lys Assia participated again but the winner came from Netherlands and it was majestic Corry Brokken with a beautiful ballad that was my very first introduction to Dutch language. Most of the music was very generic and the only one worth mention was another San Remo winner and Italian entry, "Corde della mia chitarra" that didn't go very far (was placed somewhere in the middle) but made splash everywhere where this type of sentimental ballads was played.

1958:

First true, proper Eurovision festival - organised in a last year's winner country, participants performed in their own languages, each country could compete with only one song. (However, German language was heard from Germany, Austria and Switzerland) UK had skipped this one, so no English language this time at all, it was truly continental affair. France won with relatively forgettable little ballad, very first winner Lys Assia followed on second place with some galloping gimmicky ditty about waiter "Giorgio", last year's winner Corry Brokken returned with a song that was as good as her previous entry but all the eyes and ears were deservedly focused on Italy and brilliant Domenico Modugno who didn't win although his song "Volare" became the biggest hit of the year, won two Grammy awards in USA (the only foreign song ever to win this award) and actually became hit nr.1 on Billboard top charts. Since that song is already well known, for me personally the biggest discovery was Sweden (first time ever on Eurovision) with sweet Alice Babs (otherwise known as Jazz singer) crooning lullaby about the little star, dressed up in national folk costume. It really does sound like some melody from a Disney movie. With five interesting songs (between ten contenders) this was actually first truly strong Eurovision.

1959:

Glitz and glamour in Cannes. There was something in the air because this year music was decidedly upbeat and happy - the winner was Dutch swing "Een beetje"which is actually sweet little ditty but there were other songs forgotten now, most of them rightly so like UK representatives who chirped "Sing, Little Birdie"and even though I understand it was different time, I still cringe when I hear that one. Domenico Modugno returned again and his "Ciao, ciao bambina" was another smash hit that Eurovision completely ignored (it makes you wonder what was wrong with this jury). My personal favorite from this year was again Sweden with Brita Borg singing what is basically a Tango, this girl really had unusual voice and for me she was the most memorable performer that year.

1960:

Last year's winner declined to host Eurovision so soon (they won in 1957 and 1959) so honor fell on nr.2 which was UK - and how convenient, they were second again this time. I was never convinced with this year's winner (France with ridiculously happy children's song "Tom Pillibi" by sunny Jacqueline Boyer who projected such squeaky clean innocence that it had to be heard to believe) but actually liked three other contestants much better. My own favorites from this particular year were UK ("Looking High, High, High"that sounds as perfect song to whistle when you do something like shoe polishing or window cleaning), Sweden (ballsy swing with attitude "Alla andra får varann") and Austria ("Du hast mich so fasziniert", which was quite irresistible romantic ballad that to my ears sounds like something that The Platters would record). And don't forget Italy with now-classic "Romantica", honestly year by year Italians were sending these great songs that everybody loved but for some reason they were always humiliated by Eurovision, WTF? 

1961:

Now the winners became almost predictable since during last few years it was Netherlands and France that always got the most votes (Luxembourg won this time so it was almost the same). Why is it that French chanson impressed listeners across the whole Europe so much? I have absolutely nothing against wonderful French music and in fact love it very much, but when you check other contestants it is clear there were others equally interesting: my own personal favorite was Finland with truly beautiful ballad "Valoa ikkunassa"that was as sophisticated as anything coming from Paris. Switzerland had very pretty chanson "Nous aurons demain"and Norway absolutely lovely "Sommer i Palma"with such a haunting refrain that it really makes you wonder why the winner was France again. UK sent their own version of The Everly Brothers and guess what, they were second again (it must have been very frustrating for this country - hence, they started to poke fun at Eurovision as something not really important). Italy naturally went ignored again, although "Al di là" became international hit in many cover versions. The veteran lady who originally sang "Lili Marlene" (Lale Andersen) also decided to compete for Germany and she was not just a little long in the tooth (56) but more importantly, awfully out of tune. Spain and Yugoslavia debuted on Eurovision, first with some scarf waving lady who looked as parody of everything we associate with Spain, second with incredibly demure and boring girl who was actually unknown even at home (Ljiljana Petrović) so why was she chosen I have no idea because we had our very own big stars with far more charisma, to me she was like a little orphan girl inviting pity, not something you want to impress the world with.

1962:

OK I admit that French singer Isabelle Aubret was very pretty and delicate and lovely to look at, but none of this can convince me that this was the best song of the year, in fact since French chanson became so ubiquitous in early years of Eurovision I start to get a little bored with it. Just check out contestants from Norway (absolutely wonderful Inger Jacobsen who is one of my all-time favorite Eurovision performers), Demark (lovely operatic lullaby by Ellen Winther that was very pretty indeed) or Germany (incredibly contagious little country song by Conny Froboess) so it is clear there were other countries and other sounds that maybe deserved more attention than France. Apparently there was a power failure during performance by duo De Spelbrekers from Netherlands so they somehow ended up without a single vote, although their song was actually wonderful. Italy was ignored again (no less than Claudio Villa) and Yugoslavia had actually sent a real star (Lola Novaković) with a proper song so they deservedly got respectable 4th place - mysteriously , this beautiful song was never released as a single or album track, seems that recording company simply didn't understand what they had.

