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Introduction
Let me preface this post by saying 1970’s music is the fucking best and you don’t get anything like it these days. It was when people put heart and soul into composing popular music and cared about making those songs good and not totally dull and repetitive. As I go through this decade, be prepared for me to pop off about songs you probably think are boring, especially if you grew up during the 70’s and took this amazing style of music for granted.
Eurovision 1970 was hosted in Amsterdam, the second host city in the Netherlands, because they were the winning country that hadn’t hosted in the longest. Unfortunately, the four-way victory last year meant that Portugal, Norway, Sweden, and Finland skipped out due to protest, and Austria and Denmark continued to skip out. This brought the contest to a new low of 12 countries, the fewest since 1959, with no returning artists from prior years. There’s a silver lining to this decrease in participants: to increase the contest’s runtime, every song was preceded by a charming little postcard video, a Eurovision tradition to this day.
With Ireland’s first of seven victories, this contest began a streak from 1970 to 1977 where every winning song was in English or French, which included the four years without the language rule. The 80’s varied the winners’ languages more, but the 90’s had so much bias towards English that the language rule ended entirely. Some countries still voluntarily uphold the language rule, and I get sad whenever I remember Germany doesn’t.
This contest began with a four-minute video showcasing streets and buildings in the Netherlands, then a hilariously short introduction from the presenter. She basically just said “good evening and welcome to Eurovision 1970” in French, English, and Dutch. It was so brief that it felt jarring.
I watched this contest with Ireland’s commentary in English, done by Valerie McGovern. As far as I know, Eurovision has never been commentated in Irish.
Netherlands: Waterman
Artist: Patricia and Hearts of Soul
Language: Dutch
Key: E♭ major, D major, F minor
Huh, apparently “waterman” is the Dutch name of Aquarius, which is a zodiac sign. It’s a relaxing little ballad with some good vocal harmonies, but the lyrics are so tacky. I can’t take anything related to astrology seriously, I’m sorry. It’s a complete load of nonsense. Also, the key changes are quite unusual. First it transitions from E♭ major to D major, then shifts up to F major.
As their name suggests, Hearts of Soul mostly released songs in English and sang in Dutch only for this contest. This song has an English version too, which reaffirms how tacky it is. Interestingly, some bands in modern Eurovision have done the reverse; for instance, in 2022 and 2023, Latvia sent bands that normally sing in Latvian but used English for Eurovision.
Switzerland: Retour
Artist: Henri Dès
Language: French
Key: F major, F♯ major
I’ve just realized: the nice thing about Eurovision postcards is that they give more time for commentators to explain the song’s meaning. The Irish commentator helpfully tells us it’s about a man who must say goodbye to his love as he goes on a trip, and though he may spend time with other girls, he will eventually return to his true love.
Given this theme, it’s surprising this song is so upbeat. This style is more fun to listen to than a Eurovision ballad, even though a ballad would suit the lyrics better. There’s even a part where he sings “ba-ba-ba-ba-ba” complete with bounce sound effects, which makes the song sound goofy and a little insincere.
At the end, the Irish commentator said, “well, he sounds very happy about saying goodbye to his girlfriend, doesn’t he?” She took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve enjoyed this commentator’s sense of humor so far.
Italy: Occhi di ragazza
Artist: Gianni Morandi
Language: Italian
Key: G major
This is a very early 70’s pop song with a very Italian style of lyrics. I’ve noticed a contrast between Spain and Italy’s styles of Eurovision entries. Spanish entries tend to use genres of music associated with Spain and Latin America, while Italy’s entries typically put an Italian lyrical cadence over instrumental styles typical of other European countries. This song is an excellent example.
The title means “Eyes of a girl”, and the singer comes off as a confident man who thinks he can win any lady’s heart. The song itself feels like a repeated chorus with no verses. It would have benefited from more variety.
Yugoslavia: Pridi, dala ti bom cvet
Artist: Eva Sršen
Language: Slovenian
Key: B♭ major, B major
D’aww, the singer in the postcard looks so happy throwing snowballs. As I write this in late June, it makes me wish it was winter again.
