Intro Post

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Introduction

Before I begin, I’m obligated to say that “normalball” is totally a real word. If you think it isn’t, there’s probably something wrong with you.

In many ways, Eurovision 1980 was the opposite of a normalball. First off, it’s the only contest since 1958 hosted neither in the previous winner nor the United Kingdom. Israel wasn’t willing to host after winning, and neither was Spain (the runner-up) nor the UK (the usual fallback). So instead, the Netherlands stepped in and hosted a low-budget show in The Hague, in the same building as 1976. This was the last time until 2023 that the previous winner didn’t host the contest, and the last contest hosted in the Netherlands until 2021. Unlike the last two years, this contest had only one presenter, and she almost entirely spoke Dutch.

Another oddity that this was the only Eurovision with an Arab country participating, and the only one with an African country. The country is Morocco, which participated for the first and only time due to Israel’s absence, which was itself due to Israel’s Remembrance Day. Turkey returned after skipping last year, and Monaco withdrew, only to return in 2004 to 2006.

In terms of the winner, this contest was the opposite of the opposite of a normalball, or more concisely, a normalball. Johnny Logan won for Ireland with “What’s Another Year”, the first of many Irish ballads to win in the 80’s and 90’s. It was the second of Ireland’s seven victories, and first of Johnny Logan’s two victories—three, if you count the song he composed in 1992.

This contest didn’t have proper postcards, but in their place is something I found super cool. Before each song, a presenter went on stage to introduce it in its country’s native language, accompanied by a slideshow of photos in the corner. Now I wish Eurovision did that every year. I watched the contest with German commentary.

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Austria: Du bist Musik

Artist: Blue Danube

Language: German

Key: A minor/C major, then a key change to B♭ minor/D♭ major

Just like 1971, this contest opens with an Austrian song about music. This isn’t the only commonality between these two years.

Most of the lyrics consist of the title (you are music), names of composers, and names of music genres. Because, you know, German is one of the most obscure languages of Europe and the only way a song in German can get points is if it includes names of people!

OK, I shouldn’t be hard on this song. You already know how salty I am that Eurovision has shafted the German language. It’s got a nice funky beat with strong focus on the bassline, plus a few synth parts that indicate which decade we’re in. The verses are in minor key and the choruses are in major key. The lyrics are kind of inane, but this song was definitely meant to be lighthearted. Still, it’s hard to win me over with lyrics about “music is love”.

(Also, I love the presenter’s Austrian accent. It sounds cute.)

Turkey: Pet’r Oil

Artist: Ajda Pekkan

Language: Turkish

Key: E minor, probably, I think

Ajda Pekkan was already one of the most famous Turkish singers of all time, popular well outside her home country, which is exactly why Turkey picked her as a Eurovision candidate. However, she was reluctant to participate, perhaps considering Turkey’s poor results. After her song scored low (15th place out of 19), her career went on hiatus for a few years, but luckily she got back on her feet.

This song (which is about comparing romance to petrol) sounds very Turkish, but it has one big problem. The studio version, which sounds super energetic and funky, wasn’t adapted to an orchestra that well. Especially the pre-chorus, whose funky chord progression the orchestra gets wrong. This isn’t the first time I’ve criticized the way a Eurovision song was orchestrated. I suspect that viewers around this time started considering whether Eurovision should switch to pre-recorded tracks. Since 1973, pre-recorded instruments were allowed, but only if those instruments were seen on stage. In 1997, recorded instrumentals became optional, and in 1999, they became mandatory. I recognize that this change was done out of necessity, but I’ll see for myself how I feel about it when I reach that era.

Overall, this is a great song that sadly wasn’t orchestrated well. When judging my favorite entry of a year, I consider the performance just as much as the song’s inherent quality, which means the orchestra plays a part in my selection. However, Morocco forgave this problem and gave this song twelve points, perhaps because its genre was familiar to them. Its only other points were eight from Italy and three from Austria.

