Don't forget, coming up this weekend is the Eurovision 'Congratulations' 50th Anniversary special. European viewers get to vote for the best Eurovision song of all time from 14 finalists. And yes, 'Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son' is, rightfully, among them! Unquestionably the best of the lot, but probably unlikely to take home the top prize. We all know it will be bloody Waterloo. Sadly (but not unexpectedly), France Gall will not be in attendance (mostly just a bunch of euro-nobodies, it seems). Apparently it's likely they'll show clips of the original performances. ESC Today has a guide to the line-up of the special - I'm not quite clear on what the deal is though - are there other artists performing these songs? I am excitedly awaiting an enjoyably disastrous take on 'Poupée De Cire'.

The brilliant Irish Eurovision Website has a fantastic page on the event, including bookmakers' odds for each song, and a guide to the commemorative CDs and DVDs that have just been released to coincide with the anniversary.

Here's a track that should be a contender for best song (or at least on one of the CDs, sheesh):

Françoise Hardy - L'amour s'en va sleeve Françoise Hardy - L'amour s'en va sleeve 2
Françoise Hardy - L'Amour S'En Va (Monaco 1963 - Fifth Place)
Françoise Hardy at Eurovision

More Eurovision related goodies to come - requests welcome!

Any Aussies reading this, SBS will be screening this at 8.30pm this Sunday - details here.

Comments (8)

  • Bruno  
    Hi,just wanted to say that I'm also awaiting the results of the jury!I just put up a really good quality Eurovision "Poupée de cire,poupée de son" video.I do have a request:I'm looking for the Eurovision video of the Belgian entry in 1969 "Jennifer Jennings" by Louis Neefs.I only saw this once (on Belgian tv) and would love to watch it again.So maybe you or someone else could help? All the best,Bruno
    #1 Reply
    • Christine  
      Bruno, I found a copy - but it's only a real audio file and not the best quality, so I'll send it to you instead of posting it here. I'm just about to upgrade my bandwidth, and then I'll be able to post a whole lot of Eurovision stuff, including an mp3 of this song.
      #1.1 Reply
  • Scott Salsman  
    You've got wonderful taste! I'd like to know everything you know. This is josta59 from Last.fm. Have a nice weekend.
    #2 Reply
  • hwee  
    I totally agree, 'PDCPDS' shoulda won, but we all knew that ABBA would win. Such a good song beaten by Waterloo. Another thing which dissapointed me was that noone really cheered during the PDCPDS performance, maybe the audience was biased cause the song was old? I have to admit, i do really prefer the studio version to the live version, the live version just... i don't know doesnt sound as good?
    I'll try to give you a list of the covers you've uploaded soon...
    #3 Reply
    • Christine  
      I'm almost surprised 'Poupee' made it into the finals at all, considering the other shite in there. Johnny Logan - what the hell? :o

      'Poupee' came last out of the final 14 BTW. :D I'm wondering if that means there's a big difference between internet voters and tv voters?

      Yeah the studio version is much better, she's quite flat on that performance but I think it sounds quite cool. The sound (and I noticed this on some of the other old clips they played) is really wobbly, it was way lower quality than most of the other performances they aired. I wonder if this hurt its chances? I would go more with the theory that it was just not palatable enough for most viewers. God I loved hearing it tonight after all those horrible saccharine ballads and cheesy synth numbers.

      Am still laughing at the ridiculous doll-themed choreography performed in front of the video (actually the whole evening's choreography). And the Finnish shouting choir. They turned red. And they had a conductor. Don't know what to say.

      Thanks, would appreciate that list if you wouldn't mind - I'm becoming pitiful, aren't I? The ones I know I've done are Sleepy Township, Dubstar, Die Moulinettes, France G(Das War & Yumemiro), Nosotrash, Gitte Haenning.
      #3.1 Reply
      • Christine  
        And let me add, before I go completely bonkers from being glued to the internet nearly non-stop this weekend, that yeah the lack of cheering was a bit disappointing. A bit of a deafening silence after the song. But I thought there was a decent response when they announced her name before the song. And the mention of Serge got a mere spattering of applause - it sounded like a tiny but enthusiastic crowd of supporters.
        #3.1.1 Reply
      • hwee  
        marijke merckens, twinkle, France G (italian version i think - io si, tu no)... i think thats about it including the ones you've mentioned.
        And i must say, France Gall looked gorgeous in the video clip :)
        #3.1.2 Reply
        • Christine  
          thank you hwee. that's right, i posted twinkle and io si in the main body of the blog before i started the feature. more to come soon!
          #3.1.2.1 Reply

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