Anyway, about the song. What is it with Yugoslav entries and my brain telling me they’re about to sing in French? Is it just a projection of bias from my lower familiarity with Slavic languages, or is it because Slovenian sounds slightly like a Romance language? The song is clearly chanson inspired either way. It has an air of youthful hope, and the lyrics use flowers as a metaphor for the only person she’s in love with.
Valerie McGovern described this song as “very ungimmicky”, an amusing observation that I strongly agree with. She has to be my favorite commentator so far. I like that she tells us in advance what the lyrics are about but saves remarks about the songs’ style for the end.
Belgium: Viens l’oublier
Artist: Jean Vallée
Language: French
Key: E major
Fun fact: Belgium is the only Francophone country whose postcard wasn’t filmed in Paris. Luxembourg, Monaco, and even Switzerland had their postcards in the same city as France for some reason.
Anyway, this is the second song in French whose lyrics sound a little patronizing towards women. The lyrics basically mean, “come on, forget about your ex already, he was a total jerk”, with a hidden implication of “I’m so much better”. Well, it could technically be about a gay relationship, but even if you interpret it this way, the self-absorbed implication remains. It’s pretty boring otherwise.
France: Marie-Blanche
Artist: Guy Bonnet
Language: French
Key: F minor, F♯ minor
Switzerland sent negative lyrics over a positive song; France did the opposite. The instrumental sounds like a gloomy ballad from a stage play, but the lyrics are super positive and about how much he loves a woman named Marie-Blanche. This leaves me feeling conflicted about this song. It’s a beautiful, classical-style composition, but I don’t think the lyrics fit the song well. Maybe it would have been more fitting if the lyrics didn’t say he and Marie-Blanche were currently in a relationship, and instead were about desperate hope.
United Kingdom: Knock Knock, Who’s There?
Artist: Mary Hopkin
Language: English
Key: D major
Like “Puppet on a String” three years prior, this is a romantic song about a woman who waits for love to reach her rather than making the first move, written by two men, whose singer didn’t even like the song. And like “Puppet on a String”, it feels very… how do I put this? How a certain type of people thinks women should behave, loyal and never questioning men. I mean this both in composition and lyrics. Many songs in the contest have been rather sexist so far.
That said, I can’t deny the title makes for a splendidly catchy hook. This song succeeds at being sticky, which is probably why it got second place.
Luxembourg: Je suis tombé du ciel
Artist: David Alexandre Winter
Language: French
Key: E♭ major, E major, F major
Luxembourg sent a singer from the Netherlands whose postcard was recorded in Paris. Typical of a Eurovision wildcard country!
This is an upbeat, moderately jazzy waltz about falling in love with a woman at first sight. The title means “I have fallen from the sky”. It feels like a throwback to the first few years of Eurovision. Maybe I came in with too high expectations, since I find this year underwhelming so far and we’re two-thirds through. I’ll have to choose one of these songs as my favorite of the year. I hope at least one of the next songs piques my interest, because otherwise, it’ll just be a question of which song bores me the least.
Spain: Gwendolyne
Artist: Julio Iglesias
Language: Spanish
Key: E♭ minor
With his bright blue suit, Julio Iglesias almost looks like a cartoon businessman, or the kind of guy you’d see on corporate art. You might see someone wearing a suit of this color in an animation explaining COVID-19 safety measures or airplane emergency exits, not a real-life businessman, and certainly not a singer on stage. It’s such a weird color for a suit and pants to be!
Given that it’s by a big-name Spanish singer, this song disappoints me as well. It’s pretty much just an average ballad about how much he loves a woman who long left him named Gwendolyne.
Monaco: Marlène
Artist: Dominique Dussault
Language: French, plus some German and English at the end
Key: E major (mostly, probably), F major at the end
I just realized almost half of this contest is in French. Out of the five French-language songs in this contest, only this one is sung by a woman. The high amount of French is because six non-Francophone countries skipped the contest, and all five Francophone countries sang in French.
