Intro Post

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Introduction

Eurovision 1979 was the first of four contests hosted outside Europe: three in Israel and one in Azerbaijan. The one contest hosted in Turkey was in its European portion. Both 1979 and 1999 were hosted in the Jerusalem International Convention Center, meaning they’re tied for the southernmost Eurovision contest; 2019 was a little further north, in Tel Aviv. It was also the easternmost host city until 2012, when Azerbaijan hosted. The introduction sequence gave me a feel for the enormous history of Jerusalem. It’s a holy city for three major religions, it’s been fought over by many nations and empires, and it’s the subject of a dispute today.

All countries returned from last year, except for Turkey—their Arab neighbors pressured them to skip it, even though they had a song ready. It was Monaco’s last time participating until 2004. Israel won the contest twice in a row, becoming the third country to do so after Spain and Luxembourg. However, the most famous entry is Germany’s “Dschinghis Khan”, a cult classic to this day.

This contest was hosted by two presenters, again one male and one female. The female presenter was a member of the trio that sang for Israel in 1976. As a change of pace, I watched this contest with French commentary. Before the songs began, the commentator suggested the viewer to get a pencil and paper and rate every song like the juries do. As it so happens, I am doing something similar on a strange, newfangled device called a “laptop”.

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Portugal: Sobe, sobe, balão sobe

Artist: Manuela Bravo

Language: Portuguese

Key: E minor, F♯ minor

The postcards are a whole new kind of cheesy from anything before. They’re skits where actors mime over a drawing of something the country is famous for. In Portugal’s case, they fish a bottle of Portuguese wine out of the ocean. I estimate a 95% chance the Netherlands’ postcard will feature windmills.

This song brings the contest to a strong start. Normally when reviewing Eurovision songs in languages I don’t speak, I read a translation of the lyrics while I listen, but I was so immersed in this song that I forgot to do so. This is good because it means the song transcends language barriers! I love when Portuguese entries’ lyrics are very clearly in Portuguese, and this song is a good example. It’s a lovely blend of disco and traditional Portuguese music with an expressive singer. The title means “rise, rise, balloon, rise”, and the lyrics are about the desire to float away from daily life with her love interest.

You know the trope where a song strips down its instrumentation to lead into a more dramatic part? This song does this twice in two different ways, and they both sound gorgeous. After the energetic intro, the instrumentation is changed to strings and bass for the first verse, so it can pick up the energy for the rest. Second, some time after the key change, she sings over a snazzy piano interlude before the energy resumes. Stripped-down sections sound cheesy if done poorly, but here they perfectly contribute to the song.

I now feel a little bad about calling this post “Dschinghis Khan and Some Other Stuff”, because this song is pretty great too.

Italy: Raggio di luna

Artist: Matia Bazar, a band that exists today with none of the same members

Language: Italian

Key: E major, D major, E major, except they’re annoyingly halfway between keys and I listed the lower one of each

This song notably had no orchestra accompanying it, just like Italy’s controversial entry in 1966. This time, the orchestra-less song feels less out of place among the others, but it suffers from loud backing vocals. The five performers make good use of their instruments to make a mellow pop song, but it doesn’t inspire me like the previous song did.

Denmark: Disco Tango

Artist: Tommy Seebach, who died at 53 years old in 2003

Language: Danish

Key: G minor

We’ve reached the first of three Tommy Seebach songs in Eurovision. He competed to represent Denmark seven times and won three of them. Unfortunately, the last of his entries has a tragic story surrounding it, which I’ll have to discuss in my 1993 review. On the other hand, this song is quite lighthearted. It’s exactly what the title implies: a hybrid of disco and tango, like the two genres had a baby. It’s like two food ingredients that you logically think should not be allowed near each other, but somehow their tastes blend beautifully.

The French commentator said that despite the strong applause, the language barrier might impede its score. However, this song got a respectable sixth place!

Ireland: Happy Man

Artist: Cathal Dunne

Language: English

Key: D major

The song starts out energetic, but when the verse starts, I’m slammed in the face with a sappy romantic piano ballad. That’s how the whole song goes. It alternates between a ballad and an upbeat orchestral song. The song doesn’t actually feel that happy; the instrumental is slow enough that it would better fit a breakup song like “Après toi”.

