However, every year regardless of who takes home the victory, there will always be discussions around which country should have won. It might be the crazy disco act which finished second or the alluring ballad that keeps growing on you long after it finished seventh in the final. Do you remember who won in 1983? We can barely remember a lady in a pink dress wailing something in French, but the girl who came on third place sticks like glue to our brains!
Here’s our list with some of our favorite songs trough all times that didn’t win the contest but most certainly won our hearts!
1991 - France: Amina "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison”
An excruciatingly exciting voting process ended with a tie break between Sweden and France. Amina came second with the smallest margin ever to spare to the winner, having received fewer ten points than the winner Carola. – But what an astonishing lady with a heavenly voice and an even sassier orange scarf than the one WigWam had. She owned the stage that night in Rome.
1983 - Sweden: Carola "Främling"
Ironically enough it was Carola who snatched the victory out of Amina’s henna painted hands in 1991, but a few years earlier Carola had to settle for third place. Carola’s career path is somewhat similar to Michael Jackson’s: 1983: talented and wonderful, 1991: on top of their careers, 2006: freak show! We find this deeply disturbing….
1979 – West Germany: Dschinghis Khan ”Dschinghis Khan”
How come everybody remembers an act that came on fourth place in 1979? Magical!
2000 – Latvia: BrainStorm ”My Star”
During this beautiful evening in May one decade ago we realized that the Europe we used to know in our childhood back in the eighties had changed forever and no longer existed. This perfect pop song, with the most charming vocalist ever! Why did it only finish on third place? And why did the Pensioners Party from Denmark win?
1973 – Spain: Mocedades ”Eres tú”
The Basques sure know how to race a bicycle and to play soccer, but they also know how to make the perfect ballad! This song is commonly confused as the winner from 1973, even though the actual winning act was really strong that year.
1968 – United Kingdom: Cliff Richard ”Congratulations”
Sir Cliff looks younger today than what he did 42 years ago. Scary. However there’s no way getting around the fact that he nailed it with a classic and a massive hit when he came second that year. His contribution is especially loved and appreciated among those of us who loves birthday celebrations.
1987 – Norway: Kjersti Bergesen ”Go-go”
This entry didn’t even make it through to the international final; it finished on third place in the Norwegian national selection final behind Kate “Bad Hair Day” Gulbrandsen. But our Norwegian readers and Eurovision connoisseurs might remember that it beat strong household names like Sigvart Dagsland, Olav Stedje, Mia Gundersen and Finn Kalvik. Kjersti is not even close to sporting a decent singing voice, but the song itself is a perfect snap shot from the eighties, and the keychange towards the end of the song is priceless.
2005 – Latvia: Walter & Kazha ”The war is not over”
How can there be wars going on when cutie pies like this can make such wonderful music? Massive ”Extreme- More Than Words” factor going on and we immediately turn 13 again when we listen to this song which came fifth in Kiev.
2003 – Belgium: Urban Trad ”Sanomi”
As if Flemish isn’t silly enough to begin with, the Belgians decided to sing in a sort of gibberish language this year. World music is usually not our cup of tea, but we didn’t mind if this entry had finished higher than second place in 2003.
1983 – Yugoslavia: Danijel ”Dzuli”
1983 was a really strong year with a weak winner. This number came on fifth place and became an instant classic. Balkanswing rules!
What’s your favorite runner up?
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1993 - Sonia (UK) Better The Devil You Know
ReplyDeleteGreat performance ,she really sold that song ,and it's catchy too.
I'd love for her to enter again (but with a ballad) - she's still got the voice.
AND she hasn't aged at all !
Yes indeed, great song and a great gal! She came across as charming and talented and we much prefer her above the winner that year. We haven't seen much of her since the mid 90s so it would be interesting to see her come back to ESC. God knows the Brits have to come up with something to do better than the last years miserable performances!
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