Intro Post

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Introduction

There are some Eurovision years I’m passionate about and am looking forward to reviewing again. But before I reach them, I need to get through some of the contest’s dullest years, such as Eurovision 1971. I remember it not being a terrible year, just one with no songs I’m passionate about. This year was the first of seven to be hosted in Ireland; it took place at the Gaitey Theatre and was hosted by Bernadette Ní Ghallchóir. This production was a huge undertaking for RTÉ at the time, but the Irish have always known how to put on a good Eurovision show.

All the countries that skipped 1969 or 1970—Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden—returned this year, and the island country of Malta made their debut, though they weren’t successful in their first few years. This made for a total of 18 participating countries. The winner was Monaco for the first and only time, then in second place came Spain and Germany in third. The newcomer Malta landed at the bottom both this year and the next year, which discouraged them from further participation for the next two decades.

I’ll paste my description of the voting system from round 1: This contest completely redid the voting system, presumably to appease the countries that were mad about the four-way tie two years ago. This time, every country had a pair of jury members (older and younger than 25 years respectively), who each gave songs 1 to 5 points, and the points were all added up so that every country got no less than 34 points. I think that’s a cumbersome system with the obvious hole that a country could vote others low so that they’d comparatively score higher, but somehow it was in place for three years in a row. Plus, rating anything numerically is dumb because number ratings mean different things to different people. I’m also not a fan of this voting system because it means far fewer juries decide how many points each song gets, but I get why it was done: to make the voting more transparent and assuage the unhappy countries. It was temporary anyway.

The show opens with an opening film of a man riding a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Ireland and welcoming the guests to the Gaitey Theatre. It’s a tiny venue with a capacity of only 1145 seats, which I suppose was the best Ireland had at the time. Then the presenter introduces the show in Irish, French, and English, and the songs kick off. I love the pattern of the hosts introducing the show in Irish each time the show came to Ireland, and I hope it continues should Ireland win again. When speaking English, Bernadette sounded like she was trying to hide her Irish accent, but it slipped through a fair amount anyway. This year had postcards similar to last year: once more tours of each participating country. This time, the producers didn’t cheat and film four different postcards in Paris.

Last time I said I watched the contest with Austrian commentary, but it seems in retrospect it was a mix of Austrian and German. The YouTube upload I used this time is listed as having entirely German commentary, and I’ll trust that.

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Austria: Musik

Artist: Marianne Mendt, who according to the German commentator was salty she had to perform first

Language: Viennese German

Key: E minor

My ranking: 18th (last)

Ugh, I remember this song being a brick wall when I first reviewed Eurovision 1971. It’s just a weird bombastic song that’s too dissonant in the verses and too shouty in the chorus, so I really don’t like it one bit. Is a 2/10 too harsh for this? There’s really nothing to like about it, so a 2 seems fair.

Erica said the song made her wonder why she can’t speak German anymore, and as a German speaker I promise you she’s not alone. I can’t understand a word Marianne is singing either. OK, one or two words I can understand, but otherwise she might as well be singing in Icelandic. There’s nothing even interesting in the lyrics, it’s just a bunch of “this is how great music is”.

If you want an actually good song by Marianne Mendt, my commenter Famicom Guy recently showed me “Wie a Glock’n”. It’s upbeat and sounds somewhat like an anime opening, and I mean it in a good way. I have trouble understanding her lyrics here again, but in this one I actually am interested enough to pick out what I can. I can identify lines about a bell that rings all 24 hours.

Malta: Marija l-Maltija

Artist: Joe Grech

Language: Maltese, for the first of two times

Key: C major

My ranking: 9th

I didn’t notice it last time, but the “pa-pa-paya” intro totally reminds me of “My Sweet Passion” from Sonic Adventure, which is an incredibly silly nonsensical song but also a banger. Otherwise this song sounds nothing whatsoever like Sonic music, but rather Christmas music. The juries were needlessly harsh on this song: it’s nothing too special and not the catchiest song of the night, but it’s reasonably pleasant to listen to. It’s interesting to hear a song in Maltese; you can tell it’s from the same family tree as Arabic and Hebrew, but you can notice just a tinge of European influence.