Finland: Katson sineen taivaan

Artist: Katri Helena

Language: Finnish

Key: D minor

The postcards are keen on showcasing what a country is stereotypically known for—Ireland is a land of beer, Finland is ice cold all year long. They’re all playful and in good fun, but surely some viewers were annoyed by those cliches.

This song was probably inspired by “L’oiseau et l’enfant”, which Katri Helena made a lovely Finnish cover of. Both have lyrics about a woman dreaming of love like a child, a structure with dramatic buildup, a similar voice, and even a similar melody. The main differences are that it doesn’t have a vocal solo—perhaps that would have seemed too much like a copycat—and it’s in a less accessible language. I promise neither of those reasons are why it has nowhere near as much wow factor as “L’oiseau et l’enfant”. The main reason is because the chorus breaks the pace, which isn’t a bad thing inherently, but it interrupts the buildup here. Still, this is easily one of Finland’s best songs I’ve reviewed yet.

This song has an English version called “I Will Follow Starlight”. Now, if it was “I Will Follow the Starlight”, I wouldn’t be distracted thinking about a cartoon horse named Starlight Glimmer, but instead I am. I like to pretend it’s from the perspective of a pony who newly joined Starlight Glimmer’s cult. In all seriousness, this song works lyrically in English, but her accent is distracting, so the Finnish version is better.

Monaco: Notre vie c’est la musique

Artist: Laurent Vaguener (real name: Jean Baudlot)

Language: French

Key: C major in the verses, A major in the chorus

Apparently, Jean Bauldot composed video game music in the 80’s and 90’s. As is typical of European video game composers around that time, they’re all games I’ve never heard of. Some of those composers, like Tim Follin or Alberto Jose Gonzalez, have a cult following, so it’s possible he does too.

I can imagine this song’s instrumental in a kart racing game, because of the complex bassline and alternating key changes. Otherwise, this is an alright “this is how much I love music” song. The bassline is a lot more funky than the rest of the song.

Greece: Socrates (Σωκράτη)

Artist: Elpida Karayiannopoulou

Language: Greek

Key: F minor

Greece sent two songs about historical figures in a row—first Charlie Chaplin, then Socrates. It’s a lucky coincidence that the postcard and song are both about ancient Greece.

This song is extremely Greek, especially with the cadence of the lyrics. The singers are in white, beige, and maroon robes, and with some elaborate dancing, they go off about how much of a superstar Socrates was. They probably included the word “superstar” to make it understandable to viewers who don’t speak Greek. Luckily for Greek contestants, a country that shares their language would join two years later and kick off the pattern of Greece and Cyprus giving each other twelve points.

It’s probably the most Greek-sounding song I’ve reviewed yet, and I enjoy it but it’s missing some of that extra punch. Later Greek entries will give us just that.

Switzerland: Trödler und Co.

Artist: Peter, Sue, and Marc (returning from 1971 and 1976) + Pfuri, Gorps, and Kniri

Language: German

Key: C major, D♭ major

Oh hey, I recognize the name Rolf Zuckowski! He’s the conductor of this song. I got a book of his songs as a kid once, and I still have it.

This time, Peter, Sue, and Marc sent an entry even more elaborate than their last one. It’s a country blues song about music from second-hand dealers, and it’s accompanied with an interesting stage gimmick. While three of the performers sing and play piano as usual, the other three play gardening tools as instruments. Apparently, this caused them a lot of difficulty at the airport. Some of the tool instruments are plausible, but then you have obviously fake instruments like a watering can and a hose playing a horn sound.

The funny thing is that Peter, Sue, and Marc’s voices sound a lot more classy than you’d expect from such a rustic song. Sue’s voice especially sounds melodious. That contrast gives the song more charm, in my opinion. I have to appreciate them for being so committed to this gimmick, but it’s overshadowed by the iconic song that follows.

Germany: Dschinghis Khan

Artist: Dschinghis Khan. You might also know their song “Moskau”.

Language: German

Key: A minor

Now we’ve reached one of the most iconic entries of 1970’s Eurovision! It’s not as iconic as “Waterloo” (obviously), “L’oiseau et l’enfant”, or “Eres tú”, but it’s more renowned than almost anything else in this decade.

Why is this song so iconic, you might ask? Because it’s fucking awesome, and more than that, it’s peak Eurovision. It appeals to me in the same way as such masterpieces as “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”, “Alcohol Is Free”, and “Cha Cha Cha”. It’s incredibly goofy with over-the-top staging and elaborate costumes, and it’s an absolute banger at the same time.