Greece: Autostop (Ωτοστόπ)

Artist: Anna Vissi, who has represented Greece twice and Cyprus once

Language: Greek

Key: B major, C major

The German commentator is gracious enough to let us listen to some of each presenter’s language before he explains the song’s theme. He’s been a lot quieter than previous German commentators.

Jick Nacassian, the composer and conductor of this song, has an Armenian-sounding name. Not much is known about him, but he might be the first Armenian involved in a Eurovision song. It’s fitting that he composed a Greek entry, because the two countries have famously friendly relations.

Contrary to Turkey, Greece in their early Eurovision years focused on appealing to wider audiences rather than ethnic music. Just like their last two entries, this song features words that speakers of any language will recognize, this time names of cities. Aside from the language, it doesn’t sound Greek at all. Instead, it sounds like a stage play song, the kind that the UK might have sent in the 60’s. It’s the inverse of a song with ethnic instrumentation in English, which Greece loved to send in the 2000’s and 2010’s (sometimes in Greek too). For some reason, Greece in the 2020’s has reverted to sending safe dance songs.

I’ve always been annoyed by slowdowns before key changes, and this song does more than just that: it slows down when each chorus starts. Despite this, I find it a nice cheerful song about traveling the world and can’t be too hard on it.

Luxembourg: Papa Pingouin

Artist: Sophie and Magaly, twin sisters who died at 56 and 33 years old respectively

Language: French

Key: D major, E♭ major

This is a “wait, that was Eurovision?” song for tragic reasons. The twins Sophie and Magaly recorded for the label Ariola for a year, but then they were dropped because they were never intended for anything more than a one-off hit. What’s worse is, because they were teenagers who didn’t know any better, they were tricked into only getting a tiny portion of the payments. Although this song was successful in France, today it’s best known for a new version sung by different people, which went viral with an animated YouTube video in 2006. That’s why many people don’t know “Papa Pingouin” was from Eurovision.

This song is widely considered the weirdest Eurovision entry from Luxembourg, because there isn’t much competition. Musically, it sounds like a kids’ show theme song with an extremely catchy title hook. It’s performed by sisters in stylish red and blue suits, with three backing singers and one middle-aged man in penguin suits. It’s well performed, well sung, and well composed, cheesy as it may be. Actually, when we’re talking about Eurovision, it’s not even that cheesy.

Morocco: Bitakat Hob (بطاقة حب)

Artist: Samira Bensaïd

Language: Arabic. I’m not sure if it’s closer to standard Arabic or Moroccan Arabic.

Key: A minor

Although this is the only Eurovision song from an Arabic-speaking country, it’s the first of five to contain Arabic lyrics. Besides this, the most notable is Israel’s “There Must Be Another Way”, a trilingual song about the Israel-Palestine conflict; the other three only have brief phrases in Arabic. Since it’s one of the biggest languages in the world, and a common immigrant language in Europe, it’s no surprise the language has continued to show up on occasion. And if you don’t think Arabic is one of the coolest sounding languages in the world, you’re a liar. How can you not love the ‘ayn sound?

As it turns out, this song is an absolute gem! It’s a combination of disco and Arab pop music, adapted to orchestra much better than Turkey’s song is. The lyrics are surprisingly heartfelt: the title means “message of love”, and it’s a call for peace between neighbors and ending discrimination based on color. The sharp string riffs against the chanson-style lyrics give it a unique sound, like it’s from a parallel universe where Arab countries annually brought their music to Eurovision. It does a great job balancing Middle Eastern sound with accessibility.

Here’s an interesting question: If Morocco had continued to participate in Eurovision, would their first entry be less famous? My answer is, “only slightly”, or in Dutch terms, “een beetje”. The introduction of a mainstay Arab country would have been groundbreaking to Eurovision history. Their first entry would still be remembered fondly, but it would compete with other Moroccan entries in popularity. Since Morocco only participated once, that gave Samira major recognition among those unfamiliar with Arab music.