Unfortunately both times Malta tried sending a song in Maltese to Eurovision, they ended up in last place, and then they haven’t tried using the language again since 1972. If I was Maltese I would be absolutely pissed off about the language drought, but Malta’s national final these days always has a few songs in Maltese, so let’s not lose hope for the language’s return. Sweden did it in 2025 with a fucking amazing song, so why can’t Malta?

Monaco: Un banc, un arbre, une rue (the winner)

Artist: Séverine (Josiane Grizeau)

Language: French

Key: E♭ major, F major

My ranking: 11th

Unlike last year, even the microstates have their postcards filmed in their actual countries. Monaco is so tiny that whenever I see footage of the country, I immediately remember the time my family briefly stopped to visit Monaco when I was nine years old.

I can see why this song won, because the melody of the chorus sticks in your head after just one listen, and this is a weak year overall. Unfortunately I’ve always found the song in full a bit underwhelming, because the whole thing sounds like one long chorus. That’s a handy way to say to non-musicians that the song has only one chord progression throughout. Songs with one chord progression throughout can win me over if the beat varies a lot, but that isn’t the case in this song.

Switzerland: Les illusions de nos vingt ans

Artist: Peter, Sue, and Marc (Peter Reber, Sue Schell, Marc Dietrich), for the first of four times (and four languages)

Language: French

Key: D major, E♭ major

My ranking: 4th

Now this song, on the other hand, I actually quite like and should probably listen to more often. It’s nothing as amazing as “De troubadour” or “Dschinghis Khan”, but it’s a song where I can space out and enjoy the singers’ lovely harmonies. I wish Eurovision hadn’t waited until 1971 to allow more than two lead singers on stage, because harmonies can make any song more interesting, especially when it’s three or more people. I also like the way the song starts with a guitar intro, then picks up the pace for the rest of the song. It feels like two pleasant songs for the price of one.

Let’s see, what place did this respectable song get… fourth or something? No wait, it got only twelfth, apparently. I thought the juries liked harmonies and songs in French. How strange. These singers did get better results in later years.

Germany: Diese Welt

Artist: Katja Ebstein, returning from 1970

Language: German

Key: G major

My ranking: 6th

Now we have our favorite German redhead in Eurovision two years in a row, singing exactly the kind of German-sounding pop that gets my mom nostalgic for her childhood. It helps that Katja herself is famous among my mom’s generation. As I said in round 1, the lyrics are about appreciating the world for what it is and making the most of your life, which is a common topic for German pop songs of the time.

The song has a catchy chorus with a strong hook, and you can tell Katja Ebstein is a professional singer, but somehow I find this song no more than alright. I think the problem with the song is that it relies too much on the catchy chorus, and the verses are pretty much just a waiting room. The really good retro German entries have both catchy verses and a catchy chorus. The obvious example is “Dschinghis Khan”, but there are several other strong German entries coming up, like next year for instance.

Spain: En un mundo nuevo

Artist: Karina (María Isabel Llaudes Santiago)

Language: Spanish

Key: D major, E major, F major, F♯ major, G major

My ranking: 12th

Christ, five different key signatures… that’s too much in any circumstance. Spain sent another Spanish-sounding pop song with a catchy hook, but it takes too long to build up to its full potential, and not in quite as appealing of a way as “Vivo cantando”. I critiqued the song for sounding too restrained in the first half and having a needless slow section at the end, and I still agree with that. Overall I think the song is trying too hard to impress me, but it did impress the juries since this got second place.

France: Un jardin sur la terre

Artist: Serge Lama

Language: French

Key: C minor and C major in alternation

My ranking: 16th

My god, this year really is forgettable song after forgettable song. The forgettable songs would be easier to get through if there were something coming up that blows me away, as is the case with (for example) 1979, which has the bombshells “Disco Tango” and “Dschinghis Khan”.

