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As presented earlier by mikeybill...Patti Smith sings "You light up my life":

Watch on YouTube

We didn't make this up. We're not allowed to make things up.

Ireland chooses for the Eurovision

Tonight on RTÉ, the Irish public chose their entry for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. 4 songs (from over 200 submitted) were performed by traditional music band Dervish. After a national televote (in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), the winner--most believe, but a landslide--was "They can't stop the spring." You can hear a live rip here (right click to save), or view the performance here (windows media, streamed or downloadable 9MB).

2 of the songs were wholly unsuitable for the band (all were selected by a jury); of the remaining 2, one was about 75% great, 25% lacking. The last--and winning--song had it all: uniquely Irish sound, memorable and catchy, and almost perfect for the band and their vocalist Cathy Jordan. The big issue is their experience: like a lot of trad Irish acts they're brilliant musicians (they played live, no backing tape), but they gig rather than perform. It was readily apparent that Cathy Jordan did not have a clue about singing on TV. To do well at the Eurovision you have to perform. Not monkeys and elephants, but not standing behind a microphone without once looking into any camera besides the one right in front of you.

The song will need a better mix, and they'll need to work out the staging/choreography. But this has a lot of potential--I would go so far as to say it could win the damned thing, if they put the entire puzzle together.

Fingers crossed--back to Dublin for 2008!