Intro Post

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Today, Malmö was confirmed as the host city for Eurovision 2024, matching the host city after last time Loreen won. Since it’s at the southern tip of Sweden, it’s a convenient location for people in nearby countries like Denmark and Germany.

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Introduction

Aside from the victory of Sweden’s ABBA, one of the most famous bands in the history of the world, what else is notable about Eurovision 1974? Quite a few things.

Because Luxembourg declined to host twice in a row, it took place in the city where I was born: Brighton, England. I have not been there since I was a baby. The contest happened to be in the year my father was born. If those coincidences weren’t crazy enough, I was born in a year where Sweden won with an upbeat pop song in swing rhythm and major key too (1999).

This contest is one of only two that France skipped, because their president Georges Pompidou had recently died. This also meant Anne-Marie David, the previous winner, couldn’t give ABBA their prize; the BBC director Charles Curran did so instead. France did have a song ready, and I’ll review it as a bonus. This is far from the only year where a country selected a song but then withdrew. I view those withdrawn songs similarly to the canceled 2020 contest—they’re the “what could have been” of Eurovision history.

Greece made its debut in this contest this year. The country has a reputation for embracing its ethnic music in Eurovision, but not quite as much in recent years. They’ve won the contest only once, in 2005, and their best results after that were three third places.

The voting system returned to each jury distributing ten points between each country, but only for one year. 1975 would bring us a system closer to what we know today. I watched the contest with commentary in German, from the non-participating Austria. Because there was no Austrian jury, the commentator offered for viewers to pick their own favorite via phone. (Also, postcards are back!)

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Finland: Keep Me Warm

Artist: Carita Holmström

Language: English

Key: C major

If you’re a video game music nerd like I am, you might recognize the postcard’s background music from the 2004 platformer Cave Story. Indeed, it’s a piano arrangement of “Letkis” by the Finnish Jenka All Stars, which the Cave Story song “Jenka 1” is based on.

This is a strong start to the contest! It’s a hopeful pop tune with a bit of soul sound and down to earth lyrics, where the singer plays piano quite well. It has exactly the style of complex composition that makes 70’s Eurovision interest me so much. I can close my eyes and imagine a 70’s or 80’s live action movie opening with this song, perhaps a montage of the city where the movie takes place. It simply has that energy, I can’t explain why. I was curious if this song had a Finnish version, and it does. It’s about equally as good as the English version.

United Kingdom: Long Live Love

Artist: Olivia Newton-John, who died in 2022

Language: English

Key: B major, C major

After the reserved piano pop tune Finland sent, this is quite a mood whiplash. Just like 1967 and 1970, this is a British entry that fans adored but the ultra-famous female singer didn’t like. Fittingly, the backing singers look and sound much happier than Olivia herself. I have the same thoughts on this song as the other two British entries of this type. I can appreciate the catchiness, but it sounds childish and frilly. At least the lyrics aren’t about a woman being submissive, but rather standard “love is great” stuff. Unlike “Puppet on a String” and “Knock Knock, Who’s There”, one of the songwriters was a woman this time.

Spain: Canta y sé feliz

Artist: Peret (Pedro Pubill Calaf)

Language: Spanish

Key: E major and E minor, back and forth

With the emphasized guitar, backing dancers, romantic lyrics, and backing brass riffs, this song screams Spain. That’s helped by the theme of the lyrics, which are that to be happy, you should live life in the moment and sing. Peret was keen on showing off his guitar skills, shown by the riffs in the intro and tapping the guitar’s back in the middle. It’s a fun flashy ethnic song, but once I start to feel the song, it ends. Maybe it wouldn’t have felt short if it had more of a bridge section. The part where he taps the guitar is less of a bridge section and more like the start of the final chorus where the instrumental is stripped down.

Norway: The First Day of Love

Artist: Anne-Karine Strøm and the Bendik Singers, returning from 1973

Language: English

Key: A major in the chorus, A minor in the verses, B♭ major at the end

Haha, of course Norway’s postcard features skiing. It’s the first thing that pops to many people’s minds when they think of Norway, so this postcard embraces the obvious. It’s like the windmills behind the Netherlands’ singer in 1959.

