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Eurovision

Isnt the Russian entry a song about world peace? I wonder what the Ukrainians will make of it after all theyve gone through with the Russian Federation.
 
GeorgeP said:
Isnt the Russian entry a song about world peace? I wonder what the Ukrainians will make of it after all theyve gone through with the Russian Federation.
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There's a few about world peace, 'twas ever thus. But the Cyprus and Hungary ones do it better. I'd rather they sang about that than about how great war is.
 
Just for reference, I have copyrighted the phrase "Bod Hitler Youth" for the Swedish bloke's backing group.

Not bad this year! UK entry abysmal but hey ho. The Spanish one was quite fruity I thought...
 
Well, I thought this year was the most balanced, musically speaking. The only 'Odd Bod' out there was the UK, everyone else was much of a much. The voting has not quite finished, but I'm liking this algorithm, lol. Certainly, the tensest (?sp - it's not Eurovision without Tin and Gonic ;)) end for I while.
 
I thought the UK entry was jolly good fun, but earnest and inspirational seems to win it now. If Russia had done it I think there would have been a riot in the stadium, maybe another war. Sweden won it because the staging was ingenious, really stood out among the others. What do I know? I voted for Slovenia! I never seem to get the winner right...

Surprised Austria never even got a courtesy vote. OK, it wasn't the slickest ever (thanks, cameraman focusing on some woman's cleavage when we were supposed to see Georgia's entry), but maybe the piano destruction reminded people of Jerry Lee Lewis and put them off.

Still wouldn't miss any of it, of course.
 
Oh, and Greece and Cyprus DIDN'T give each other full marks! It's the end of the world, everyone! Run for your lives!
 
I wondered if we had seen a different type of politic coming into the night. Following the fantastic vote in the referendum in ROI, I was tempted to vote for Russia. Could you imagine the typical* Eurovision fan, descending upon Moscow next year?

Poland's entry ticked almost every box, bar white men**.

The Fat Bird***.

*I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)
**I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)
***I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)

In seriousness though, in recent years, you're right GNC, earnest and inspirational works. The Swedish staging was standout compared to the rest, but it hit the party atmosphere that is a foundation of Eurovision. As a lot of the music was very similar, it was always going to be an upbeat song, so standing out visually in that manner was a very good ploy.

But who would want to win Eurovision? Not the individual artists' I do think some of them are genuinely in it to win, sometimes naively, but the country hosting the next one. I'd be interested to know if Vienna made a profit. Was it one of those things like Yorkshire, after the Grande Depart, made a profit? Or is the burden of hosting Eurovision worth more on the regional, and further political stage?

At the end of the day, I luff Eurovsion, because it's fun. Then there's all the 'grey bits'.
 
Well, a night of big power ballads and big cleavage. UK entry was like a Butlins act. I was expecting it to be followed by an elderly magician and a chorus line of Redcoats
 
Yeah way too many wailers. Did the Walker Brothers need to howl, did Dean Martin, Sinatra, Kate Bush? All these "talent shows" it's all about how loud you can sing. Drives me nuts when the wife has them on.
 
I missed most of Eurovision this year, but, I wonder now about the following points:

- Is it now only France that don't sing in English? Or are there still a few others that remain native, thus avoiding the Abbafication effect?

- Is the Acadamie Francaise unique, that is, does no other nation appear to attempt internal legal protection for it's own language?

- Since Eurovision is based upon locations of televisual consumption (yes? Hence Israel?) and not geography (presumably why Australia was 'guest competing' alongside Austria), what on earth is it now? At/on any level?
 
Found in my twitter feed this morning:

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Cultjunky said:
I wondered if we had seen a different type of politic coming into the night. Following the fantastic vote in the referendum in ROI, I was tempted to vote for Russia. Could you imagine the typical* Eurovision fan, descending upon Moscow next year?

Poland's entry ticked almost every box, bar white men**.

The Fat Bird***.

*I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)
**I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)
***I'm a diversity officer, I can generalize and say say what the f**k I want, where I want. ;)
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It's OK, you can relax. We know you're not Bahar Mustafa. :D
 
Anyone thinking the Swedish song reminds you of another song?


 
Ermintrude said:
I missed most of Eurovision this year, but, I wonder now about the following points:

- Is it now only France that don't sing in English? Or are there still a few others that remain native, thus avoiding the Abbafication effect?

