Eurovision mysteries solved
Aug. 28th, 2004 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbc1. Which of the following songs was not a Eurovision Song Contest entry?
Volare (whoa-oh!Cantate! whoa oh oh oh!) sure was. It didn’t win (3rd in 1958), but it became a worldwide hit, even making #1 in the US.
Love is blue (blue, blue my love is blue . . .) was Luxembourg’s entry in 1967. Vicky Leandros finished 4th, but it also became a huge hit for Paul Mauriat & his Orchestra
Waterloo (I was defeated, you won the war! Promise you’ll love me for evermore) Dead easy, ABBA’s winning entry from 1974
Ooh Ahh Just a Little Bit (Ooh Ahh a little bit more!) Gina G sang it for the UK in 1996 (though she’s an Aussie). Did surprisingly badly (8th) but went on to become the best selling Eurovision single ever, including just missing the US top 10.
That leaves
United We Stand (divided we fall, and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together!) by Brotherhood of Man. A reconstituted version of Brotherhood of Man did win the contest in 1976 with “Save All Your Kisses For Me”.
2. “I sang a song in the Eurovision Song Contest.” Check all who have:
Oui/yes/ja/sé/si: Olivia Newton-John (UK, 74, 4th) Céline Dion (Switzerland, 88, won), Cliff Richard (UK, 68, 2nd; 73, 3rd), Françoise Hardy (Monaco, 63, 4th), Nana Mouskouri (Luxembourg, 63, 8th), Silver Convention (Germany, 77, 8th), Frances Ruffelle (UK, 94, 10th), Katrina & the Waves (UK, 97, won), Lulu (UK, 69, won in 4 way tie), and Colm Wilkinson (Ireland, 78, 5th)
Non/no/nein/níha/no: Elaine Page and Andy Gibb
3. What country has won Eurovsion the most times - 7?
Ireland, in 70, 80, 87, 92, 93, 94 and 97
FYI France, United Kingdom and Luxembourg have each won 5 times. Germany, surprisingly, has only won only once.
3. In 1998 Dana International won for Israel with her song “Diva”. Aside from being a great track, why was this historic?
Israel had never won before
Israel sent a song in English for the first time
Dana is a male-to-female transgender woman
Dana is a drag queen, whose real name is Lior Narkis
Dana did a (g-rated) striptease while she sang
And I don’t care what anyone says--this was the best song in ‘98, and one of my all-time Eurovision favourites.
4. Which of the following did NOT happen at Eurovision?
An instrumental track won (no words). Yup, the closest to an instrumental track was Norway’s “Nocturne” by Secret Garden, which won in 1995. Less than 20 words, but them’s still words.
The votes were lost, but a winner was announced anyway: The first winner--”Refrain” by Lys Assia (Switz., ‘56) was announced, but by the time anyone thought to check the tallies the score sheet was gone.
A military coup was launched when that country’s entrant started singing: True. The 74 entry (the year of ABBA) for Portugal (”E depois do adeus” by Paulo de Carvalho) was the signal for a military coup in Lisbon. The song tied for last place; the coup, as coups usually are, wasn’t a great thing either.
3 drag queens respresented their country, though their government tried passing a law banning their participation: A yes, Sestre (”Sisters”) for Slovenia in 2001. They were dressed as 1960s air hostesses (their female background singers as moustachioed male pilots), and they finished 13th with “Samo ljubezen”. The Slovene government made rustlings about legislating Sestre’s banning from the contest, others pointed out that such a blatantly disciminatory act wouldn’t help Slovenia’s chances of getting into the European Union.
Oh. And the woman Sestre beat--Karmen Stavec--got to represent Slovenia the next year. And finished 23rd out of 24. As Nelson Muntz sez, “ha! ha!”
During a political protest a blank screen was shown for 4 minutes (instead of the protesters): “boycott Franco & Salazar” was the placard held by the protester, though no one watching at home saw it. OK, actually they just showed the scoreboard for 4 minutes--but it was all zeros.
Someone entered a cynical song critiquing the contest--and won: Also 1964. Serge Gainsbourg gave his song “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” (or Puppet of wax, puppet of sound) to Luxembourg, and France Gall won. Since ‘64 irony has been an official component of all subsequent contests.
A Greek won singing for Luxembourg while living in Germany: Vicky Leandros, ‘72 “Après Toi”
A Parisian won singing for Monaco: Séverine, with “Un Banc, un arbre, une rue” in ‘71
A Canadian won singing for Switzerland: Céline Dion, ‘88, “Ne partez pas sans moi”
2 Australians lost singing for the UK: Olivia Newton-John and Gina G. OK, ONJ’s a dual citizen . . .
5. Which country holds the record for most consecutive wins?
Ireland - 3
1992 (Linda Martin “Why Me”), 1993 (Niamh Kavanagh “In Your Eyes” one of my favs) and 1994 (Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan “Rock and Roll Kids”). In 95 Norway won, but 1/3 of Secret Garden were Irish. Then Ireland won again in 96. They’ve not come close since.
Who did the best on the quiz?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zurcherart, though f8n_begorra, jeneration and sapphire_moon did well too!
Volare (whoa-oh!Cantate! whoa oh oh oh!) sure was. It didn’t win (3rd in 1958), but it became a worldwide hit, even making #1 in the US.