The composition is based on the disco genre and is intricately structured to be as catchy as possible, without a single moment of rest. It starts with the instruments playing the chorus melody, which preemptively plants it in the listener’s head. The verses alternate between lyrics about the unstoppable fearlessness of Genghis Khan and some “hoo, ha” to spice it up. The entire chorus is catchy hook after catchy hook, alternating between words and sounds of laughter, and complemented by the instrumental perfectly. You don’t need to speak German to sing along to “Dsching, Dsching, Dschinghis Khan”. The singers accompany their impossibly catchy song with an easily recognizable dance routine that puts the biggest smile on my face.

Songs like this, which are whimsical and catchy at the same time, are exactly what makes Eurovision so great. More than that, I would say they define Eurovision. I can gush over the normal well-composed and well-performed songs, and I can get a good laugh out of the outlandish performances, but the real highlights of Eurovision are the songs that combine both. These kinds of entries make Eurovision not just another song contest, but a whole culture in itself. They’re exactly what countries like Ukraine and Moldova excel at.

I wish Germany sent more songs like this! Lyrics in German, plus a catchy composition and memorable performance that speakers of all languages can enjoy. Still, I am glad this country blessed us with Dschinghis Khan, which scored fourth place this year. If televoting was a thing back then, this song would’ve overwhelmingly won it. It won’t be the last delightfully bonkers entry from Germany.

Israel: Hallelujah (הללויה) (the winner)

Artist: Milk and Honey

Language: Hebrew

Key: A♭ major, A major, B♭ major, B major

This song was sandwiched between Dschinghis Khan and a prior winner, but it surprisingly won the contest anyway. Unlike “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”, it doesn’t have much winner energy, but there are some things it does right. It takes a simple, memorable melody and puts it through tons of gradual buildup, with each key change indicating the next step. It’s also notable for having the performers come in one (or two) at a time, which the juries must have found a clever surprise. However, after the glory that is “Dschinghis Khan”, I find it a bit of a dud. It sounds like the kind of relaxed song you’d hear at the start of a kids’ movie, or the kind of Eurovision entry that scores in the middle. It’s a decent song, but I’m confused that it won.

France: Je suis l’enfant soleil

Artist: Anne-Marie David, who won for Luxembourg in 1973

Language: French

Key: F minor

This song is a combination of three winners: the singer of 1973, the songwriter of 1969 (France), and the composer of 1962. When they combined their powers, they got third place behind Israel and Spain.

After winning for Luxembourg, it must have been a nice upgrade that Anne-Marie David got to represent her own country. Just like last time, she has a strong, passionate voice. This time, she gives us a moving ballad firmly in minor key about her childhood romance with a stranger and her hopes that her lover will return. Her singing voice carries this song above all else. It would have made more sense as a winner than Israel, but we’ll see how I feel about Spain’s song.

Belgium: Hey Nana

Artist: Micha Marah, begrudgingly

Language: Dutch

Key: G♯ minor

The selection of this song had a lot of controversy. It was the Dutch speakers’ turn to pick a song, and they were worse at Eurovision than the French speakers. For some reason, this year they selected a singer first, then hosted a ludicrously slow elimination process between six songs. The public eliminated three songs (one per week, then one second chance) and one song ranked highest every time, a fast and energetic pop song called “Comment ça va?”. Then a 20-member jury was in charge of picking the winner, and they ignored the public’s opinion by picking this much more boring song, infamous for having childish lyrics. Belgium had never done a selection in this style before, and thankfully never again.

Micha Marah vocally hated this song and did not record a studio version, but she was dragged into performing it anyway. Much like Sandie Shaw, she looked like she was holding in all her anger about this song for the sake of putting on a show. She ended the performance with one of the fakest smiles I’ve ever seen. This song isn’t even that bad; it’s got a nice scornful funky sound. She clearly hated it because the lyrics are sterile as fuck.

EDIT: I just learned that in 2023, Micha Marah released this song as a single because she got over her frustration! As you might expect, it has 21st-century production.

Luxembourg: J’ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux

Artist: Jeane Manson, who’s from my home state of Ohio! Cleveland, specifically.