- Is the Acadamie Francaise unique, that is, does no other nation appear to attempt internal legal protection for it's own language?

- Since Eurovision is based upon locations of televisual consumption (yes? Hence Israel?) and not geography (presumably why Australia was 'guest competing' alongside Austria), what on earth is it now? At/on any level?
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English is usually the language most use, but there are plenty who sing in their own language. The Romanian Hierophant did, for example.

Eurovision is open to those members in the European Broadcasting Union (which has included Israel for decades). Australia was there because it was the anniversary show and they've been avid viewers for ages, so it was a bit of fun. I expect China might enter with some Cantopop in the 70th if they got enough viewers yesterday.
 
I think the lyrics aren't meant to be listened to - they might as well be glossolalia. E.g. I'm sure the winning number's chorus was inspired by the jottings of asylum inpatients - "We are the heroes of our time. But we're dancing with the demons in our mind".

Particularly halting though was the ridiculous, stonking instrumental interval performance - a complicated percussive virtuoso orchestral thing, blending Arnold Schoenberg with tribal drums, Zappa-esque melody onslaughts and other shit. Really quite something. I should Google now in fact, to relive it....
 
I suppose Eurovision has been becoming more a contest about the performance on the night, and not the actual song. Sweden's entry was OK, but it wasn't great. The visual effects were impressive, but the lyrics and the melody were "meh". Not actually offensive, but not particularly interesting, either.

Also, I didn't think the UK entry was so bad it deserved only 5 points. I only caught the end of the French entry and didn't see Germany or Austria at all, but that they did even worse than Britain surprises me.
 
Could it be that the reason Britain never does well is all down to the EURO in the competitions title?
 
Apparently Britain has won 5 times and we've been runner-up 15 times.
 
egregor said:
I think the lyrics aren't meant to be listened to - they might as well be glossolalia
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Quite aside from the rich seam of potential analysis that runs through the interpretation of comprehensible lyrics, and the analyses that can be made of misheard lyrics, there are indeed lyrics for popular published music that are almost glossolalia, but might be better described as being a shared non-language (maybe a shared endoglossy?).

Notably, the new age soaring and uplifting nonsense of Adiemus and Karl Jenkins (cf Songs of Sanctury) which I heard described as Neoceltic pig latin in Welsh.

Apologies, this taking the thread off it's proper track. The Eurogods will smite me (but in a self-deprecating ironic sort of way, and with a backing track sounding like a hurdy-gurdy synth. And short beards. Oh, and a couple of skinny girls wearing loose muslin shifts, moving their arms randomly)
 
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Ah, yes. The endoglossy seems to be everywhere. Or maybe I'm getting too old to decipher the youngsters' "tribal lunar speak" (as the 1990s Canadian pop band Len called it).

I've been told that I'm "no fun at the disco".
 
egregor said:
I've been told that I'm "no fun at the disco".
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I am envisaging Dad Dancing and wondering if there is a female version, or if it applies to all of us, eventually :(
 
Notably, the new age soaring and uplifting nonsense of Adiemus and Karl Jenkins (cf Songs of Sanctury) which I heard described as Neoceltic pig latin in Welsh.
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Om are quite mind boggling bad for indecipherable and/or nonsensical lyrics.

 
Oh, I quite like that whole Karl Jenkins/Enya kind of genre where you're obviously meant to hear the voice as just another instrument, rather than focusing on the lyrical content. I much prefer that to songs that have annoyingly banal lyrics. ""We are the heroes of our time. But we're dancing with the demons in our mind". WTF does that even mean?
 
Don't forget the UK were top 5 recently when Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber penned a tune for us. I just think we have this perceived trouble of not taking it seriously recently, so the rest of Europe don't take us seriously in return.
 
GNC said:
Don't forget the UK were top 5 recently when Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber penned a tune for us. I just think we have this perceived trouble of not taking it seriously recently, so the rest of Europe don't take us seriously in return.
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I think most other countries got a local competition to select the best song. Looks like BBC do it the easy way and just pick an artist and a song to send to ESC.
 
We used to have a contest with public votes but gave it up when it became too expensive - and embarrassing, when the winners were things like Jemini.
 
GNC said:
We used to have a contest with public votes but gave it up when it became too expensive - and embarrassing, when the winners were things like Jemini.
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LOL. I see what you mean...

From the land of The Beatles, Jethro Tull and Rolling Stones. :eek:
 
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