Anne-Karine performed as part of the Bendik Singers last year, but she’s credited separately this time because she was the lead vocalist. The Austrian commentator said he had heard the song multiple times and found it a little old-fashioned. I can see why he thinks that, but I think a song sounding dated is never inherently a bad thing (and it sounds like he has the same stance). In fact, I despise when people deride a perfectly good song clearly inspired by past decades’ music for sounding “dated”. I feel that in many such songs, sounding dated is exactly the point.

That said, this song doesn’t seem to me as intentionally retro, just sort of… not as well thought out as “It’s Just a Game”, let’s say. The Bendik Singers sound better as an equal quartet, maybe because it balances out all their non-native English singing voices together. The three backing singers only sing the lyrics in the final chorus. Their previous entry was miles better.

Greece: Krasí, thálassa ke t’ agóri mou (Κρασί, θάλασσα και τ’ αγόρι μου)

Artist: Marinella (Kyriaki Papadopoulou)

Language: Greek, another one of Europe’s prettiest languages

Key: C major, D♭ major

Although I’ve been outspoken against saying languages are inherently more beautiful than others, there’s no denying it: I am head over heels for the sound of Greek. It has most of the same sounds of Spanish, but shuffled up to sound like something totally new. It sounds sexy, OK? I think Greek sounds sexy.

Thanks to the inseparable duo of Greece and Cyprus, Greek is moderately common in Eurovision after the language rule was lifted. Greece last used it in 2018, Cyprus in 2022 (as part of a song). Out of the Greek-language songs I’ve heard from Eurovision, my favorite is easily “Alcohol Is Free” from 2013.

This feels like a Greek counterpart to Spain’s entry. It prominently features a bouzouki to parallel Spain’s acoustic guitar (though not played by the singer), it has a lot of backing vocals, and the lyrics are romantic in a Greek way. The title means “wine, the sea, and my boyfriend”, and the lyrics say that those are the three most important things to the singer. I’m not a fan of the slowdown before the key change, but this is still a good start for Greece.

Israel: Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי)

Artist: Kavaret, a band who went by Poogy in Eurovision

Language: Hebrew

Key: E minor

Hey, I recognize “Hava Nagila” from the postcard. I learned that song on piano at one point.

We’re only at Israel’s second entry, and we’ve already reached a song about the main reason Israel is so controversial: the Israel/Palestine conflict. It’s by a band famous for political satire, and typical for this type of Eurovision entry, the meaning of the lyrics is indirect and veiled under metaphors. The title means “I gave her my life” and the lyrics espouse an independent Palestine. Reading a translation, the message seems to be something like, “people are so obsessed with winning arguments that they never consider how to achieve peace”. Musically, it’s a fun folk rock song that feels very 70’s and very Israeli.

Here’s another interesting fact. Kavaret consisted of seven members, but the contest allowed a maximum of six performers on stage, which is still true today. The band got around this restriction by having their keyboard player conduct the orchestra. That wouldn’t be possible today!

Yugoslavia: Generacija ’42 (Генерација ’42)

Artist: Korni Grupa

Language: Serbo-Croatian (Serbian)

Key: I don’t fucking know in the verses, E major in the chorus

Wow, the architecture in this postcard looks so much more communist than the rest. For obvious reasons.

Anyway, we have two entries related to real-world events in a row. This time, the Austrian commentator told us it’d be political, but it doesn’t seem as political as the last one. It’s mostly a reflection on what it’s like being in the generation born in World War II, thirty years after the war.

These guys are wearing some extremely 70’s outfits. I like that they’re matching styles, each a different color under the white suits. The song itself is unusual compositionally. The verses heavily change keys like a piece of classical music, but the choruses sound much more like a normal pop song. This contrast doesn’t unify the verses and choruses, but rather feels like two compositions clumsily stitched together. It could’ve totally been two separate songs; one with a verse that matches its choruses, one with a chorus that matches its verses.

Sweden: Waterloo (the winner)

Artist: ABBA. You already know them.

Language: English. You already knew that.

Key: D major. If you like memorizing songs’ keys, you already know that.

You already know this song. It’s pretty much impossible to be a human that exists without knowing about ABBA, and it’s just as impossible to be a Eurovision fan without knowing they won in 1974. But what you may not know is that this song won with only 24 points. Compare that to 129 points in 1973 and 152 points in 1975. Obviously this is a result of the “10 points per jury” voting system in 1974, which was discontinued the next year. One can only speculate if ABBA would’ve won under a different voting system.