Love is blue (blue, blue my love is blue . . .) was Luxembourg’s entry in 1967. Vicky Leandros finished 4th, but it also became a huge hit for Paul Mauriat & his Orchestra
Waterloo (I was defeated, you won the war! Promise you’ll love me for evermore) Dead easy, ABBA’s winning entry from 1974
Ooh Ahh Just a Little Bit (Ooh Ahh a little bit more!) Gina G sang it for the UK in 1996 (though she’s an Aussie). Did surprisingly badly (8th) but went on to become the best selling Eurovision single ever, including just missing the US top 10.
That leaves
United We Stand (divided we fall, and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together!) by Brotherhood of Man. A reconstituted version of Brotherhood of Man did win the contest in 1976 with “Save All Your Kisses For Me”.
2. “I sang a song in the Eurovision Song Contest.” Check all who have:
Oui/yes/ja/sé/si: Olivia Newton-John (UK, 74, 4th) Céline Dion (Switzerland, 88, won), Cliff Richard (UK, 68, 2nd; 73, 3rd), Françoise Hardy (Monaco, 63, 4th), Nana Mouskouri (Luxembourg, 63, 8th), Silver Convention (Germany, 77, 8th), Frances Ruffelle (UK, 94, 10th), Katrina & the Waves (UK, 97, won), Lulu (UK, 69, won in 4 way tie), and Colm Wilkinson (Ireland, 78, 5th)
Non/no/nein/níha/no: Elaine Page and Andy Gibb
3. What country has won Eurovsion the most times - 7?
Ireland, in 70, 80, 87, 92, 93, 94 and 97
FYI France, United Kingdom and Luxembourg have each won 5 times. Germany, surprisingly, has only won only once.
3. In 1998 Dana International won for Israel with her song “Diva”. Aside from being a great track, why was this historic?
Dana is a male-to-female transgender woman
And I don’t care what anyone says--this was the best song in ‘98, and one of my all-time Eurovision favourites.
4. Which of the following did NOT happen at Eurovision?
An instrumental track won (no words). Yup, the closest to an instrumental track was Norway’s “Nocturne” by Secret Garden, which won in 1995. Less than 20 words, but them’s still words.
The votes were lost, but a winner was announced anyway: The first winner--”Refrain” by Lys Assia (Switz., ‘56) was announced, but by the time anyone thought to check the tallies the score sheet was gone.
A military coup was launched when that country’s entrant started singing: True. The 74 entry (the year of ABBA) for Portugal (”E depois do adeus” by Paulo de Carvalho) was the signal for a military coup in Lisbon. The song tied for last place; the coup, as coups usually are, wasn’t a great thing either.
3 drag queens respresented their country, though their government tried passing a law banning their participation: A yes, Sestre (”Sisters”) for Slovenia in 2001. They were dressed as 1960s air hostesses (their female background singers as moustachioed male pilots), and they finished 13th with “Samo ljubezen”. The Slovene government made rustlings about legislating Sestre’s banning from the contest, others pointed out that such a blatantly disciminatory act wouldn’t help Slovenia’s chances of getting into the European Union.
Oh. And the woman Sestre beat--Karmen Stavec--got to represent Slovenia the next year. And finished 23rd out of 24. As Nelson Muntz sez, “ha! ha!”
During a political protest a blank screen was shown for 4 minutes (instead of the protesters): “boycott Franco & Salazar” was the placard held by the protester, though no one watching at home saw it. OK, actually they just showed the scoreboard for 4 minutes--but it was all zeros.
Someone entered a cynical song critiquing the contest--and won: Also 1964. Serge Gainsbourg gave his song “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” (or Puppet of wax, puppet of sound) to Luxembourg, and France Gall won. Since ‘64 irony has been an official component of all subsequent contests.
A Greek won singing for Luxembourg while living in Germany: Vicky Leandros, ‘72 “Après Toi”
A Parisian won singing for Monaco: Séverine, with “Un Banc, un arbre, une rue” in ‘71
A Canadian won singing for Switzerland: Céline Dion, ‘88, “Ne partez pas sans moi”
2 Australians lost singing for the UK: Olivia Newton-John and Gina G. OK, ONJ’s a dual citizen . . .
5. Which country holds the record for most consecutive wins?
Ireland - 3
1992 (Linda Martin “Why Me”), 1993 (Niamh Kavanagh “In Your Eyes” one of my favs) and 1994 (Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan “Rock and Roll Kids”). In 95 Norway won, but 1/3 of Secret Garden were Irish. Then Ireland won again in 96. They’ve not come close since.
Who did the best on the quiz?
zurcherart, though f8n_begorra, jeneration and sapphire_moon did well too!
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Re: We Love You , Ljubana, Goodnight!
Date: 2004-08-28 06:05 am (UTC)I'm still a little too messy to teach, the new term started yesterday, but I'll be in full swing of things by Tuesday, the second day for our classes.
Re: We Love You , Ljubana, Goodnight!
Date: 2004-08-28 08:26 am (UTC)Re: We Love You , Ljubana, Goodnight!
Date: 2004-08-28 09:11 am (UTC)Re: We Love You , Ljubana, Goodnight!
Date: 2004-08-28 10:55 am (UTC)Re: We Love You , Ljubana, Goodnight!
Date: 2004-08-29 09:21 am (UTC)Both jobs were obtained through the auspices of my doctoral program in English Literature.