26April
The first in a short series (three or four weeks, no more) of songs from this century's Eurovision song contests. First, we go back to the first contest of the century, and probably one of the worst. The Parken in Copenhagen was a football stadium with a temporary roof over the top. It had about ten million people present, including Dr. Death and the Tooth Fairy. Now, we wouldn't normally give credence to the drunken ramblings of Terry Wogan, but he hit the nail on the head for the 2001 presenters. They were out of their league, and they presented the entire contest in rhyming couplets.
To add to the contest's problems, the winning song was singularly rubbish. Does anyone remember Dave and Tanar performing Everybody
? Or Lindsay Dracass, who submitted the obligatory rubbish from Britain? It's not as though there wasn't some talent on display; one of the performers from the Greek entry would go on to win the whole shebang four years later, Muimy Troll and Skamp continue to have significant careers in the Baltics, and the Swedish entry got a sitcom named after them.
Languishing in fourth place was the French entry, performed by one of our favourite singers, Natasha St-Pier. As with all songs that require three or four listens to get, it didn't do as well at Eurovision as it deserved, but it has aged very well indeed. Far better than the hosts' patter.
And if anyone from Danmarks Radio is reading this, we understand that Mr. Wogan is scheduled to pass through your country en route to this year's competition in Helsinki. If you pass a retrospective law making it illegal to compare Danes to the Bride of Frankenstein, punishable by immediate deportation back home, we're not going to object.
