How very dare you!

Much as we respect the right of anybody to change their minds about the song they have entered for Eurovision (otherwise known as ‘doing a Belarus’), we were shocked to learn this week that Italy had done just that. Yup, they’ve ditched the majestic ballad Per Sempre – which was one of our favourites this year – in favour of this effort, L’Amore e Femmina. Now this is a more upbeat tune, with more than enough uses of the phrase ‘boom boom boom’ to satisfy all those lovers of the ridiculous Eurovision lyric – and yes, we do quite like it (we sense if Amy Winehouse had decided to sing in Italian the result might have been something like this), but it’s just – well we think Per Sempre had top five potential, and we’re not so sure about this one. Still when Nina Zilli emerges triumphant from Baku on May 26 clutching the winner’s trophy feel free to tell us we were wrong:

So then, what did we miss…..?

Well quite a lot actually, given that we are in the midst of national final season and songs are now coming in faster than we can keep up! Firstly, an oversight in that the German entry was chosen weeks ago and we forgot all about it. Sorry! (the person responsible has been escorted from the building). Anyway, after several weeks worth of Unser Star For Baku dominating German screens, this chap, Roman Lob, was finally chosen with a winsome little ditty called Standing Still. Now this sounds to us very much like a zillion and one other male pop-rock tracks – not that there’s anything wrong with that, apart from the fact that it may well be overlooked on the night – but what does interest us is the fact that it was penned by our very own Jamie Cullum. And while it’s great to see a prominent UK musician taking an interest in Eurovision one is left to wonder why he should write a song for Germany and not the UK. Granted, a lot of swapsies do go on across Europe when it comes to songwriters but it all seems a little curious to us, as if perhaps he did offer his services to le Royaume-Uni and was turned down. We do hope not, because it wouldn’t be the first time that a talented act has offered to represent the UK, only to be rejected in favour of, well, something that comes last and is derided by the entire continent. Anyway, here’s what the song sounds like:

Speaking of big five people, Italy have finally decided on a song after San Remo music festival winner Nina Zilli was chosen as their representative last month – and would you believe it, after much deliberation they have decided to go with the song she performed in the first place (what took ’em so long to figure that one out then?). Not that we’re complaining because Per Sempre, as it’s called, is slightly fabulous – as Eurovision ballads go it is a tad old school (you could imagine some random country singing this in about 1995) but Nina is ace and the song has a sort of Bond theme quality to it which gives it the edge over all those other run of the mill ballads. As long as she keeps it in Italian we are hedging our bets for another top ten finish this year:

And finally in this little round up we have fellow Big Fiver Spain, who have also gone down the power ballad route with the lovely Pastora Soler singing – nay belting – Quedate Conmingo (aka Stay With Me). And it’s power-ballad-tastic, doncha know:

So that’s that then. Italy, France, Spain and Germany have all unleashed their songs, so just the UK to go (looks at watch while making impatient foot tapping gesture…..)

Where have we been? Never mind that, where have you been….

……for the last 14 years to be precise? Because while we just went away on a short minibreak Italy have been absent from the Eurovision arena since 1997 – and only now, after 14 long years in the wilderness, have they seen fit to return. We’ve heard all manner of excuses as to why they left in the first place – that they wanted to focus on the San Remo festival (feasible), that there was some issue over the showing of commercials during the show (confusing), even that they didn’t see the contest as culturally sound (given this is the country that gave us Italian Stripping Housewives and Roberto Benigni, we’re saying this is unlikely). Whatever their reasons though they are back – and with Austria also returning to the fray this year, it’s beginning to look a lot like an old-school contest again. Something to do with it having been won by a Western nation and being held in Germany perhaps? Well we wouldn’t like to say……:)

As for Italy’s song itself, well we’d heard some negative word of mouth on Raphael Gualazzi’s jazzy effort Follia D’Amore, so we were surprised to find that we didn’t hate it when we heard it. We do sense, however, that this is the work of a country which has been out of the Eurovision loop for 14 years, and doesn’t realise that the contest has moved on in the time it’s been away. As such we can’t even begin to predict how well this will do in the final (for which Italy are automatically qualified, making the ‘Big Four’ into a ‘Big Five’) but what the heck, it’s just nice to have ’em back…..

Haven’t we seen you somewhere before…..?

OK, so when reigning Eurovision champion Lena Meyer-Lendrut announced she planned to defend her title in Dusseldorf this year we may have uttered a slightly hollow laugh of disbelief. But consider us chastened, because the winsome young lass who brought song contest glory back to Germany has only gone and done it again (which officially makes her their coolest ever participant. Did Nicole come back the following year for another try? NO) However it remains to be seen whether or not she can ‘do a Johnny Logan’ based on the song that she’ll be fielding in Dussedorf. Taken By A Stranger actually reminds us a bit of Satellite with its quirky lyrics, sparse beat and Lena’s distinctive vocals, only it’s a bit grungier and, er, not quite as good in our opinion. We have absolutely no doubt that her popularity and performance will win her points by the bucketload but somehow we just can’t see this doing the double. Oh well. Eurovision’s an expensive business and you didn’t really want to host it two years running anyway…..

Oh and while we’re at it another big five country, Spain, also chose their entry on Friday night, in the shape of the lovely Lucia Perez and Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao. And just when you thought nobody could possibly rival Norway for joyfulness on the Eurovision stage this year, along come the Spanish to prove us wrong, for this is about as happy and upbeat a track as we think you’re likely to get this year. And we’ll just gloss over how much it reminds us of Portugal’s 2009 effort for the time being, shall we…….?

On that note, Eurovision Blog is off on its hols (well, a long weekend anyway) for a few days. We shall return towards the end of next week with a belated round-up of this weekend’s action including (gasp!) the first Italian entry since 1997, which we await with bated breath……:)

Waheyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

Er, just this, really……:) In case you hadn’t heard it already, which you probably have. We hereby predict that Eurovision 2011 is going to be the kind of contest in which the sage elder statesmen of Western Europe make their big comeback and act all serious and proper while the East Europeans giggle in the corner like naughty schoolchildren. Or something. Anyway, all we have to do now is get Luxembourg back in the frame and it’ll be just like the old days……!