you know, Oldschoolsoapfan... I always thought even Agnetha's vocals sounded better in Swedish. I think alot of it is because when a singer sings in their primary language, it always sounds better, as they don't ahve to concentrate on the pronunciation, and can concentrate more on the phrasing and such. And I like "Jack In the box" as well... Clodaugh looked incredible in those pink hotpants she wore on the night of the performance. Now... I'm so glad someone put up the original version of "Where Are You Going To My Love", I love that song. you don't have to sell me on Sunny and Sue, I have all 3 of the original Brotherhood Of Man's albums, 1970's "United We Stand" (there's and expanded CD edition that's been released) 1971's "We're the Brotherhood Of Man", and 1972's "The World Of the Brotherhood Of Man". AND..... Sunny and Sue performed at Eurovision in 1975, backing up Joy Fleming. And with them is none other than Madeline Bell, and all-star backing trio that was!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe0fzxoDupc

Wow I didn't know that they sang at Eurovision too....yes, Madeleine Bell had a terrific song in 1968 "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me", which I like more than Supremes/Temps version. Betcha a lot of people don't know the latter's version was a cover tune!!

BTW--there's a clip of the Midnite Ladies on some German clip of Donna Summer when she was recording The 4 Seasons album, from about 1976. You can see Sunny Sue and Madeleine in the background singing. http://youtu.be/QOHBvvzXGZo

BTW--I too like the Swedish version of SOS...with Agnetha singing in the vernacular. You're right; when sung in the person's native tongue, it sounds better overall.

Now, I love that song, and feel it deserved higer placing... however, Huntress mentioned in another thread that Joy Fleming drives her nuts because of her dialect, and the fact that she doesn't sing in high German.... and this might have hurt the songs placement in the contest. I also think her dress was a bad choice, and made her look pretty frumpy. I also find the recording to be far superior to the live perforamance that night. the preview video, which was lifted from the German finals telecast finds Joy looking FAR prettier and the performance looks much smoother and more exciting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48fjsASZtXk&feature=related

and doesn't she sound like Taylor Dane in the chorus?

Edited November 19, 201114 yr by alphanguy74

Alphanguy, what dialect did Joy sing in, if you know off-hand? In 1971, Austrian singer Marianne Mendt sang "Musik" at Eurovision in Viennese German, and I think she placed near the very bottom. I take it singing in a variant of your country's mother tongue is a no-no??

http://youtu.be/Q3UZ3f4CAP8

Oh... oldschoolsoapfan... I bet alot of people don't know that BOTH Madeline's version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and the Supremes/Temps version are covers. Here's the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-AX5QItPE

BTW... another Sunny and Sue goodie, the were touring in 1974/75 with James Last, and here they are with Burrows and Russell Stone, all that's missing is Johnny Goodison, and you'd HAVE the Brotherhood Of Man!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrh6ZQ8cIwY

Here's a nice slice of '60s Eurovision. From 1967, Norway's Kristi Sparboe's "Dukkemann".

http://youtu.be/lin4yFoHeVM

Too bad that ensemble in the James Last video you posted couldn't have still been BoM in 1976.....maybe they would've sang something more substantial....

That song "Dukkemann" is certainly unusual... carnival music mixed with jazz! Jazz is something you rarely hear in Eurovision. Speaking of Norway, I think they were ROBBED in 1974, only three points for a song as good as this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MwSCI__Cww

Unfortunately, Norway didn't have a good record in Eurovision back in the '60s and '70s. Did they ever win the Eurovision, or place in the Top 3 or 5 at least? This is a terrific song and Anne has a great delivery here.

I don't know if they won in the 60's or 70's... i'll have to look that up. the next year, Ellen Nikolayson had an equally beautiful entry as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQgBFK6hqM

That song by Ellen Nikolayson is wonderful!! Thanks for posting!!

This is another one that got last place that was so underserved. From 1975, Turkey's entry "Seninle Bir Dakika". It's got such a beautiful atmosphere, it's very unusual and delicate. Some have suggested that Political turmoil might have played a part in Turkey coming in last that year, due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July of 1974.... I don't know if that's true. But I love the intro, with that odd music box type progression

Edited November 19, 201114 yr by alphanguy74

Unfortunately, Norway didn't have a good record in Eurovision back in the '60s and '70s. Did they ever win the Eurovision, or place in the Top 3 or 5 at least?

Norway placed in the top 5 only twice between their debut in 1960 and their first win in 1985:

Norway 1960, Nora Brockstedt "Voi voi", finished 4th:

Norway 1966, Åse Kleveland "Intet er nytt under solen", finished 3rd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWk4mh2-aO0

Åse Kleveland later hosted the ESC in Bergen, Norway 1986, and also became minister of culture in Norway 1990-1996.

alphanguy, I saw in the "What are you listening to?" thread that you like this song:

I don't know if you know this, but it was one of the songs Clodagh sang in "A Song for Europe" 1971 (the British selection for ESC), and it came 2nd behind "Jack in the box"

It also became a sizeable hit here in Sweden in a version with singer Siw-Inger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7UCg2afiGE&feature=related

I'm not a huge fan of most of the classic Eurovision songs. I prefer the recent contests (2003-present) because of the larger number of participating nations and because the contest has become more up to date. The late 80s and most of the 90s editions were dreadful.

1997 was the year when televoting was introduced, but at first only in five countries. Three of these five countries gave points to Iceland's entry which was very controversial, but also groundbreaking. Only one of the other countries, which still used juries, gave points to the song. In total, it only received 18 points and was ranked 20 in a field of 25. It should have been in the top 5!

Another gem: Netherlands 1998 (#4).

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/IkLJd9p8Xgc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Croatia 1999 (#4)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25XJV-zFqeQ

When it comes to my own country's entries, I have rarely liked any of them. However, we should have won in 1981 with that song:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/waKJ4tWPG2c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>