Entertainment For Lively Minds
C'mon Cliff! How did we used to pick the Eurovision entry?
Posted by Mr Fade on 12 March 2010 - 8:52pm.
Some readers here must be old enough to remember how we used to pick our Eurovision Song Contest entries like Sandie Shaw, Bucks Fizz and Lyndsey De Paul. Was it always the Simon Cowellesque trial by tv?
This year bloody Pete Waterman has written the song. Haven't heard it yet, it may be a classic as good as One For Sorrow or it may be a dud like She Wants To Dance With Me.
Either way haven't we missed a trick here? Why not enter Cliff for his third go. Surely he'd get the sympathy vote and sort out that little misunderstanding with General Franco back in the day?
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the money wasted
annually by the BBC on this steaming pile of shite would keep 6Music going for years.
Seconded
TV at its worst. The FPO is watching it whilst I happily explore the Word blog but can still hear iot in the background.
It is so bad
it borders on brilliant. I know I'll be lonely with this but as in the OP there are one or two top SAW pop songs, aren't there? "Better The Devil You Know", " Never Gonna Give You Up" and the Donna Summer one are just great pop tunes. The eurovision one is not one of his best as I have just heard.
Respectable by Mel & Kim
Magnificent. I shall brook no argument.
Even Pete Waterman shuddders at the memory
I think Rick wrote She Wants to Dance With Me all by himself.
can't we just dig up Franco
and put him on stage with some inept dancers and singing a Sonja b-sides?
There has long been a public vote
I remember as far back as 1970, when Mary Hopkin sang one song each week for six weeks on BBC 1's Saturday evening variety vehicle, which then was, ironically "It's Cliff Richard". On week seven, all six songs would be sung back-to-back and opened out to the public vote (postcards only, please), then on week eight the winning song revealed.
From 1976, it's been a one-night business when all the songs would be sung in one go and either selected (initially) by regional panels of viewers; then, once they'd sorted a way of taking more than about half a dozen phone calls without breaking the switchboard, a phone vote.
I'd question that it's all that expensive to stage the domestic heat then relay the contest itself. It's a reasonable bet it'll top the ratings on the Saturday night; I bet the Beeb still sees it as pretty good value.
My first exposure to Eurovision
was Kenneth McKellar, sometime around the early mid 60s.
With Scots parents this was a must see in our house. I don't recall the name of the programme, it may have been McKellar's own show, but there was a slot where he did a Song For Europe. I guess the format was then pretty much as john describes it above.
There was definitley no Eurobeat to Ken's songs. All I remember is that he wasn't the Beatles and I hated it.
I'm just boggling
at the idea of Cliff being entered for the third time.
At his age!
Never heard so many out of tune singers!
And yes, Waterman's song is very poor.