1963:

This was first year that I actually love the winner and think it was the best song of the year, although there was really a serious competition - Denmark's husband and wife duo Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann (kind of local Les Paul & Mary Ford) brought home award for the very first time for this country and deservedly so, because their lilting waltz "Dansevise" was and still is one of the prettiest songs this TV festival ever had. For me and for many listeners this was also the first time we heard Danish language. If you look closely at ceremony itself, audience is hardly ever visible so we have strange impression that it was all filmed in front of studio cameras on playback but organizers in London claim it wasn't so. Besides the winner, my other favorites were Italy (jazzy "Uno per tutte" that later became local evergreen and any American swinger would liked that one), France with stunningly simple, poetic and beautiful chanson "Elle était si jolie" that has seen many covers since and two entries by Switzerland and Luxembourg that used not local artists but imported stars: first country had almost-winner Esther Ofarim (lovely) and second the Greek songbird Nana Mouskouri (even more lovely) who used this performance as a stepping stone for even bigger success. There were other stars involved - Swedish Monica Zetterlund was humiliated with zero votes and Françoise Hardy represented Monaco, I actually liked Austrian singer (also imported star) and our own Croatian Vice Vukov representing Yugoslavia was bravely fighting trough some dreadfully boring ballad - clearly, local composers took this as a serious state dinner instead of entertainment. 

1964:

This was when Italy finally and deservedly won after all these years of humiliation - I am not completely sure that Gigliola Cinquetti was really so much better than all the people who preceded her, after all they were all winners of San Remo and all these songs were brilliant, however she had smashed, killed and burn the audience in Copenhagen who adored her and gave her such ovation that she is the only performer ever who was allowed to take a second bow after her song. The rest was forgettable - nobody cared for our singer from Yugoslavia (Sabahudin Kurt) who got zero points - except Austrian singer Udo Jürgens who was actually very good and locals loved him so much that they continued to send him until he won. Now that's a conviction!

1965:

No wonder Luxembourg won with explosive  "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" because it was so different from anything else on Eurovision - it was a strong, booming, happy pop song with girl-group sound (and a highly suspicious, clever lyrics that obviously European audience didn't really understand) that stood in a contrast with usual weeping ballads around here. Though I must say that I truly liked Italy (Bobby Solo doing his best Elvis imitation with "Se piangi, se ridi" which is a classic now, like everything else coming from Italian music scene), Netherlands (dramatic Conny van den Bos), Ireland (this country debut with likable Butch Moore), France (contagious ditty by Guy Mardel) and even UK was not bad with Kathy Kirby going as far as second place with her energetic entry (and she looked good, if that matters). Nobody listens to me so my own favorites were completely ignored - Birgit Brüel from Denmark had a very unusual, haunting song and Austria had sent Udo Jürgens again with song even better than last time. He does sound very aristocratic and sophisticated, it kind of starts like gospel/symphonic and its very impressive song. 

1966:

Udo Jürgens finally smashed here with "Merci, Chérie" and it went on to became Eurovision classic though I must say this year really had some good and interesting performers, so as much as I like aristocratic Jürgens he was just one of the many in the crowd here. First, Italy sent wonderful Mr.Volare Domenico Modugno who won San Remo at home and got zero points here. Same for Monaco representative which was no other than our own Croatian Tereza Kesovija, good enough for Grace Kelly but got zero points here. I always liked French singer Michèle Torr and her song got stuck at low place as well. Yugoslavia's singer Berta Ambrož was not bad at all (in fact, her song inspired certain Spanish composers for their own entry few years down the line), Dutch singer Milly Scott (first black woman ever on Eurovision) had really entertaining sing-and-dance star spot, UK singer wore a kilt and Raphael from Spain pulled all the stops with his fierce attack (you just expect him to burst into flamenco any moment). However, the best of all was the lady from Norway called Åse Kleveland who was so charismatic that you can't stop watching her - not only she played guitar and wore pants but her song was truly haunting and very, very effective (reminds me a little bit on Denmark's "Dansevise") - she starts solo with guitar and than slowly big orchestra joins her, its truly a surprise and discovery that inspired me to write this essay. Not that she was ignored (she was in third place finally) but I really believe she was by far most interesting singer and her song was really awesome. 

