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Saturday, March 01, 2008

The greatest Eurovision winner of them all

A very Happy St David's Day to all Welsh readers of this blog!
Apart from being St David's Day, it's also that very important day when the Great British Public decides what will be our song in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Belgrade in May. To mark the occasion here's a real You Tube classic- Teach-In (fronted by the lovely Getty Kaspers) singing 'Dinge-Dong' in the 1975 Dutch national heat. Despite having the sizeable disadvantage of singing first in that year's Final, Teach-In still won the contest. For my money, this remains the best song ever to have won Eurovision. Is 't lang geleden? Is 't lang geleden? Dat mijn hart je riep met z'n ding-dinge-dong? They don't write lyrics like that anymore.....

(Nick, our regular Netherlands based correspondent- I hope you enjoy this one!)
And, for fellow fans of Eurovision, here's my five point plan from The Guardian how the Eurovision Song Contest can be restored to its former 1960s/70s glories.


UPDATE: If you have trouble watching the above video on your computer, you can also watch the same performance here. Enjoy!

12 comments:

Nick said...

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that one. Nostalgia rules OK.

Anonymous said...

What about Waterloo?

Anonymous said...

The competition is an invaluable cheery moment! I can't wait for Terry Wogan to introduce the demented Turkey-puppet that Ireland has put forward this year. It's as funny as Father Ted's 'My lovely Horse' but after last year has more of a chance of winning.

Happy St David's Day to you m'friend!

Anonymous said...

The competition is an invaluable cheery moment! I can't wait for Terry Wogan to introduce the demented Turkey-puppet that Ireland has put forward this year. It's as funny as Father Ted's 'My lovely Horse' but after last year has more of a chance of winning.

Happy St David's Day to you m'friend!

Martin Meenagh
http://martinmeenagh.blogspot.com/

Neil Clark said...

It certainly does round here Nick.
anonymous: it's not a bad railway station, but IMHO I think 'Dinge Dong is the better song. But Waterloo would certainly be in the top five best Eurovision winners for me.
Martin: Totally agreed. I'm looking forward to all the 'get stuffed' jokes. And I wonder if Turkey will give Ireland 12 points this year? Happy St David's Day to you too.

Anonymous said...

This is not place for this comment, but...WTF is going on in Armenia? I don't want only to hear about it on CNN.

Douglas said...

I'm amused by the outfits on the musicians.

Not an unpleasant song, but I guess one just had to be there. Were you there?

@martin meenagh - Thanks for sticking up for me during the comments row on Neil's Cuba post.

Expecting a snarky, psychoanalyzing comment from slapheads anonymous in 3...2...1...

Anonymous said...

Neil, adoption of your five point plan would sadly impact on my enjoyment of this annual festival of cheesy songs, risible dance routines and sheer camp silliness the 'worse' it gets, the more enjoyable it seems to become; but, I do think the block voting tiresome and (with the addition of subtitles) think everyone should sing in their native languages!

Martin Meenagh said...

That's alright Douglas-- all the best, I like your blog, your state, and Thomas a Kempis too, so that's a hat trick! All the best

Sonia said...

"Eurovision"? I have a question. How in the world did Switzerland win in 1988 with an American (Canadian Celine Dion) performing? Or can we in the Americas get in on the action in this annual fromage-fest? It seems hardly fair to not include us on the basis of location.

DAVIDD said...

Its amazing the things that get people hot under the collar, and, whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion, it just so happens that all the opinions heretofore are incorrect, the greatest Eurovision WINNER is Apres Toi by Vicki Leandros...FACT.

Anonymous said...

I remember this song from 1975, just - and agree the best Euro vision song (although Waterloo a very close 2nd) A positive Euro jolly and the lovely Getty Caspers was just right for it.

S.F.W