Surprisingly, all seven of this song’s points came from Italy. It scored second last place, ahead of Finland, but Samira remained a successful musician, especially in the Arab world. It’s like if Sweden got to join a Latin American song contest and chose ABBA as a representative, and they scored below all except… let’s say Paraguay. It would have been a small footnote in ABBA’s career.

Italy: Non so che darei

Artist: Alan Sorrenti

Language: Italian

Key: A major, B♭ major

The song’s presenter made me remember that as someone who learned French in school, spoken Italian is strangely easy to understand. It almost feels like a constructed language meant for Romance language speakers to comprehend. However, that’s exactly why I don’t find Italian quite as intriguing as Spanish and Portuguese.

About the song itself, it’s an average Italian ballad with a clear English accent. His voice doesn’t fit this kind of ballad at all; you can hear that the high notes are far outside his range. It would fit much better with a rock or country song. He said “thank you” at the end, which was ahead of his time.

This song has an English version called “If You Need Me Now”, and it feels like the real version. However, the problem of overly high notes remains.

Denmark: Tænker altid på dig

Artist: Bamses Venner (a four-member band)

Language: Danish

Key: F major

Is it just me, or does spoken Danish sound slightly singsongy? It’s not as singsong as Norwegian and Swedish, but it’s got a distinct cadence that feels more melodious than German and Dutch. Maybe the cadence is part of why people say it sounds drunk.

This song is a peculiar combination of goofy and moving. These guys are dressed in overalls like hosts of a kids’ show and sing a country-like song, but it has a soaring melody at the same time. The lyrics help, because they’re about how much the singer thinks about his love interest. My favorite part about this song might be the transitions from the slow verses to the faster chorus.

Considering this and Morocco scored low (14th and 18th place) while Italy’s heavily accented ballad achieved sixth place, I’m convinced the juries suffered from language bias. But on the bright side, Germany got second place!!! I think the German language has less bias against it than people realize.

Sweden: Just nu

Artist: Tomas Ledin, plus a band

Language: Swedish

Key: A minor

Haha, of course the presenter for this song mentioned ABBA. Back then, they were Sweden’s only victory!

This song is about a man who wants to escape daily life and go on to travel the world, “just nu” (right now). The verses are in third person, while the chorus is in first person. With the even repeating notes in the bassline, the simple drumbeat, and the occasional synth effects, this has 1980’s written all over it, which is impressive because the decade had just started. Leave it to Sweden to send the most modern-sounding entries.

The singer looks hyperactive on stage, so much that he accidentally unplugged his microphone right before the second verse, and barely replugged it in time. I can’t tell if he’s purposely being overboard, or if that’s meant to match the song. Regardless, it’s a slick, comparatively modern rock song. Sweden must have done something to piss off the other Nordics, because they didn’t give it any votes! I can imagine a personified Sweden saying, “I don’t need you losers anyway, because I scored higher than all of you! I got tenth place!!!”

Switzerland: Cinéma

Artist: Paola del Medico, returning from 1969

Language: French

Key: B♭ major, B major, C major

What is with Eurovision 1980 and songs that drop the names of cultural icons? Austria did it, Greece did it, and now Switzerland, even though French is considered a prestige language. This time, it’s about how great movies are.

This song sounds like it’d belong in a stage play or kids’ movie, and I mean it in a good way. It’s just got that showy, brassy energy, not to mention the variations in structure after each key change. The song’s presenter said Paola’s native language was Italian, so props to her for singing in French this well! She also sang in German 11 years prior.

Finland: Huilumies

Artist: Vesa-Matti Loiri, who died in 2022

Language: Finnish

Key: A♭ major

Most of the low-scoring singers this year had a successful career anyway, and this includes Loiri, who scored last place. He was best known for his acting but was also a successful singer. Apparently he voiced the genie in the Finnish dub of Aladdin, and after hearing this song, I can easily believe that.