Language: French

Key: F major, temporarily F♯ major

As far as non-native French speakers representing Luxembourg go, Jeane’s French isn’t too bad. However, this is just a love ballad that doesn’t interest me at all.

Netherlands: Colorado

Artist: Sandra Reemer, returning from 1972 and 1976

Language: Dutch

Key: G major, A♭ major

I was right, the postcard had a lot of windmills. 25 of them, to be exact. Why wouldn’t it have windmills?

Accompanied by four guitarists and a drummer, Sandra sings about a trip to the U.S. state of Colorado. I’m guessing the composition was meant to sound American. It’s an alright song overall, but it spends a bit too much time repeating the chorus, and the guitars don’t get to do much except in the bridge.

Sweden: Satellit

Artist: Ted Gärdestad

Language: Swedish

Key: B♭ major

This is another artist who sadly died young. He committed suicide in 1997, at 41 years old.

As a composition, this song is very interesting! It’s similar in some ways to “Hold the Line” by Toto, especially due to the six-beat repeated piano chords and low guitar lines. It’s mostly in major key, but actually starts in its relative minor G minor) in the instrumental portions. The verses then elegantly transition to its major key through a lot of yummy dominant seventh chords.

Unfortunately, all these positive thoughts only apply to the studio version. When it was cut down from 4.5 to 3 minutes and adapted to an orchestra, the song lost its soul and felt a lot emptier. In particular, the guitar was neutered when performed live—I’m not even sure if it’s a guitar there, or just brass instruments. I don’t know why no one is playing guitar on the stage. It’s just as integral to the song as the piano, which Ted played on stage.

It was totally possible to adapt guitar-heavy songs to the stage in this era of Eurovision, such as “Let Me Be the One” three years ago. This song just didn’t do it well for some reason. It scored only eight points, six of which were from Ireland. Shame because the studio version is a lovely song.

Norway: Oliver

Artist: Anita Skorgan, returning from 1977

Language: Norwegian

Key: C major, then G major at the end

This song is about a woman who broke up with a man named Oliver four weeks ago, but wants to find him again in a discotheque. It’s similar lyrically to Anita’s prior entry “Casanova”; both explore the theme of losing a love interest who once seemed charming. Musically, both songs are upbeat pop with a tinge of blues, which suggests a theme of “romance bites back, but it cheers me up to sing about it”. This song leans more into the cutesy side, which better highlights Anita’s beautiful voice. Her voice is cute but not childish, if that makes sense. The same holds for the instrumental, whose chorus I’d like to dissect.

The chorus employs a classic 2-5-1 chord progression (D minor, G major, C major), then makes it a 2-5-1-6 with A minor. Since the A minor and C major scales have the same notes, this 2-5-1-6 progression has about the same vibe as a 2-5-1. This is already one of my favorite chord progressions, but this song spices it up in an interesting way. The chorus starts with these four chords played in order, ending with A minor, and immediately afterwards, the first two chords repeat but the third is changed to E minor which leads into A major. This shift from ending in a minor chord to a major chord is a delightful curveball that gives me a twinkle of delight.

Another interesting curveball is near the end: the key changes from C major up to G major, which is a huge leap. It works well as a key change, since they’re neighbors in the circle of fifths. It’s actually much more interesting than the usual type of key change!

Overall, this song is an improvement over “Casanova” in all but one way; I’m not the biggest fan of her pink dress. Still, her voice is so adorable!!!! Why didn’t I mention it when I reviewed her last song?

United Kingdom: Mary Ann

Artist: Black Lace. The UK was still in a rock phase.

Language: English

Key: C major

This is a much better adaptation of a rock song to stage than Sweden’s song was. It helps that the song has more acoustic than electric guitar, and that its sharpest characteristic is the singer’s raspy voice. Thankfully, this is the kind of song well-suited to a raspy voice. It has a guitar solo before the last verse, and it’s adapted to stage from the studio version faithfully.

The lyrics tell a story similar to Norway’s, from a male perspective: the singer’s girlfriend named Mary Ann caught him with another girl, so she dumped him and now he regrets it and wants her back. It’s nice to see the UK take a shot at a storytelling song and send something mellower, although other songs this year have wowed me more.