Before writing this review, I pondered at length how I would tackle this world-famous song. ABBA is so globally known that I fear any words I could say about them would just be stories everyone knows. Now, I’ve chosen what to do: I will compare it to similar entries of the past few years, then analyze why it became so much more successful than them.

In prior Eurovision contests, the two most comparable artists to ABBA are the Family Four from Sweden and the Bendik Singers from Norway. All three are quartets of two men and women from Nordic countries. I’ll ignore the advantage of singing in English and focus on the composition and presentation. The Family Four’s first entry, “Vita vidder”, has some catchy upbeat sections but is weighed down by the quiet sections, which are more dominant. Their second entry, “Härliga sommardag”, has a stronger focus on lively sections, but it still doesn’t commit to being energetic. However, the Family Four had the right idea with their presentation and staging.

The Bendik Singers’ entries are more consistently energetic. Ignoring my personal love of the song, “It’s Just a Game” probably seemed a little too goofy and gimmicky for the audience’s tastes. Contrasting against the Family Four, the Bendik Singers went full-out bouncy, and thus beyond the sweet spot for maximum audience appeal. As for “The First Day of Love”, which I just got done reviewing… there’s a reason ABBA chose a song that featured both their female vocalists equally. A multi-singer act in Eurovision is most appealing when the singers share the spotlight, not when all but one singer takes a backseat.

With their song “Waterloo”, ABBA reached exactly the right level of energetic to appeal to mass audiences. It’s bouncy but not too bouncy, and flashy without seeming like it tries too hard. Plus, the staging connects to the song’s theme perfectly. The song’s lyrics use the Battle of Waterloo as an analogy for a romantic relationship, where a woman surrenders to a man and promises to love him. They’re dressed in military-like outfits that are colorful but not too colorful, while the conductor is cosplaying as Napoleon.

Compared to the four prior entries I just discussed, this performance brought something totally new to the Eurovision table. After a small uptick in rock entries, ABBA shifted the contest away from dramatic ballads and towards lively, punchy pop-rock music. Their influence resounds in many of the winners for the next few decades, and even some entries to this day. All I ask is that you don’t forget about the other entries this year!

Luxembourg: Bye Bye I Love You

Artist: Ireen Sheer, a German-English singer

Language: French with a thick English accent, plus the title repeated in English

Key: B♭ major, B major

Ireen Sheer did not need to sing in French, god dammit. Even if it weren’t for the language rule’s repeal, she could’ve totally sung it in German! Take it from someone who learned French throughout elementary school—she sounds exactly like an English speaker who learned French in school and seldom speaks it otherwise. Her English accent when singing in French completely distracts me from the rest of the song. You could argue the accent is part of the song’s purpose, because it’s about an English speaker falling in love with a French speaker, but it’s super distracting anyway. If her French sounded closer to native, that would’ve made the song seem more sincere, like she learned fluent French for the sake of her love interest.

She’s also released versions in English and German, which I can analyze musically instead of fixating on her accent. The English version is an ordinary slow pop song that I don’t enjoy much. It relies on a bassline with slow repeated notes, which I don’t find that pleasant to listen to. The German version has an English accent, but not as strong as the French one; I can ignore the accent if I try hard enough. At least until she sings the word “memories”; that feels like a second-language German speaker filling in a word they don’t know. I admittedly do that a lot when speaking German, but it has no excuse to be in a song. Musically, it feels like the song was designed to be in German, but I simply can’t get into it regardless of the language.

In this sense, the French version might be the best one in a weird, twisted way. Her accent distracts me from how bland it is musically… hold on, let me check the results… wait, WHAT?! HOW DID IT GET FOURTH PLACE??? Two of its 14 votes came from French-speaking countries (Monaco and Belgium), somehow. This result just makes no goddamn sense. It tied fourth place with the UK as well as Monaco, whose song I’m right about to review.

Monaco: Celui qui reste et celui qui s’en va

Artist: Romuald Figuier, returning from 1964 (Monaco) and 1969 (Luxembourg)

Language: French

Key: C major, D♭ major

This is a breakup song whose title means “the one who stays and the one who leaves”. The lyrics contrast those two roles in a breakup, saying that the one who gets dumped is always more devastated than the one who leaves. Romuald’s first two songs blended with the others of the time period, and I’m afraid this one does too. It’s a standard ballad about two-thirds of the way between “old-timey Eurovision ballad” and “middle-timey Eurovision ballad”. It is at this point I wish “medieval” could be used in relative terms like “ancient” or “modern”. If you’re confused what I mean by “middle-timey”, think of songs like “Hold Me Now”.

