What are your favorites? Which ones should have won? Which ones won but didn't deserve to? Also... were there any finalists from individual countries which never made it to the contest, which you feel should have? By researching Eurovision entries, I ahve found SO MANY songs i've never heard before that I truly LOVE. My favorite of all of them is this one, and i'm totally hacked off that I can't seem to find it on CD in any form!

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

It's too bad that so many of the finals were erased. I never liked the 1971 entry... I was never a big fan of Family Four, for what reason, I don't know... but for 1971, I like this song better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH5aYoMZUBo

The Swiss trio Peter, Sue and Marc hold a very special record in the history of the ESC, and that record will probably not be broken for a long time, if at all. They appeared 4 times during the 70s and early 80s, and every time they sang in a different language:

1971, French

1976, English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUTRJI11N-k

1979, German

1981, Italian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRB4DA5QncA

Is this Britain's answer to the Belgian duo Hugo & Nicole?

Bardo, "One step further", 1982 (7th place)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC860mVrydQ

Yes, I WOULD say it's Britian's answer to Hugo and Nicole, the outfits aren't any better, but the choreography is even more ridiculous. He's GORGEOUS, though... have to admit. At least they can sing, the song is kind of cute

One of the winners that I love and think desevered it was Severine from 1971, great song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H6jgprYU_o

Now, as cute as the guy from Bardo is... for me, the most beuatiful man to grace the Eurovision stage was Markku Aro in 1971. I refuse to post that song, because it is so HORRIBLE, and those blonde doublemint twins dancing behind him drvies me up the wall. But here is a video of him from the same year, and although not a Eurovision entry, it's a song I like very well... his beauty in this clip almost makes you go blind! LOL

Look very closely at his face,and you'll se he DOES resemble John Paul Lavoisier, except prettier. Kind of an odd video at the beginning, as he appears to be singing to a trio of flowering cabbages! what an odd set decoration.

Edited January 2, 201213 yr by alphanguy74

My love affair with Eurovision began in the early 1980s when my parents decided that I was old enough to stay up and watch it. Looking through all the clips on Youtube has brought back a lot of memories from that time. I remember sitting on my swing in the backyard and singing songs from the contest for anyone who wanted to listen (and probably a few who didn't...... ). Naturally I had no idea what I was singing, and I made up most of the words, but I had fun. Here are a few of the songs I remember torturing my neighbours with.....

UK, 1983 (Sweet Dreams - "I'm never giving up")

Austria, 1982 (Mess - "Sonntag")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTJ-Wjx2St0

Israel, 1983 (Ofra Haza - "Hi")

Israel, 1982 (Avi Toledano - "Hora")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWj8M0Dz558

Luxembourg, 1980 (Sophie & Magaly - "Le papa pingouin") This song is my oldest memory of Eurovision!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kfLgzXjxZQ

In 1996 the group One More Time represented Sweden with this song:

The male member of the group, Peter Grönvall, is the son of Benny Andersson from ABBA.

The group had entered the Swedish qualification twice already in the 80s, with a slightly different line-up, and a different name, Sound of Music.

1986 (This year the songs weren't performed live but in music videos. Sorry about the poor sound quality)

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

1987:

One of the more famous (or in this case maybe infamous) composers in Eurovision history is Serge Gainsbourg. He's probably most famous for the song "Je T'aime....Moi Non Plus" that he performed with his then lover Jane Birkin. This song was banned in several countries due to the sexual content, but it did reach number 1 in the UK. The song was originally written for, and performed by, Brigitte Bardot, but her version was withdrawn and not released until 1986.

Gainsbourg was not a stranger to controversy though. In 1965 he had written the ESC entry for Luxembourg, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", performed by the young French singer France Gall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4SOk2pIPjI

It won the contest and was a smash hit. The collaboration between Gainsbourg and Gall ended badly though when a song that he wrote for her, "Les Sucettes" (Lollipops), caused a scandal in France. The song was full of double-meanings and strong sexual innuendo about oral sex. France Gall, who was still a teenager at this time, had not been aware of this when she recorded it. This record severely damaged her career for a long time, and to this day she refuses to talk about, or perform, these songs.

Gainsbourg returned to Eurovision in 1967, this time representing Monaco, with another young singer, Minouche Barelli, at the microphone. "Boum Badaboum" could not match the success of "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" and finished in fifth place:

Serge Gainsbourg would make one final appearance in Eurovision, in 1990. This time his song, "White and Black Blues" represented his home country of France. Performed by Joëlle Ursull, the song finished in joint second place with Ireland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pc7E1mVNMc

Serge Gainsbourg died less than a year later, on March 2 1991, of a heart attack.

I'm sad that Poland dropped out of this year's contest although their recent entries have been quite lackluster. However, their 2011 entry "Jestem" definitely did not deserve to end up last in the semi final.

My favorite Polish entry has to be Ich Troje's "Keine Grenzen / Żadnych granic" from the 2003 contest, sung in German, Polish and Russian. The song received 12 points from Germany.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8nGZAzG429w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ich Troje later returned to the contest in 2006, again for Poland, singing in English, German, Polish and Russian. However, they didn't manage to qualify from the semi final, ending up in 11th place.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pDYXSk-UraI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edited January 22, 201213 yr by Huntress

I think that Poland peaked with their very first entry in 1994, Edyta Gorniak and "To Nie Ja". It finished in 2nd place, which is still their best result.

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

Speaking of coming 2nd.... the United Kingdom have the (unbeatable?) record when it comes to that in the ESC. Between 1959 and 1998 they managed to end up in second place no less than 15 times!! Some examples:

1961, The Allisons - Are You Sure

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

1965, Kathy Kirby - I Belong

1970, Mary Hopkin - Knock, Knock, Who's There?

1972, The New Seekers - Beg, Steal or Borrow

...and some more:

1988, Scott Fitzgerald - Go

1992, Michael Ball - One Step Out of Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LphWy264gVg

1998, Imaani - Where Are You?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUe3EZUKDqU

and, from 1968, perhaps the most famous runner-up of all:

Cliff Richard - Congratulations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5GwF5B1uFU

I LOVE "Beg, Steal, Or Borrow". And I like "Congratulations", too. I'm surprised Cliff reigned in his dancing, when he performed this on the Pop Go The Sixties special, he did a nelly freak out dance that would make Elton John look butch. His background singer here are adorable, in those pink baby doll dresses, and they have a great sound.

Edited January 31, 201213 yr by alphanguy74

The episode of Cilla from 1968 which was used for the UK final selection is up on youtube, and you can see which songs lost to "Congratulations". This is one that I like just as much as "Congratulations", if not a bit better:

And this one fascinates me, very unusual song, kind of Bacharach-like in it's progression. It needed a lusher arrangement, and Cliff really screwed up the final note... this song had real potential if done right:

They're both nice songs, but I think "Congratulations" was the better choice. It's simple and instantly hummable.

A song that I just discovered last year is the Swiss entry from 1972, "C'est la chanson de mon amour" with Véronique Müller. It finished in 8th place, but I love this song and with a better singer (Véronique's voice is rather weak and wobbly) I think it could have done better.