Austria: Heute in Jerusalem

Artist: Christina Simon

Language: German

Key: D♭ major

Both times Eurovision took place in Jerusalem, a German-speaking country sent a song about this city—this one means “today in Jerusalem”. I was expecting this to be a Jewish ethnic song, but I got a jazzy piano ballad instead. It sounds surprisingly stylish and cinematic. Jazzy songs were common in early Eurovision, but by this point they’re an oddball genre, and when they do appear, they commit more to the improvised nature of jazz, which is cool! Also, I think it’s the first Eurovision song to feature a saxophone player on stage. But it’s not the most iconic, or at the very least, not the most epic.

Spain: Su canción

Artist: Betty Missiego

Language: Spanish. Every song this year is in only one language!

Key: D♭ major, D major

Don’t confuse this song with “Tu canción”, Spain’s entry in 2018. Both titles mean “your song”, but the “su” is formal while “tu” is informal. It parallels how Spain has increasingly switched to using the informal “you”.

The contest ends with the runner-up, the third of four second place finishes from Spain. It’s mostly a simple upbeat song about songs, except it has four kids beside her on stage who accompany her in the second half. I have no idea why the kids were on stage, but the juries seem to like it. It almost feels like a music teacher gave her four favorite students the honor of accompanying her. Man, the results of this contest are so weird.

Turkey: Seviyorum (withdrawn)

Artist: Maria Rita Epik and 21. Peron

Language: Turkish

Key: G major

An upbeat swing pop song about love, but without much else to it. We didn’t miss out on that much by not having this song performed. Hopefully I’ll have more to say about a later withdrawn entry.

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Who’s my favorite?

In most 1970’s contests, it was easy for me to pick a winner. Either the winner shined far beyond the rest (1970, 1974, 1975, 1977), a less popular song clicked with me (1972, 1978), or I picked the most interesting song out of a weak year (1971, 1976). But this contest brings me a similar conundrum to 1973: there are three songs I deeply love, and I can only pick one as my winner. Portugal sent a delightfully funky disco song, Germany made something as whimsical as it is infectious, and Norway melted my heart with musical cuteness. No matter which one I pick, I’ll feel guilty about not choosing the other two.

After thinking about it, I’ve chosen the song that best embodies the chaotic spirit of Eurovision: Germany, Dschinghis Khan. This song is a masterpiece, and it’s a crime that it didn’t win 1979.

• Austria, 1
• Belgium, 1
• Denmark, 1
• Finland, 1
• France, 1
• Germany, 3
• Ireland, 1
• Luxembourg, 2
• Netherlands, 6
• Norway, 2
• Portugal, 1
• Sweden, 3
• Turkey, 1
• (10 winners)

It feels good to pick my own country as my favorite again! The last time I did it was when I reviewed 1962 two months ago. It shows that no matter how much flack they get from fans, Germany can kick ass at Eurovision if they try hard enough. Don’t forget about “Sobe, sobe, balão sobe” and “Oliver”, which I had also considered as favorites.

General thoughts:

I wasn’t a big fan of the postcard format this year. It’s always more fun when they feature the contestants, so you can get a feel for their personality. However, the Israeli presenters did a good job hosting! They spoke Hebrew as well as some solid English and French, and they were professional but not stiff. They kept their calm through all the voting mishaps. The interval act was a good choice: an Israeli folk dance, the first one in quite a while celebrating the host country’s culture.

I like how the presenters went the extra mile when repeating each country’s votes—they said it not just in English and French, but also Hebrew. It made the voting take longer, but it was also a nice touch.

This was a mixed bag of a year, but the songs I liked hit extra hard this time, most of all the pure musical genius that was “Dschinghis Khan”. Going by the cheering when the song ended and when it got points, it was clearly the fan favorite. If a year has even two or three songs that thoroughly wow me, then I consider it a good year. However, if I was watching the contest in 1979, I wouldn’t have been thrilled to see it was a race between Israel and Spain, instead of the obviously better songs.

With this contest, we’ve reached the end of the 1970’s, and I can confirm it was a strong era for Eurovision. It gave us so many iconic winners and runners-up, like “Eres tú”, “Ding-a-Dong”, and “Rock Bottom”, but it also had some super interesting out of the box songs like “It’s Just a Game” and “Boom Boom Boomerang”. The success of the contest throughout the 70’s cemented that Eurovision is a keystone of European culture.

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See you next time for the first Eurovision of the 1980’s, the first with Johnny Logan, and the only with an Arab country. We’re making progress!!!

>> 1980: Oddball Year, Normalball Winner