1967:

UK finally won after a decade of trying and for better or worse "Puppet on a String" showed what Eurovision is all about - gimmicky novelty songs, easy to remember and irritating, infantile refrain hunting us in our nightmares. Not that anybody had ever tried something like this but it seriously shifted focus of the whole festival from melancholic chanson to oompah-pah that audience lapped up. Just in case you wonder was there anybody else worth mention besides Sandie Shaw (who got huge record sales and lost credibility simultaneously) Luxembourg had sweet and young Vicky Leandros with a song that became classic, Portugal had amazing singer Eduardo Nascimento who roared like a lion with truly magnificent voice, Swedish singer Östen Warnerbring had no gimmicks and only a beautiful, dramatic ballad and best of all was Belgium with charismatic Louis Neefs having fun with unforgettable "Ik heb zorgen" that is impossible not to like. Worth mention is also France where Minouche Barelli and Serge Gainsbourg ridiculed the whole festival and were incredibly cool in process.

1968:

One of the most exciting Eurovision voting ever resulted with Massiel from Spain winning with just one vote over UK's Cliff Richard who seemed willing to stand on top of his head just in order to win, guy was so eager that its embarrassing to watch. If you ask me, both are forgettable novelty gimmicks when compared to some other contestants. First, there was Portugal with wonderfully breezy song about summer by Carlos Mendes that actually sounds excellent even today. Classic Euro-ballads were represented by Austria and Karel Gott with song composed by no other than Udo Jürgens so you know this was a classy affair. In hands of Tom Jones or such, this could have been world smash. Switzerland had excellent singer from Italy Gianni Mascolo who in my opinion had one of the best voices ever on Eurovision and though many commented on his unorthodox looks for me this was no important at all, its all about music after all (or is it?). Italy again failed to get attention although they had legendary Sergio Endrigo who simply might have been too good for this circus. Irish singer Pat McGuigan had such a beautiful, smooth voice that he sounded like a dream. Our own Croatian group Dubrovački trubaduri performing in medieval costumes had one of the prettiest, happiest songs that ever graced Eurovision stage (and I have met lots of foreigners who still remember this performance and loved it) but the best of all was Sweden with ultra cool Claes-Göran Hederström and his swaggering hipster song "It's beginning to look like love, damn it"  that in my eyes by far overshadows both Spain and UK, damn it. I mean, guy was standing there in front of audience of 200 millions and had such guts & balls & posture that you can't help but admire him, although you might suspect he would probably steal your girlfriend.








1969:

The most legendary year - besides me being born and men finally landing in the Moon - that signaled end of swinging 1960s and goodbye to all that. And just to finish a decade with a Boom Bang-a-Bang this time there was a unexpected tie, not only between two but four winners and what to do, they were all awarded with medals. I bet nobody expected that! We all know the winners by now, though for me only wonderful Frida Boccara representing France was a true winner, her semi-classical piece is still heart-breakingly awesome mother of all chansons ever performed at this festival and its haunting melody & poetry works equally all around the world above any language barrier. It looks like all the attention was focused on girls, though guys were not half bad - I checked the rest of the competition and actually quite liked singers from Sweden (Tommy Körberg) and Belgium ( charismatic Louis Neefs again) not to mention few other ladies from Germany (our old friend Siw Malmkvist that sang for Sweden earlier), Switzerland (sunny Paola Del Medico), Norway (ridiculously catchy Kirsti Sparboe), Portugal (theatrical Simone de Oliveira who sounds as she went into the same school with our own Tereza Kesovija) and Italy (Iva Zanicchi with a song that mixes up Italian and German). Yugoslavia have to be mentioned only because somebody decided to follow last year memorably happy and catchy entry with something to awful and embarrassing that I cringe every time I see Ivan & 4M awkwardly singing greetings in different languages. And this is from a guy who was our very renowned lyrics writer. Bad idea.

1970:

Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this one so Eurovision reputation suddenly experienced serious blow (it was all about previous year confusion about four winners) and as I always liked Swedish performers, this is disappointing. Ireland won for the very first time with some schoolgirl who basically emulated Italian Gigliola Cinquetti virginal innocence from a few years ago and as much as Eurovision family audiences loved this kind of squeaky clean, inoffensive waifs I always found them contrived and insincere. Not that I cared much for second-placed UK with another annoying virgin Mary Hopkin or Yugoslavian entry (Eva Sršen with a song that even today in Slovenia they make fun with wordplay - if you change a few letters, its easy to change the title from "Come, I'll Give You a Flower" to "Come, I'll Give You Again"). If you ask me, far more interesting entries were from guys - Italian Gianni Morandi had excellent song that became a pop classic (it always happens with their entries), French Guy Bonnet with unforgettable, haunting piano ballad or Spanish Julio Iglesias who used this audience of millions to start his incredibly successful career. Even Germany had quite interesting, ballsy girl singer Katja Ebstein who at least went for soul-pop instead of Irish lullabies. Best of all was Dutch entry with trio of beautiful, Supremes-like girls called Hearts of Soul whose song was not just in my opinion the best Dutch Eurovision song ever but real discovery for me that inspired me to dig trough all these years, searching for also-runners who might have been interesting.