I pretty much agree with what I said last time: the song alternates between major and minor key far too often, so the whole song feels like two unrelated songs stitched together. He’s a good singer with a traditional French-sounding voice, but I just don’t like this song at all.

Luxembourg: Pomme, pomme, pomme

Artist: Monique Melsen, the first Eurovision contestant who’s actually from Luxembourg.

Language: French

Key: C major, D♭ major, D major

My ranking: 14th

This is a cuckoo clock song like “Puppet on a String” but just a tinge more whimsical, and the singer actually looks like she’s enjoying herself. It’s not bad to listen to at all, but as with most songs this year, I won’t cry if I never got to hear it again. As with last time, I kept expecting the final chorus to have a third key change but it didn’t have one. Sorry if you love 1971 and my reviews of the songs have been lackluster, there’s just nothing to say about most songs.

The next song is also sort of a rehash of “Puppet on a String”.

United Kingdom: Jack in the Box

Artist: Clodagh Rogers

Language: English

Key: C major, D♭ major at the end

My ranking: 13th

Another year, another British female pop entry that the singer doesn’t even like. The UK always did well with those types of songs, so why change what’s working? This song landed with a predictably good fourth place in the end.

As a song, I’m sort of in two minds about this. I hate the lyrics about a woman having no mind of her own, and I hate the slowdowns before each chorus. The gimmick where the music pauses is fun but overdone. But once we get to the chorus, it really is quite catchy. If it didn’t have so many other problems with it, then this song might be higher in my ranking. The reason it’s so low in my ranking is because not many other songs have this many problems.

Belgium: Goeiemorgen, morgen

Artist: Lily Castle and Jacques Raymond, the latter returning from 1963

Language: Dutch

Key: B♭ major, B major, C major

My ranking: 5th

Remember what I said when reviewing Switzerland’s song? Harmonies can make any song more enjoyable. Musically it’s an average 70’s pop song with too many key changes, but hey, it has solid harmonies, so that alone makes it better than most others this year. After a few listens, I’ve started to find this song rather cute. I find it a bit annoying that Lily looks happier to be on stage than Jacques does, but maybe it makes sense because both were replacements for singers that fell ill, and this was his second time on the Eurovision stage but her first.

Italy: L’amore è un attimo

Artist: Massimo Ranieri

Language: Italian

Key: F major, F♯ major

My ranking: 15th

I keep thinking this song’s title means “love is an atom”, but in reality it means “love is a moment”. Whatever, the song is boring either way. It’s a Italian-sounding ballad with some decent guitar work in the intro, but it becomes more generic the more it progresses. I don’t hate it, it’s just as meh as any other song this year. The key change near the end makes me think the composers thought “wait shit, we almost forgot to put a key change into this!” And it has a bombastic ending because of course it does.

Sweden: Vita vidder

Artist: Family Four, who were no longer a family by the time they went to Eurovision

Language: Swedish

Key: G major, A♭ major

My ranking: 17th

It may seem harsh that I ranked this song second last place, but believe me, I wasn’t expecting to have it this low. That’s just how my ranking came out, since I scored this 3/10 and gave only one song a two.

Now we have a quartet of two men and two women on stage, who I might call a proto-ABBA if their song sounded anything like ABBA, but it doesn’t. Compared to the harmonizing singers from Switzerland and Belgium, I find their harmonies underwhelming, like they’re not quite reaching their whole potential. The whole song is underwhelming, really. It has a catchy melody in the chorus, but otherwise it just sounds dreary.

Ireland: One Day Love

Artist: Angela Farrell

Language: English

Key: E major

My ranking: 7th

Hey, this song isn’t half bad. Unlike the other generic 70’s pop songs, this actually has some personality and a story to tell. Angela has a clear expressive voice and it’s easy to pay attention to what she’s singing, which is a rant at her asshole ex. The song has an interesting 6/8 beat and mixes major and minor key in a way that actually works well. I’m surprised this scored only 11th place; it’s actually one of the better efforts of the night.

