And we’re in Vienna this time, for the first out of (so far) two times. Denmark is out until the head of DR retires, but everyone else is still in (for now). This time, we’re in a palace that belonged to the Habsburg dynasty.
Our host for tonight is Erica Vaal, an actress, and let me tell you, she’s probably the best host we’ve had so far. We’re finally starting to approach the modern hosting way, where the host is an integral part of the experience.
Not only did she present the contest in the mandatory English and French, as well as Austria’s native German, but she also welcomed the viewers in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish ans, most surprisingly, Russian. Now, she had a fairly strong accent in Russian, but does that matter to me? No, of course not, she still took her time to learn how to pronounce it anyway, even if nobody would’ve said anything if she hadn’t. I think we should all commend her for learning the welcome speech in all these languages.
This was also the first contest my grandma has watched, so it holds a special place in her heart (and mine). Imagine a small 11-year-old girl in the USSR being able to watch a pan-(Western) European song contest from her house? That’s just magical for so many reasons, since people back then just didn’t have the same access to content from all over the world as we do.
But enough about me, let’s move to our songs.
The Netherlands seem to have been very unlucky with their draws, nearly always being in the first half. This means that their results weren’t as good as they would’ve been if they got to close the contest nearly every time. But I have to say, their songs work really well as openers.
This song is pretty good, more of what the Netherlands have usually sent. I don’t think it’s as good as many of their previous entries, but I still like it a decent amount (and the huge number of key changes - three! - makes it an engaging listen).
And here’s a song a lot of people probably know (if not lyrically, then at least the instrumental).
It sounds very contemporary for 1967 (and it would have to be, seeing how it became a hit), but I find it too repetitive. Now, I don’t think it would’ve benefitted from something grander, its minimalist arrangement suits this song really well, but the song doesn’t progress anywhere, which makes it quite unengaging to listen to.
The lyrics are good, I admit, with clever variations in each verse, interesting rhymes and an engaging overall structure. Vicky also sings it pretty well, especially considering that she’s just 18 years old.
Austria has gone for a much less interesting ballad than anything from Udo. It commits to a very old-fashioned musical style, using a harpsichord, which is the most interesting part about it. Otherwise, it’s pretty much what I expect from Austria in these years.
France is finally out of the slump in quality and back to sending music that’s actually really good. I’m a fan of French music, so this is good news for me. It’s a pretty contemporary song for 1967 (though not as contemporary as L’amour est bleu), with a fairly minimalist instrumentation and an engaging structure.
Unfortunately, it still lacks something for me, but it’s a huge upwards trajectory.
Last year, we had our first black female performer, now we have our first black male performer.
Anyway, this is easily the most modern song of the night. It’s full of energy and gusto, Eduardo is a charismatic performer with a powerful voice. The instrumental is grand and powerful, suited pretty well to an entry like this. It almost feels like a rock song, except adapted to an orchestra, which makes it stand out immensely (in a good way). This song is one of many reasons why I love Portugal in Eurovision, they aren’t afraid of bringing something different to the table.
This was a very unpleasant listen and the only good part of this song was that it ended. Géraldine’s vocals were all over the place (and none of them were on key). The final screech made me jump in my seat.
The instrumental is nothing interesting too. It just plods along with no variation until it finally ends. Key changes might feel tacky, but I would’ve liked to have one here to at least have something interesting.
The lyrics are pretty mediocre as well. They don’t try anything new or interesting, but at least they don’t actively annoy me.
And here’s a much more interesting approach to a romantic song compared to Switzerland’s. Once again, the verses have a pretty minimalistic instrumentation with a prominent guitar and the chorus gets a full orchestral accompaniment. This immediately gives the song a lot of variation and makes it quite interesting to listen to.
This song seems very unfocused. The instrumentation, the lyrics and the vocal performance don’t match each other at all.
The instrumentation is weird, sometimes it’s too cheery, sometimes it’s too dramatic, but it never strikes a good balance between the two. The raspy vocal performance doesn’t fit it at all, that’s for sure. And the lyrics about staying out of the spotlight don’t work here either.
