It was around eight years ago that The Fella, who hails from the good old U.S of A, watched his first ever Eurovision Song Contest. He laughed at the tactical voting; thought the entertainment during the interval was cheesy; cringed at some of the ridiculous acts; questioned whether or not some of the countries were technically part of Europe; wondered what the hell the wardrobe department were thinking; expressed surprise at the low placing of the United Kingdom and marvelled at how next year’s show would coincidentally be held in the country of the winning entry. Er well…
Welcome to the wonderful, weird and wacky world of Eurovision - an annual song contest where various European nations compete to see which music act is the best on the continent, with the following year's event taking place in the country of the winning act. Tomorrow will be the grand final of the sixty fifth Eurovision Song Contest, held in Rotterdam, and we get to see not only who the winner will be, but where the contest will be held next year. And we will also see which countries earned themselves the dreaded 'nul points'.
It must be like Christmas for die-hard fans who had to miss out on the musical extravaganza last year due to Covid. I have to admit that these days I'm not the big Eurovision fan that I used to be, and only tune in to watch the voting – if at all! But I didn't always feel like that. Growing up, Eurovision was a big deal in our house. Well many households around Europe, I would imagine. And every year my mum’s enthusiasm would rub off on all of us. Dinner would be out of the way and we would all be huddled on the sofa as we prepared for three hours of what was then great family entertainment. Snacks would have been bought at least a week in advance and we would all chomp our way through the United Kingdom’s latest non-winning number; Ireland’s new victory and yet another 'nul points' for Norway. Eurovision always took place on a Saturday and we couldn't very well not watch it because we knew it would be the talk of the form room come Monday.
Today there are a lot of people who think of the Eurovision Song Contest as a bit of a cheesefest, but there were lots of highlights, and I’m glad that I was able to witness some classic moments: Michael Ball’s dad dancing; Frances Ruffelle’s sexy dancing; Sonia’s vibrant performance; the first ever entry by a transsexual artist; seeing the same artist take the most amusing tumble on stage a year later; the powerful vocals of Niamh Kavanagh and ‘Mr. Eurovision’ himself, Johnny Logan; a rap entry from the UK; a hard rock entry from Finland; the United Kingdom bringing it home with Katrina and the Waves in 1997… and losing it abysmally in 2003 by getting their first ever nul points courtesy of Jemini. And who could forget Riverdance - the most famous thing to come out of Eurovision, aside from Abba. It's incredible to think that what was meant to be a filler for the song contest went on to become a worldwide phenomenon. Riverdance, I mean. Well Abba too. Except Abba was never a filler! Moreover I am sorry that Abba's winning entry was before my time, and that I can't remember that classic Bucks Fizz performance.
One of my favourite entries was back in 1988 when Scott Fitzgerald represented the UK with the tear jerking ballad Go. I may have been very young at the time but even I couldn’t mistake the power, emotion and meaning in the song. Anyone who watched Eurovision that year will also remember how fierce the voting was and the nail biting race to the finish line as it looked as though a well deserved victory for the United kingdom was imminent. Sadly victory belonged to Switzerland that year as we were beaten by one measly point. The singer who secured Switzerland’s win was a Canadian girl with a dodgy perm and we all believed that once the fuss died down, she’d just fade into obscurity.
However the singer, Celine Dion, had other ideas…
And furthermore, whenever I think of Eurovision, I still remember the dulcet tones of the show's great commentator, the late Terry Wogan, who was to Eurovision what Noel Edmonds was to Christmas. Wogan had been the commentator for Eurovision for pretty much most of my life up until 2008. In addition to this, Wogan also presented the selection show - which underwent a few name changes but I knew it as A Song For Europe - in which the entry for the United Kingdom was chosen.
Then in 1998 when the song contest was being held in England, thanks to the win by Katrina and the Waves, Terry Wogan co-hosted the event with Ulrika Jonsson, making him the third person in the event's history to act as both commentator and host. Very talented bloke, that Terry! I'm still reminded of Terry Wogan whenever I think of the Eurovision Song Contest. Graham Norton, of whom I am a big fan, is doing a great job as the current commentator. But Terry will always have a special place in my heart, and I'm sure that can be said for anyone who's watched the event over a period of thirty-odd years, and to this day, he is still deeply missed. Rest in Peace Terry xx
Who do you think will be the winner of Eurovision 2021?
Photos: Youtube
Word Cloud; Angel Noire