Netherlands: Tijd

Artist: Saskia and Serge (Trudy van den Berg and Ruud Schaap)

Language: Dutch

Key: A minor, B♭ minor

My ranking: 1st. Sorry Portugal, but I’ve retconned my winner.

I know I retconned my winners way too many times in my blog already, but I can’t in good conscience have anything other than this as my winner. When I had to pick an entry from 1971 to do an 8-bit cover of, I picked this one and then it started growing on me, even after I covered it. In fact, I feel comfortable rating this song 8/10, which is huge for this year’s standards. This was absolutely the right choice for me to do a cover of. I even got a comment from someone who loves this song more than I do, and since you never know when something on the Internet will disappear, I’ll post the comment here:

Don’t worry Mienshao, the song hasn’t stopped growing on me!

In round 1, I told the story of how Saskia and Serge lost the Dutch national final in 1970 by one point much to the backlash of fans, which led their broadcaster NOS to internally select these two for 1971. But I never actually listened to their previous entry before, so let’s do so now! Their prior song is called “Het spinnewiel”, and holy shit it’s gorgeous. It changes tempo and time signatures a lot in a way that works, and is overall just such a well-composed song. In 1971, NOS did host a national final, but all six songs were performed by Saskia and Serge.

This is a simpler song than “Het spinnewiel”, but I would say it’s just as good. Now what makes this song so much better than anything else in 1971? So far this year, I praised two songs (Switzerland and Belgium) for having nice harmonies, but if it weren’t for the harmonies they’d be as forgettable as all the other 70’s pop songs this year. “Tijd” not only has great harmonies, but also a lot of other things to like about it. I know this because the first 50 seconds have just Saskia singing, and the song is already very interesting. Serge plays guitar throughout the song and joins the vocals starting in the second verse. The song isn’t carried just by harmonies; it also has well-written melodies in the chorus, and not one but two instruments you don’t usually hear in Eurovision: a harpsichord and two recorders. Both instruments are not just pasted on top, but are integral parts of the song. I said in round 1 that the song gives me similar vibes to “Dansevise”, and I still agree with that. Both are moving, moody, and a little quirky, both are performed by a married couple, and the first half of “Tijd” is even in the same key as “Dansevise”.

It’s a shame the live performance had a microphone mishap near the start. I personally wonder if this song could’ve won if it weren’t for the mishap. Perhaps not, because the juries back then loved their accessible songs in French, but I like to think it would’ve scored better than a tied sixth place. It was tied with… Sweden of all countries? Seriously, juries?? And both Belgian jurors rated it 1 out of 5 points, which is not very neighborly of them. If you want to see the live performance of this song with the microphone error edited out, check out this YouTube upload from Eurovision OLD. He said in a comment that he fixed the audio issue using “magic fingers”.

I remembered Eurovision 1971 being a year with no truly great songs, but I stand corrected. Now the year to me is “Tijd and a bunch of other stuff”. Thank goodness we have just four songs left.

Portugal: Menina do alto da serra

Artist: Tonicha (Antónia de Jesus Montes Tonicha)

Language: Portuguese

Key: B♭ minor

My ranking: 2nd

Ah, and here’s my old winner again, which as with all the songs I had initially chosen as my winner, I’m now quite familiar with. As I described it in round 1: It’s dominantly traditional Portuguese sounding music, somewhat like “Desfolhada portuguesa”, but it switches at a few points to more modern 70’s pop with a slower drum rhythm and a funky bassline. The pop sections are so brief, but they give the song more charm! They feel like short breakdowns to give the chorus more punch, so they don’t feel out of place to me. Those brief brassy pop sections are still my favorite part about the song. I’m not saying that those are the only good sections, but rather that their presence elevates the entire rest of the song and keeps it interesting.