This song’s title means “flute man”, and it’s a man singing about how great his flute is. It’s a fun, brassy kids’ movie sounding song with a strong lead voice and nice harmonies. The weak spot is the flute performance. It could have been wilder and more improvised to match the whimsy of the song, instead of mostly playing the orchestra’s melody. He even groaned on stage near the end, where his flute screwed up, which matches his character as a flute lover. I would’ve done the same if my instrument sounded clogged. I imagine that after the contest, he accepted his low score and continued his career.

Norway: Sámiid ædnan

Artist: Sverre Kjelsberg and Mattis Hætta

Language: Norwegian, with the title repeated in Northern Sami

Key: D major, G major, A major

Now we’ve reached a real bombshell of a song! There is a lot to say about it, and the first is that it was presented by Norway’s contestant from 1966: Åse Kleveland. She sang one of the most memorable entries of the 60’s, a guitar tune in quintuple time with a famously deep voice, and she broke the pattern of female contestants wearing dresses. Her speaking voice is great too—professional, yet warm. She crossed her fingers on stage, hoping this song would score well, which was very endearing. She must have personally loved this song!

Most Eurovision fans know that Portugal sent a song that started a revolution, but not as many know that Norway sent a song protesting against a hydroelectric dam. Specifically, the government wanted to construct a dam in the far north of the country, interfering with Sami territory. Although the dam was finished anyway, the protests caused a turning point in the Sami people’s rights. This song helped raise awareness of Sami culture, even to people watching the contest 43 years later like me. Before starting this post series, I knew almost nothing about the Sami.

Moving on to the song itself, it surprised me a lot! The first half is sung by Sverre on guitar, with lyrics emphasizing that the land belongs to the Sami, plus a reference to the protests in front of the Norwegian parliament. It seems simple enough, but then comes the second half. The lights dim, Mattis enters the stage wearing a traditional Sami outfit, and he begins joiking. From then on, the rest of the song is a joik duet (the style of wordless singing that the Sami are famous for) with only a few textual lyrics. The last lyrics say that a joik never ends, which is cleverly conveyed without language: when the instrumental pauses, the joiking continues. This symbolizes that even if the dam is built, the Sami will keep fighting for their rights, which they did. Then the instruments resume and the song ends.

It’s crazy how much Eurovision has taught me about history. No matter your stance in the debate over “political” entries in Eurovision, you can’t deny that music is a great way for people to learn more about the world.

One more fun fact: since 2020, the Sami language has been included in Norwegian passports.

Germany: Theater

Artist: Katja Ebstein, returning from 1970 and 1971

Language: German

Key: B♭ major

Our favorite redhead who earned two third places is back representing Germany, this time to achieve their first second place. That’s right, we’re now in Germany’s glory years! I have to cherish this era while it lasts.

The theme of this contest seems to be stage play songs, and this song cements as much. It’s more whimsical than Ebstein’s other two songs, focused on the joys of immersing yourself in theater. It has a ragtime intro, and she rest combines old movie music with German schlager. Somehow, this blend of genres works beautifully. With the masked backing singers and strong vocal performance, I can see why the song scored high. I want to say the reason it didn’t beat Ireland was because it blended with the other stage play songs whereas Ireland was more distinct. However, the difference was only 15 points, so it was probably just luck.

United Kingdom: Love Enough for Two

Artist: Prima Donna, yet another British band

Language: English

Key: E major, F major

The song’s presenter was exactly as confident in this entry as all British Eurovision commentators have been, though he did quip about unlucky 13. Maybe he was on to something, since this song scored a pitiful third place.

This is a sugary upbeat swing song with three pairs of men and women acting cuddly with each other. It feels kind of safe and underdeveloped compared to prior British entries.