Belgium: Fleur de liberté

Artist: Jacques Hustin

Language: French

Key: B major

According to the Austrian commentator, when this song began, Sweden was in the lead for fans’ vote on their favorite song, followed by the UK and Israel—all three unsurprising picks.

This is a very average 70’s pop song that doesn’t make me feel anything in particular. If it was in a contest from the 60’s, it would’ve stood out, but here it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s better not to force myself to say something about a song.

Netherlands: I See a Star

Artist: Mouth and MacNeal

Language: English

Key: E major, F major

The Netherlands was quick to take advantage of the change in language restrictions, as you can see. Their entries from 1974 to 1976 are in English; the first of these got third place and the second won. Since 1999, only two Eurovision songs have been in Dutch: the Netherlands’ entries in 2010 and 2022. That’s still less of a drought than Germany with their language, sadly.

The postcard has Mouth (the male singer) dragging MacNeal (the female singer) on a wagon while carrying balloons and laughing, which foreshadows that this will be one of the contest’s more playful songs. Indeed it is. The song is about two lovers seeing stars in each other’s eyes, but Willem Duyn (Mouth) later revealed it’s about the effects of marijuana too. With lyrics like “you opened up my eyes for all the beauty / The beauty we’re inhaling every day”, I think the drug theming is quite blatant. I get weirded out whenever people talk about smoking weed and I fail to see what’s so great about it, but I’ve never tried it so what do I know. Regardless of my personal feelings on drugs, I enjoy it a lot when songs have double meanings, like this does.

Musically, this is a fun song with a variety of instruments. I like how the chorus section starts with a barrel organ section wound up by Mouth himself, then a piano and strings section, then the song’s regular full instrumentation. This works surprisingly well for a chorus.

I wondered if this song had a Dutch version, and it does. The lyrics are a bit different, about seeing a faraway star that’s soon to come closer; maybe it’s about the first few seconds of inhaling cannabis, before the effects kick in? The German version takes a more literal interpretation of the title, about a golden star in the sky that indicates a lasting romance. The French version isn’t about stars at all, but about people who want to love each other in freedom.

Ireland: Cross Your Heart

Artist: Tina Reynolds

Language: English

Key: F major, F♯ major

Tina Reynolds almost replaced Maxi in Ireland’s entry last year. To make up for the fact that she didn’t, she was offered to represent Ireland in this contest. Although she accepted it, she doesn’t look too thrilled to wear a dress with such a revealing top half. It’s so tight that you can see her nipples poking through.

Otherwise, this is just an ordinary pop song that doesn’t do much for me. The slowdown before the key change made me groan.

Germany: Die Sommermelodie

Artist: Cindy and Bert (Jutta Gusenberger and Norbert Berger)

Language: German

Key: G minor and G major in alternation, then A♭ major at the end

Another song alternating between minor and major keys that feels like two songs in one. The whole song has some good ideas and solid chord progressions, but it’s strangely slow throughout and has some big slowdowns at the start of its first chorus. That makes the song sound more depressing than it probably was intended. Unfortunately, it’s a drag to listen to, and it seems most German fans at the time found it weak too.

Switzerland: Mein Ruf nach dir

Artist: Piera Martel

Language: German

Key: G minor and G major in alternation, then A♭ major at the end

Piera Martela’s dress is the opposite of the Irish singer’s and covers most of her.

As for my thoughts on this song, just reread my review of “Die Sommermelodie”. I have exactly the same thoughts. I can see why this and Germany tied for last place, although the other two last place songs are more surprising. One is Norway, and the other is…

Portugal: E depois do adeus

Artist: Paulo de Carvalho

Language: Portuguese

Key: D major and D minor in alternation

This song is most famous for being used as a secret signal to start the Carnation Revolution, but that wasn’t during Eurovision itself. Rather, it was played on Portuguese radios a few weeks after the contest as an alert for to soldiers to start the coup. Unlike a few prior entries like “Tourada”, the lyrics weren’t at all related to the Portuguese dictatorship, which is exactly why it was chosen as a secret signal. It’s crazy how much you can learn about world history just by binging this song contest.