I’m afraid I can’t say much else about this song here—it seems only the Netherlands warrants a big analysis this year. But man, I wish the countries that actually sent interesting songs this year were rewarded for it. This only got ninth place, but hey, at least the Spanish jurors both rated it 5 points. Why were they good neighbors and not the Belgiams?

Yugoslavia: Tvoj dječak je tužan (Твој дјечак је тужан)

Artist: Krunoslav Slabinac

Language: Serbo-Croatian (Croatian)

Key: E minor

My ranking: 10th

Thank fuck I’m near the end of this year, because most songs are completely uninspiring. This is certainly different from the other songs—a dramatic rock tune with opera singing, with lyrics about his pain from losing his girlfriend—but I find the instrumental and singing style to clash with each other. And the song isn’t too memorable anyway. I guess it’ll be higher than the other 4/10’s, because at least the instrumental is interesting.

Finland: Tie uuteen päivään

Artist: Markku Aro and the Koivisto Sisters

Language: Finnish

Key: A♭ major

My ranking: 8th

This isn’t a very inspiring song either, but Markku is a strong singer, and there’s a tinge of that quirky Finnish sound, especially in the chorus with its catchy melody and the backing ladies. The chorus is the only part of the song I actually like, but it’s good enough to elevate the song from a 4/10 to a 5/10. Yes, it has those annoying slowdowns before each chorus, but the chorus is so catchy I can forgive that, and this year has had far more annoying slowdowns. Not a bad effort overall, at least for 1971.

Norway: Lykken er…

Artist: Hanne Krogh, half of the winners of 1985

Language: Norwegian

Key: E♭ major, F major

My ranking: 3rd

Time for the third of four entries composed by Arne Bendiksen, and the only one that he conducted. You can easily notice his composition style, since the song sounds cutesy and movie-like. And you know what? I still think this song is cute as hell. I’ll paste my description of the lyrics from round 1: “[they] tell us that happiness is what you want it to be, like breakfast in bed, playing in the sand, or catching the last bus, and I think there’s truth to that.” I really don’t mind that it’s performed by someone under 16, because she doesn’t sound that childish. We’ve heard squeakier voices from adult singers. The juries were so rude for ranking this second last place. What made them have a change of heart about cutesy kid entries and award Sandra Kim first place?

It’s a catchier song than “Les illusions de nos vingt ans” which I had ranked fourth, which is why I’m putting this third. I just can’t hate this, okay? I don’t even mind the fake endings either, because the song is pleasant enough that I don’t mind it continuing. It’s interesting that the audience doesn’t applaud during the fake endings. Maybe everyone in the arena had already seen a rehearsal and thus knew how the song went?

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My full ranking

This was a bit of a tricky year to rank, especially the fives and fours, but I managed to do it:

You can see that this wasn’t a great year, but I do at least have both a clear winner and a clear last place. The three songs with the strongest harmonies are my first, fourth, and fifth place, which shows how easily harmonies can improve a song.

The last revision of my winner list was in my 2025 review, and now it’s time to give it an update. I’ve retconned the Netherlands away from being my winner twice (1957, 1964), but now a new Dutch winner enters my list: 1971, Tijd. It’s the only truly great song this year. There’s a few other years where I plan on retconning my winner, but I won’t spoil which!

• Albania, 1 (2025)
• Belgium, 3 (1957, 1976, 2003)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 (2001, 2006)
• Denmark, 2 (1963, 2000)
• Estonia, 1 (2009)
• Finland, 4 (1983, 1989, 2010, 2023)
• France, 3 (1977, 1990, 1991)
• Germany, 5 (1956, 1968, 1979, 1982, 1999)
• Greece, 1 (2013)
• Hungary, 2 (2005, 2019)
• Iceland, 1 (1992)
• Ireland, 3 (1970, 1980, 1994)
• Israel, 1 (1987)
• Italy, 1 (1964)
• Latvia, 2 (2002, 2018)
• Lithuania, 1 (2022)
• Luxembourg, 4 (1965, 1972, 1973, 1988)
• Monaco, 1 (1960)
• Montenegro, 1 (2015)
• Netherlands, 8 (1959, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1998, 2014, 2024)
• North Macedonia, 1 (2020)
• Norway, 5 (1966, 1985, 1993, 1995, 1996)
• Portugal, 2 (1984, 2017)
• Serbia, 4 (2004, 2008, 2011, 2012)
• Sweden, 2 (1958, 1974)
• Switzerland, 2 (1986, 2021)
• Turkey, 2 (1978, 1997)
• Ukraine, 2 (2007, 2016)
• United Kingdom, 3 (1961, 1962, 1981)
• (21 winners)

