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There is much talk about how politics ruins Eurovision, but the two have always been inextricably coiled together to some extent. The very project, while superficially a demonstration of broadcasting technology, is fundamentally a continental showcase, hence the import shown to it by pariah states such as Spain and Portugal. Corrupted or not, Spain's victory in 1968 was unquestionably a coup for the Francoists. And 1974's Portuguese entry proved a coup for the Estado Novo. It will be remembered not for sounding a bit like the theme to Blake's 7, but for being chosen as the starting signal for the Carnation Revolution: 18 days after the contest it was aired on Portuguese radio as the signal for rebel captains to prepare for their coup. Eurovision, then, has a significance in Portuguese history far beyond that of most entrants (alas Belle and the Devotions failed to galvanize our own 'enemy within' to quite the same extent). What reward for a nation so devoted to the contest? Is liberty not enough? Portugal held the ignominy of being the longest serving nation without a victory to their name, until their final, somewhat-out-of-nowhere success in 2017 — a success that was long overdue. Indeed, the AView jury gave them a hat-trick of victories at the turn of the '80s. Europe, on the other hand, missed the point: be that point tongue in cheek or stylistically too advanced for Europe's slow-turning cogs to process. One might suggest that the '70s run we've pinpointed was a different matter: politics 'ruining' Eurovision again as Europe habitually marks down the filthy fascists and dirty dictatorships. But then post-revolution 1975 didn't score any better (though in fairness, post-revolution Portuguese entries weren't especially good until the end of the decade). The real problem is that Europe just does not have much taste for punchy, moody, angry strops, which is a shame, because Portugal are great at that sort of thing, as we shall see below...

	1pt	1996	AV: 1st Eur: 6th
	Lúcia Moniz - "O meu coração não tem cor"
	Armed with a ukulele, the chipmunkish Lúcia Moniz clearly means business. Her song has certain 1970s leanings, albeit filtered through a lounge jazz cheesecloth. There's a nice ethnic groove, some memorable chanting interjections from the backing vocalists, and a chorus where everything except the ukuleles drops out. Martial wind adds just a little extra folkiness where it's needed, to create what was our winning song of the night, and to date the strongest performing Portuguese entry in the contest.
	2pts	1984	AV: 13th Eur: 11th
	Maria Guinot - "Silêncio e tanta gente"
	A hauntingly beautiful piano ballad but perhaps more memorable for the amazing De Groot set arrangement that served as its backdrop. Maria Guinot is a sort of Portuguese Victoria Wood and the meter hangs in a way that could easily carry the occasional amusing remark, but this is the soulful and more serious number she's put into the set in the interest of variety. 1984 being a pretty strong year, it didn't make the top 10 for either our jury or Europe as a whole, but it's better than the song that won it for us twelve years later.
	3pts	1971	AV: 2nd Eur: 9th
	Tonicha - "Menina do alto da serra"
	Portugal returned from a year out with a woman in a camera-melting dress bearing arms of increasing elevation and singing another rousing Mediterranean-inflected number made truly special by a funked-up arrangement in the chorus. It's what Portugal do best.
	4pts	1976	AV: 4th Eur: 12th
	Carlos do Carmo - "Uma flor de verde pinho"
	Portugal's entry is different: a very grand introduction and some interesting on-stage instrumentation makes it look like we're in for a chamber concert for a moment. In fact we're in for some moving and very Belgian chanson that in an ideal world would go on for twice as long as it does.
	5pts	1982	AV: 1st Eur: 13th
	Doce - "Bem bom"
	From the moment Doce (that's their name) appear, it is clear we are in for some sort of treat, dressed as they are in spangly black and white musketeer outfits. They then move forwards, one by one (there's four of them) in silence, and one can't help but wonder if this will be some sort of Cage tribute: 3'00" maybe. But then a martial drum beats out a rhythm and the girls start bobbing about. An Ottawan riff plays and they go "Hey". It's an oddly sluggish performance, kind of like they're drunk. But the latex space highwayman look carries them and it's a pretty good tune. It's title is "Bem bom", which is actually not nonsense but the Portuguese for "Very good" (something 1982 wasn't, though it was by no means very bad).
	6pts	1973	AV: 3rd Eur: 10th
	Fernando Tordo - "Tourada"
	1973's Portugal had a Richard Beckinsale lookalike doing a stomping, relentless, giddy march that put us in mind of the theme-tune to the children's television series "Chorlton and the Wheelies". The story of a bullfight, it is generally understood to be a thinly veiled attack on the country's dictatorship.
	7pts	1972	AV: 1st Eur: 7th
	Carlos Mendes - "A festa da vida"
	Mendes has grown a beard since his last appearance in 1968. He's also brought a better song: a frenetic, pacy, minor-keyed spiral, building and building to reach wilder and wilder heights like a short-circuited Pulp number. It is, for us, a Eurovision classic and the worthy winner of 1972. We're into the proper good stuff now.
	8pts	1980	AV: 1st Eur: 7th
	José Cid - "Um grande, grande amor"
	José Cid is a sort of cross between Roy Orbison and Elton John. With a verse stolen from "Eloise", and a fantastically joyous chorus sprinkled with a fair amount of '70s glitz, he wins our hearts, while a very final false end catches out the audience.
	10pts	1969	AV: 3rd Eur: 15th
	Simone de Oliveira - "Desfolhada portuguesa"
	For 1969's contest Portugal went back to their 1965 entrant, Simone de Oliveira, for a powerful, passionate and at times histrionic Mediterranean-inflected slab of patriotic chanson. The genre doesn't get much better than this.
	12pts	1981	AV: 1st Eur: 18th
	Carlos Paião - "Playback"
	Picking up 1980's Telex where they left off, and taking them to where they needed to go was Portugal's 1981 entry, "Playback" by Carlos Paião. One of the best Eurovision songs of all time, it is a wonderful blend of minimal electronics and soaring orchestration: an angular, robotic lament for talent in a world of quantized music. It's amazing that it's not a German entry, with its Schools & Colleges theme tune sound. Adorable little Carlos, a Timothy Claypole kind of chap, is accompanied on stage by four backing vocalists cum dancers in differently coloured flight suits (that he doesn't rip off their trousers is a trick missed), one of whom looks a lot like Bob Carolgees. Together they jerkily ram their microphones against their heads, bob up and down, and sprain their necks. It's hard not to join in. Unquestionably this should've won. Unforgivably it came joint second-to-last. Sometimes Europe gets things very wrong indeed.