| Not a great year, this, so let's
plough on... Switzerland's entry was a late replacement, their original having contravened a national contest regulation (insert hilarious joke about Swiss laws). It's a shame there weren't more late replacements, going on the basis of this: we've had a lot of cabaret in Eurovision but not so much burlesque; "Mister Music Man" is basically "The Stripper". It's well delivered in spite of the fact that singer Daisy Auvray doesn't remove a single garment, but then the memory of 1985 still lingers as a warning against such things. The Dutch entry is particularly Dutch and very of its time: a trio of black men in buttoned up shirts and high-waisted trousers dancing in unison to a modern soul-disco number. All is fairly as one would expect, with the possible exception of the accordion solo. Also possessed of a an accordion were Yugoslavia. Their entry was their last before bits of the country starting falling off, and it was a good swansong on which to go out. It begins rather silkily and lusciously with hints of Balkan folk in the distance before bubbling over into Tom Jones territory: mainly "Just Help Yourself", but with a bit of "Delilah" at the end for good measure. It was our winner. The real winner was Ireland: Linda Martin returning, again with a song by Johnny Logan. But alas this is no "Terminal 3". Rather it is a self-pitying dirge entitled "Why me?". It livens up a bit for the middle-8, to give poor Noel Kelehan (the regular Irish conductor) something to do, but that is not enough to make it anything other than a bit dull. Much like this year's contest. For each year's songs we apply our points in the 12-10-8 style of the modern contest, irrespective of how the voting functioned at the time. In brackets is the position the song came on the night:
Europe, as mentioned, voted Ireland the winners, with the UK second, Malta third, Austria tenth, Denmark twelfth, Spain 14th, Germany 16th, Norway 18th, Turkey 19th, Belgium 20th, Luxembourg 21st, Sweden 22nd and Finland last. |
 Our winner, Extra Nena.  Daisy Auvray's teasing strip.  Humphrey Campbell (left) and brothers.  Linda Martin: Why indeed? ⇦1991 / HOME / 1993 ⇨ |