Rest of the show:

The first ever Irish interval act in Eurovision history is pre-recorded, which is understandable considering the tight budget RTÉ had at the time. The German commentator told us its length in advance: 5 minutes and 32 seconds. It’s a film featuring a women’s choir singing a medley of Irish folk songs, then a tap dancer to another Irish folk tune, then some horse racing set to music that speeds up, and finally back to the women’s choir. It’s a cultural showcase that keeps the audience entertained, so it’s exactly what an interval act should be. But Ireland has done much better interval acts since then, and I’m not just referring to Riverdance.

I want to be done with this post so I’ll just copy and paste some more text from round 1: [The producers] put three pairs of jurors on stage at a time, and each of them held up numbers for every song that was called. It ticks me off that they added up numbers from 1 to 5, when they could have used numbers from 0 to 4 and that would have meant a minimum of zero points. One advantage is that viewers could see how each jury member rated each song. It allowed for much more transparency, which is probably what people from the countries that skipped in 1970 had desired. It’s fairly entertaining to look at each juror’s opinion on every entry, which is definitely part of why this revamped voting system was done the way it does. Eurovision voting has always been meant to entertain the viewers. The votes are so all over the place that they almost feel a little random, but that’s normal for a year as week as this. I do enjoy the occasional shots of the contestants reacting to their results—I believe 1970 had some of those too. And the one thing funnier than neighborly bias is neighborly rudeness, like both Swedish juries giving Norway 1 point. That’s my favorite part about the 1-5 star voting system.

I didn’t need to rewatch this voting sequence, especially because the songs were boring, but I did so anyway. The only voting sequence I plan on skipping is Munich 1983, because that shit was too tedious even for me. The presenter announced Monaco’s victory in French, the German commentator praised Sévérine’s song, then Dana Rosemary Scallon passes this year’s winner the prize as we hear the orchestral reprise of “All Kinds of Everything”, once again relegated to the winner’s trophy section. The runner-up and third place singers got prizes too, and oh my god, imagine if that happened at the end of 2025 final. It would’ve been so awkward because the country that should’ve been banned got second place. So many things that would ordinarily never be problems become issues solely because of that country. But now’s not the time to rant about Israel drama. Then comes the winner reprise, and the credits set to an arrangement of the Irish folk song “Danny Boy”. The German commentator said the contest next year would come from Monte Carlo, and… he was off by a hair, to say the least.

General thoughts:

Ireland put on a charming show this year with an inviting stage design and cool postcards and films, but as with last year, the song lineup is really weak. Most entries felt derivative of prior Eurovision songs in some way: for instance, “Jack in the Box” is a total rehash of “Puppet on a String”, and “En un mundo nuevo” is a worse rehash of “Vivo cantando”. Many others are just generic 70’s pop that goes in one ear and out the other. We’re lucky the year has one standout (the Dutch duet of course), but I had to sit through a bunch of boring songs to reach it. You can see in my review that I was hard-pressed to say anything about most entries.

The best thing I can say about Eurovision 1971 is that the liberties for multiple performers on stage were a great addition, and some countries (especially Switzerland) made good use of it. Otherwise, I’m glad to be done with this year and don’t see myself watching it again unless I do yet another marathon of each Eurovision year.

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See you next time for, thankfully, a MUCH better year.

>> 1972: Vicky Gets Her Revenge