Portugal: Um grande, grande amor

Artist: José Cid

Language: Portuguese, with phrases in Italian, French, German, and English

Key: A major, A minor, A major, B major, C major

We’ve made it to Portugal’s first song not entirely in Portuguese! It has the phrases “goodbye” and “my love” repeated in four other languages. You have to admire how much Portugal sticks to their own language. Their only fully English entry was in 2021, and even then, it had a unique sound.

This song starts out as a slow piano piece, but the rest is surprisingly bombastic, like a blend of disco and piano pop. That makes it weird that the lyrics are just generic “love has no borders” stuff, when they aren’t the repeating language gimmick. It was originally four minutes long, and it was cut to three minutes in a weird way: by removing the second verse, which is in minor key like the first verse. Also, the original version doesn’t have the extra key change to C major, so I’m not sure why the performance added it.

Netherlands: Amsterdam

Artist: Maggie MacNeal, part of the duo from 1974

Language: Dutch

Key: F minor, G minor

I’ve heard so much spoken Dutch from watching Eurovision that it doesn’t sound weird anymore. I used to think it sounded garbled and drunk, but now I think it sounds cute. It’s up there with (for example) Spanish or Japanese, where I can hear it and immediately tell it’s Dutch.

This song has whimsical lyrics advertising how great Amsterdam is. The chorus has a super catchy folk-style melody, helped by the catchy hook “Amsterdam, Amsterdam”. After four years in a row where the Netherlands’ entry didn’t really interest me, it’s good to see them return to their playful whimsy. I also like the elaborate transition into G minor; it’s not just a plain key change.

Just like “I See a Star” from 1974, this song also was recorded in English, French, and German. The lyrics’ meaning is the same in all four languages, because it’s not hard to translate. You just need to make different rhyming lyrics about how great a city is.

France: Hé, hé m’sieurs dames

Artist: Profil

Language: French

Key: B♭ major

It’s a fun energetic pop song and I like the rainbow formed by combining the singers’ striped outfits, but they sing so quietly that it weighs down the whole song. If it had louder voices and more harmonization, it could have been a candidate for my winner.

Ireland: What’s Another Year (the winner)

Artist: The legendary Johnny Logan

Language: English

Key: G major

I was expecting this song to be presented in English, but instead it was done in Irish! It’s the only song from this contest not presented in the language in which it’s sung.

Anyway, Johnny Logan is one of the biggest legends of Eurovision history. He sang two winning songs, composed two winning songs (and one runner-up), and from 1987 to 2022, he was the only singer to win Eurovision twice. However, he’s one of five composers to win Eurovision twice.

At the start of this post, I said this song was a “normalball”, but that’s only relative to other winners of this era. In a year with very few ballads, a well-composed ballad like this really stands out. It’s set apart from other ballads with a bit of jazzy flair, especially in the intro and bridge, and some lovely saxophone parts. The lyrics are memorable too: they’re about a man who lost his love and everything important, and thus the passage of time has become meaningless to him. It’s a moving song that imbues the Irish ballad formula with a pinch of jazz.

If you asked me to guess which other two languages this song was recorded in, I would have guessed Irish and French, but neither is true. This song was recorded in German as “Was ist schon ein Jahr” and Spanish as “¿Qué es un año más?”. The German lyrics are more hopeful, claiming that one day his love interest will return. Besides the “ch” sound, he sings in German quite well. In contrast, the Spanish lyrics are more dreary, talking about an eternity of void. He’s much worse at singing in Spanish, but you can tell he tried. This song was covered by at least two Eurovision winners: Brotherhood of Man (1976 winner), and in 2017, Nicole (1982 winner) in German. Both are excellent spins on this song.

Spain: Quédate esta noche

Artist: Trigo Limpio

Language: Spanish

Key: E minor

The second last song of the contest surprised me a lot. Sung by a trio asking their love interest to stay with them tonight, it feels like a lullaby, a mysterious stage play song, and a Spanish guitar piece all at once. It’s a change of pace from other Spanish entries, especially due to the emphasis on bass and strings, but it still manages to feel Spanish.