Aside from this well-known fact, this is just an ordinary pop song in the major key parts, but I enjoy the piano in the minor key parts quite a lot. It’s yet another song where the minor key sections interest me more than the rest.

Italy: Sì

Artist: Gigliola Cinquetti, who won in 1964

Language: Italian

Key: F minor in the verses, A major and C major and then E♭ major in the choruses. An odd combo if I say so myself!

If you thought Portugal’s song had the most interesting political history in this contest, wait till you hear about this one. Because the song repeats its title (Italian for “yes”), and because Italy had a referendum on whether to keep divorce illegal, it was banned from Italian radio stations for a month and cut out of Italy’s broadcast of this contest. It sounds like the broadcaster RAI badly wanted divorce to be legalized. Despite scoring second place in this contest, these political events stifled the song’s popularity.

Gigliola Cinquetti looks very different from ten years prior. Well, obviously, because she was 16 back then. Her voice sounds different too, a lot more mature. This song, contrasting against the other multi-key entries, has all the contrasting parts flow into each other beautifully. These sections represent the contrast between the nervousness of proposing to the man she loves, and the exhilaration of saying yes. It’s a very artistic song, and I mean that in a good way. I don’t think music in Italian (or any language) sounds automatically classy, but this one completely does. It unsurprisingly had a lot of alternate language versions, but I don’t feel a need to review those. The song stands excellently on its own.

France: La vie à 25 ans (withdrawn)

Artist: Dani (Danièle Graule)

Language: French

Key: D major

I almost forgot I wanted to review this song, as a bonus. It was going to be sung between Ireland and Germany. It’s a charming, subdued pop song with hints of minor key about the joys of life at 25 years old. I would’ve certainly liked to see it on stage. It probably would have scored highly.

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Who’s my favorite?

Even if they weren’t one of the most famous bands of all time, ABBA is easily the highlight of the contest. None of the other songs are as lively and full of energy as Sweden, Waterloo. Apologies if you wanted a more eccentric choice.

• Austria, 1
• Denmark, 1
• Finland, 1
• Germany, 2
• Ireland, 1
• Luxembourg, 2
• Netherlands, 5
• Norway, 2
• Portugal, 1
• Sweden, 3
• (8 winners)

If I award the prize to the obvious choice, it’s only fair to give some honorable mentions. Those go to Finland’s “Keep Me Warm”, a surprisingly pretty piano tune, and Italy’s “Sì”, an artistic piece with a lot of interesting key changes. I even considered listing Finland as my winner.

General thoughts:

According to the Austrian commentator, in the phone votes among fans, the top three songs were Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands. It’s not far from the official results, but Italy came second instead.

For some reason, the interval act this year was based on a British kids’ puppet show of the time, called The Wombles. At the end, someone in a Wombles costume held up a sign saying “Vote for the Wombles”, which reminds us that in this era of Eurovision, the wackiest parts were interval acts. You could see this as the 70’s equivalent to Peppa Pig appearing in this year’s Eurovision, I guess? I have no idea whether the Wombles had an adult fanbase at that time.

The voting was much like the “ten points per jury” system common in the 1960’s, but with a small twist. The order of the juries was randomized, and as a contingency plan, if a country’s jury could not be reached, they’d be saved for the end. A few extra fun moments: The Finnish jury jokingly gave points to the British presenter, as a gesture of appreciation. I also like that the presenter said “good evening” in the national language of every jury; some juries even praised her pronunciation, like Yugoslavia. In the audience, Gigliola Cinquetti looked excited to get points, but also nervous about whether she’d win again.

All in all, this year was super fun to review! There were a few boring songs, but most of the others, I had a lot of interesting things to say about. I loved the variety of genres between bouncy pop, classic-style ballads, and eccentric rock songs like Israel and the Netherlands. Between ABBA’s victory, the signal for Portugal’s revolution, and the presence of other big names like Olivia Newton-John and Gigliola Cinquetti, it’s safe to say this was one of the most influential years in Eurovision history.

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See you next time for the year with a song I’m unreasonably obsessed with: Ding-a-Dong.

>> 1975: The Year of Songs About Songs