This song is about the German actor Marlene Dietrich and how great of a person she was—someone the singer feels she could never live up to. Perhaps it’s fitting that it sounds like a stage play song, with its frequently changing key. She performs a lot of gestures matching the lyrics, and even sings a bit in German and English, referencing the languages Marlene herself spoke in. It’s a quirky subject for this contest, thus a little more memorable than the others.
Germany: Wunder gibt es immer wieder
Artist: Katja Ebstein
Language: German
Key: E major
Both of the top two scoring songs were in English, but you know which language came in third place? That’s right, German! One song in German scored higher than five songs in French. Take THAT, French speakers who think your language is sooooo special! (German normally performs much worse than French at Eurovision, and it’s much rarer in the contest today. Let me have this, OK?)
I have to wonder if any children watching this postcard thought Katja was teleporting. She sure looks like she is, what with all the camera cuts in the same location. I will pretend she was teleporting because I think that’s hilarious.
The title means “Wonders always happen”, and it gives an optimistic message telling listeners that even if their life seems hopeless today, wonders do happen, especially romantic. It stands out from the other songs for its heavy use of blues piano. Now this is closer to the 70’s Eurovision bangers I was so excited to analyze!
Ireland: All Kinds of Everything (the winner)
Artist: Dana Rosemary Scallon
Language: English
Key: B♭ major, B major
Wow, I can’t believe we’re already at the last song! This contest was short compared to previous ones, and I breezed through most songs, so that’s why.
I find it endearing that the Irish presenter couldn’t hold in her excitement about Dana’s performance. This was a contest where British fans and Spanish fans were confident that their respective entries would win, but Ireland won for the first time instead. In a contest where most songs were dull, and the last one is a memorable sugar-sweet waltz about love in English, I’m not surprised it won. It’s well composed, supremely well sung, and easy to remember how it goes, especially with the hook “all kinds of everything remind me of you”. It easily has the most wow factor of anything in this contest.
Among romantic ballads in Eurovision, we haven’t gotten any with lyrics quite as dreamy and heartfelt as this. The lyrics say that everything she sees around her in daily life, whether in nature or in human activities, reminds her of her love interest. It’s an earnest love song whose lyrical style feels like poetry.
Fun fact: Kirsti Sparboe, the unlucky three-time representative of Norway, covered this song in Norwegian and Swedish. This song fits both languages like a glove!
Who’s my favorite?
I already said which song had the most wow factor: Ireland, All Kinds of Everything. Otherwise, France and Germany’s songs were the most enjoyable.
- Denmark, 1
- Finland, 1
- Germany, 2
- Ireland, 1
- Luxembourg, 2
- Netherlands, 5
- Norway, 1
- Sweden, 2
- (7 winners)
Every country on this list speaks at least one Germanic language officially, but it feels wrong to call Ireland a “Germanic country”. From what I know, Irish people hold their Celtic identity in high regard.
General thoughts:
The presentation of this contest was charming, especially with all the postcards, but this was a dull year otherwise. The audience was most excited about Ireland’s entry, and I can’t blame them. The Dutch presenter was quite serious and didn’t say much; I’m not sure if she said more things while the TV audience saw the postcards. With her alternation between Dutch, English, and French, she almost sounded like an announcer at an airport. The Irish commentator, on the other hand, was delightfully excited about her country’s entry. This is the only Eurovision she’s known to have commentated on; most other Irish commentators around this time are unknown.
Also, I LOVED the “This is a very cheerful Dublin calling” from the Irish jury. I love how excited Irish people were for their country to win. Even half a century later, I am super happy for all Irish Eurovision fans and staff that their country won. I can tell that Lenny Kuhr, the Netherlands’ winner from last year who gave Dana the trophy, was proud of her too.
EDIT: About six months later, after watching many contests with Terry Wogan’s commentary, I feel in retrospect that Valerie McGovern was like a female Terry Wogan. Both are even from Ireland!
See you next time for the first Eurovision with Malta as a competitor.
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