Copycat – Copycat 3/5 Elvis has left the building. Instead we’ll get his copycat (from Elvis’ less flattering period) doing a Vegas show with a golden jacket, greasy hair and pretty much everything you’d expect. I just wish he’d articulate more so people would hear the pretty funny lyrics.
The Belgians are going all Elvis on us! In a year without many novelty acts this Copycat stands out. I kind of enjoy the song and think it could work better live on stage than in the video clip.
Ishtar - O julissi 0/5 The walls come closer and closer until I can’t breathe, I feel trapped and then I only want to scream in full terror and fear. The stress is unbearable and I hate this song from the bottom of my heart. On top of that I irritate myself silly on the singer and that stupid nonsense language of hers. It would be a lie to say that I like the Belgian entry…
The curtain opens and out comes a cheerful little ditty that could have been an entry at the very first Eurovision back in 1956, complete with a singer so jaunty she could faint from it, doing a happy lyric in a made-up language.
You see? Every fibre in my body wants to detest it. Problem is I don't.
It eats its way into my brain, and I feel a grand smile forming where my mouth wants to show displeasure. Silly and cheesy, but also very feel-good. Mind you, Belgium almost had us all fooled only five years ago when fellow Belgians Urban Trad came only two points short of winning in Riga with the same concept.
In the final? No. I don't think the same concept will work again. And Flemings have a somewhat startling ability of making their own songs flop at Eurovision. Yet, I could be very wrong with this one.
The Belgian poet Hugo Claus has died, according to newspaper reports. At this time it feels right to point out that Mr Claus was not only a great poet, but also a man who made an entire national ESC selection go belly-up once.
Sort of.
After the 1983 fiasco, where the booing of the audience almost made it impossible to reprise the winning song, Flemish television decided to abolish the national final of 1985 and select a song internally instead. They still wanted some kind of competition and appointed a composer and a performer, opera singer Mireille Capelle, but invited several authors to write lyrics. BRT made a list of eligible lyricists and the hunt for words was on.
However, without being on the list, Hugo Claus submitted a lyric, and Mireille Chapelle, possibly sensing the scoop, decided to refuse to sing any other version of the song. The Claus way or the highway.
The highway, decided BRT, clearly annoyed by the tampering of the rules. They abandonded the entire project, dropped everyone involved and had two co-workers write a song with very short notice instead. "Laat me nu gaan", the replacement song, placed last in Gothenburg, and in 1987, the Flemish national final was back on track again.
Rest in peace, Hugo Claus.
Linda Lepomme - Laat me nu gaan - Belgium 1985 19/19
The line-up for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is almost complete as three more countries selected their entries last night.
I followed the national final of Russia streamed over the internet, as that one seemed the most interesting to me. Impeccably produced, and with an impressive variety of singers and styles, it can't be denied that 27 songs in one evening is a bit much. However, the professional jury and the televoters agreed completely that Dima Bilan should have a second try after his second place back in 2006. The song is slick and well-produced (but is this version really produced by Timbaland? I exercise my right to be doubtful), but to my ears it sounds very similar to Georgia, but the Georgians have more of a hook in their chorus. By the general standards of 2008 not bad, but I had expected more from Russia. And from Dima.
Dima Bilan - Believing - Russia 2008
Last year, when Andrej Babic represented his third different country as composer, we all joked and wondered what country he would write for next year. Ah well, Portugal fell for it. "Senhora do Mar" is really Babic by the numbers, and it usually works well enough to make it into the final and then be 15th or so there. Which, of course, would be a great progress for Portugal, who has not made a top ten finish since the heyday of Lúcia Moniz back in 1996.
Vânia Fernandes - Senhora do Mar - Portugal 2008
And then there is Belgium... Let me state one thing very clearly here: I hate songs in made-up languages. Making up languages is a pastime of children, stoned poets and over-ambitious lingustic professors in the 19th century. What makes it so hard to find a suitable lyric in an existing language? It just makes the whole thing ridiculous to me. As for the song? Well, it would have been a Eurovision smash hit. Back in 1956. The ways of the Flemings are mysterious to me. And the worst thing? I could be wrong and everyone will love this. I pull my blanket over my head and ignore that possibility for the time being.
I just need to specify another thing: Belgium has never selected the song I would have wanted them to for as long as I have followed their selections. Belgium has had many fabulous songs through the years.
And this is the best one.
Ann Christy - Gelukkig zijn/Could it be happiness - Belgium 1975 15/19
Just have to share some real Belgian candy - one of the best songs ever to feature in a Flemish selection and Lisa del Bo's big moment: wonderful "Vlinder" from 1993, a song that could have made a contender out of Belgium.
Did it win?
Of course not. The Flemings went for a sopoforic lullaby instead. Just the way they are bound to this year as well.
I know what always happens - me and Belgium can never agree on anything. Not once did they select the songs I hoped for, and here we go again. I am sorry for doing this to you, Sandrine, but...
Sandrine is the only hope for Belgium to do anything that will catch anybody's attention come Eurovision. It may not be the most convincing song ever written, but the production is great and it sounds marvellous! Somewhere in the same musical landscape that also Norway keeps trecking through this year, Belgium could actually have a shot at the top ten this year.
But I am afraid that the dear Flemings will go for a sopoforic lullaby in baby language instead. Well - their loss.
As Flanders are going out of their way to find a successful entry for Belgrade (the last time Flanders made it into top 10 was back in 1977), let us remind ourselves what the Flemings are capable of.
This song was largely ridiculed at the time - it was a bit "too much" with its aggressivly positive message and slightly naïve choreography, but unlike most of the songs back in 1987, this one has lived on in people's minds. A true classic, in other words.
And in these days of Flemish singers who don't deliver on the Eurostage (like Xandee and Kate Ryan, just to name two), the Belgians wouldn't need to look further than to ask Liliane to do take part again. She still sings like a nightingale and looks better than ever. Liliane and a good song could do the trick, I think.
And while waiting for that, I thoroughly enjoy this treaure from the Belgian vaults.
Liliane St Pierre - Soldiers of Love - Belgium 1987 11/22