Germany is also jumping on the “modern pop” bandwagon and I couldn’t be happier. This is a delightfully cheereful 60s tune and listening to it just makes me smile. It has a nice bouncy instrumental, positive lyrics, it’s catchy - what more could you need. This is a very strong effort by Germany (and reminds me a little bit of a different German entry that’s going to come up later).
Despite being repetitive, I wasn’t annoyed by this song. It managed to feel fun and interesting for its whole runtime. It even got me to tap my foot along a little. But, of course, the most notable part is the fakeout ending, where the song seems to end and, just as the audience starts clapping, begins again. They could’ve easily fumbled this and made me roll my eyes, but it works somehow.
The first word that comes to my mind when thinking about this song is “annoying”. The lyrics are absolute “sexist drivel” (and that’s not me saying this from 2024, that’s what Sandie Shaw herself thought in 1967) and make me raise my eyebrows.
The instrumental is catchy, of course, but annoying as well. Sandie described it as a “cuckoo-clock tune” and, once again, I completely agree with her, it does remind me of the sound a cuckoo clock makes.
Still, Sandie gave it her best and clearly was able to convince the audiences and the juries, seeing how it was extremely successful in the charts. It’s also one of my grandma’s favourites from Eurovision, but I’ve never been charmed by it.
Raphael is back from last year with a very similar entry. This time, he isn’t as dramatic, which, in my opinion, works even better. He doesn’t feel as desperate as last time, which makes me able to connect with him a little more, though I still would’ve preferred something slightly less dramatic.
Kirsti scored twice as well as she did in 1965 - scoring 2 points instead of 1.
She has this charming infectious enthusiasm about her that makes the song much better, though I do think this one is a lot weaker than her first one. It’s more dainty and airy, without any significant impact. Though it does have that trademark Nordic storytelling style that I like a lot.
I was absolutely enchanted by this song from start to finish. It’s quite dissonant, but it uses this dissonance really well because it doesn’t feel annoying. I expected the juries to kill this like they did Italy last year, but no, it came 5th, which is surprising, but good.
Now, it isn’t amazing by any stretch of the imagination, the lyrics are rather repetitive and it doesn’t really go anywhere either, but it does stand out in a good way.
Yugoslavia has sent a ballad in Slovene for the second time in a row and I’ve loved Yugoslavia’s entry for the second time in a row.
The instrumental has a great flow with no abrupt changes or elements that come out of nowhere. Every part has its purpose in the storytelling and feels impossible to remove. The trumpet parts are especially great and I wish it was used more. The lyrics strike just the right balance between being sad and hopeful.
This is one of the most Italian entries so far. It seems like they decided to course-correct after their 0 the previous year and sent something they knew would appeal to the juries. Clearly, it worked a little bit, not finishing last. I don’t find it to be very interesting, especially compared to Claudio’s 1962 entry, but I don’t find it bad either.
Ireland is trying to perfect their male ballad formula that would get them a lot of great results in the future and they clearly knew what they needed to do. Of course, they got lucky with the draw and have a huge advantage of being able to sing in English, but this is also a great ballad with great songwriting, engaging instrumentation and strong vocals. It completely deserved its second place.
This was another really good year. There were some stinkers for sure, but I think the quality has really picked up since the early 60s. Countries aren’t afraid to send contemporary entries anymore, the hosts are more lively and it’s just a lighter and more fun experience in general. Eurovision is really starting to become what it is today.
The voting was really boring this year though. I’m glad they went back to the 10-point system, which allowed more countries to get points they wouldn’t have got otherwise, but the UK got off to a big lead and nobody got close to catching them up. We also got our first voting mishap, where Erica forgot about the votes of the Irish jury and announced Sandie as the winner before them (not that the votes of the Irish jury changed the winner). We’re going to get more voting accidents later on (a lot of them are legendary).
I’ll see you all in lovely London next year as the UK finally hosts for themselves and not as a substitute.