Belgium: Euro-Vision

Artist: Telex

Language: French

Key: F major in the verses, D major in the chorus, then briefly E major and F major at the end

I want to say this bizarre song was intentionally put at the end of the contest, but as far as I know, the order at the time was completely random. It’s more likely the placement was lucky.

This song is famous for being arguably the first joke entry in Eurovision, and the first one to mention the contest itself. Now, the definition of “joke entry” is highly subjective—maybe “Boom Boom Boomerang” was a joke entry too—but this is more of a joke entry than anything before. It’s close to the level of shitpost humor that Eurovision was filled with in 2006 to 2008.

Telex performed an eccentric synth pop song with no orchestra, with satirical lyrics describing the contest itself. Their goal with this song was to earn last place, but it backfired when Portugal gave them ten points, so instead they got third last place. It’s not that different from trying to win the contest: you’ll face steep competition, and some countries will give you more (or fewer) points than you hoped. Thinking about it, it makes sense Portuguese juries would appreciate this song. Like Belgium, they usually scored low in this era of Eurovision. It also got three points from Greece and one from the UK.

Some people think Telex only pretended they wanted to earn last place after scoring low, but I don’t believe that. It’s so clearly meant as a shitpost. For some reason, Belgium has a knack for strange Eurovision songs. You have their goofy fairytale song from 1966, a song with minimal lyrics from 1983, the two imaginary language songs from the 2000’s, and probably songs I haven’t even heard yet.

How much do I like this song, you may ask? My answer is, medium. It has good vocal harmonies and some interesting composition ideas, but it overall sounds unfinished. I know that was probably the point, but it’s always more fun when a satirical entry is a total blast to listen to.

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Who’s my favorite?

This time, I’m torn between Morocco and Ireland. Both have strong vocals, a good combination of genres, and stellar composition. But there is one aspect where Ireland beats them: the melody is much more memorable and singable. This means that just like last time Ireland won, I agree with the contest’s winner: Ireland, What’s Another Year.

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

It’s quite impressive that the only time Morocco participated in Eurovision, I considered their song for my favorite. But Johnny Logan was the well-deserved winner this year.

General thoughts:

The interval act was an extravagant show of steel drum music, interspersed with multilingual interviews with the contestants. Sverre Kjelsberg from Norway correctly predicted the winner, but the rest didn’t have a confident guess.

This is one of the most musically diverse contests I’ve reviewed yet! It had songs that would fit in an animated movie (Germany and many more), slick 80’s rock (Sweden), indigenous folk singing (Norway), Middle Eastern music (Turkey and Morocco), a jazzy ballad (Ireland), and utter bizarrity (Belgium), so there was something for everyone. This contest wasn’t afraid to go out of the box, which is great!

For the first time in voting, each jury gave their scores in ascending order, which increased the hype as you can tell from the audience. It should have prevented voting mishaps, but there were some anyway. The funniest was when the Dutch presenter misheard “Belgique” as “Den Haag”, so she thought it meant the Netherlands. At first it seemed like the Netherlands would win, then Germany climbed up, then Ireland ousted them both. Luckily, we’re close to Germany’s first win! Also in the voting, the presenter used a different phone while receiving the points from each jury, even though they were all just props. I found that a cute gimmick. This contrasts against the first time we saw the presenter gather points, way back in 1957, when she really did need a telephone. Yay for technology!

When Johnny Logan won, he and Katja Ebstein (the runner-up) hugged, making a heartwarming moment for both Ireland and Germany. The German commentator claimed Germany also got second place in 1956, but he didn’t say with which song. The plot thicken, you could say. Johnny Logan was so overjoyed at his victory that near the end of his reprise, he ran out of breath and could only say, “I love you, Ireland.”

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See you next time as Cyprus debuts, Yugoslavia returns, and the UK gives us one of the most memorable Eurovision performances of all time.

>> 1981: I Hope You Like Disco