27. Eimear Quinn - The Voice (Ireland, 1st 1996)

 

 

Some more new age traditional folk then, of which I am more than partial to! Ireland won for a 4th time in five years when this stormed to a very convincing victory in 1996...its a nice song for the first half but gets a hell of a lot better after the Irish jig midway through...perhaps not a deserved winner in the year of Gina G but definitely the best Irish winner of the 1990s and would have been a well deserved second place!

I have Eimear Quinn's autograph. She is my friend's voice-coach person.

 

Great stuff gooddelta! :cheer:

26. Texas Lightning - No No Never (Germany, 15th 2006)

 

 

I'm the first to admit that 'the big 4' have for the most part submitted below par songs for the last five years but Germany's 2006 song was an exception and why this flopped is a mystery...the 2006 final started with an absolute dire string of songs and this was the first truly great song to be performed, in 8th or 9th of the running order or something!?! a very good pop-country song which the Germans took to their hearts (was a huge selling No.1 single and stayed in the top ten for most of the year there)...this should have got to the top ten at the very very least...

I have Eimear Quinn's autograph. She is my friend's voice-coach person.

 

Great stuff gooddelta! :cheer:

 

cool, she seems like a very nice woman! shame she disappeared from music, at least commercially :o

25. Sahlene - Runaway (Estonia - 3rd, 2002)

 

 

Joint 3rd with the UK in 2002, I often wish that Marie N hadn't entered that year because then we would have had Malta winning and UK and Estonia fighting for 2nd place...Runaway is a truly excellent, infectious scandi-pop song complete with a key change, sounding like it should have been the Swedish entry...As Terry Wogan correctly pointed out, the chorus does bear a resembelance to 'I Believe I Can Fly'...

24. Fame - Give Me Your Love (Sweden - 5th, 2003)

 

 

Back over to Sweden and they certainly enjoy finishing 5th this decade, as they have done 4 times now! Let's hope Charlotte Perrelli can do better than that with Hero! Give Me Your Love is a typical Abba-styled schlager pop song sung by an attractive male/female duo...I know its nothing incredible in the grand scheme of things...but I enjoyed it!

23. Dimitry Koldun - Work Your Magic (Belarus - 6th, 2007)

 

 

One of my favourite songs from last year's contest, Princess Diana lookalike (apparently) Dimitry Koldun from Belarus came 6th with this excellent pop song. It's a shame that it wasn't sung by somebody with a better English accent because the melody itself is absolutely excellent and as I said many times last year, like the best non James Bond related Bond theme ever made...should have swapped places with Ukraine's dire song and finished 2nd or 3rd...

22. Ines - Once In A Lifetime (Estonia - 4th, 2000)

 

 

Once again, its over to Estonia who truly churned out some incredible pop songs at the turn of the decade. 17 year old Ines (well now 25 I suppose) was compared to Britney Spears with this fluffy pop song, but singing in her hat she was more reminsicent of LeAnn Rimes...anyway, this is a great song which I regularly listen to now still...if it had won I think it could have been a top 40 hit in the UK as it was very of its time...

21. Lena Philipsson - It Hurts (Sweden - 5th, 2004)

 

 

Sweden has a tendency to send aging diva's with amazing schlager songs and 2004 was no exception. Lena had been a success in her homeland since the 1980s and her first foray to Eurovision landed her a joint 5th spot (again) along with Cyprus. Like the previous year, It Hurts broke no barriers but a good singer, a good performance and a brilliant song = the whole package!

the countdown so far:

 

21. Lena Philipsson - It Hurts

22. Ines - Once In A Lifetime

23. Dimitry Koldun - Work Your Magic

24. Fame - Give Me Your Love

25. Sahlene - Runaway

26. Texas Lightning - No No Never

27. Eimear Quinn - The Voice

28. Evelin Samuel & Camille - Diamond Of Night

29. Rollo & King - Never Ever Let You Go

30. Alsou - Solo

31. Maria Haukaas Stroreng - Hold On Be Strong

32. Natasha St-Pier - Je N’ai Que Mon Ame

33. Charmed - My Heart Goes Boom

34. Elitsa & Stoyan - Water

35. Carola - Fangad Av En Stormvind

36. Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up

37. Michelle - To Live For Love

38. Kate Ryan - Je T'adore

39. Shiri Maymon - The Silence That Remains

40. Antique - Die For You

 

It Hurts is amazing! I've never thought of it in the same way ever since someone referred to it as 'the anal sex song' though - the lyrics explain it all! :(

:heehee: I think you're right Trashsson! the Swedes have no shame...top 20 coming up NOW

We've already figured out that the Swedes clearly want me dead from the petrol dousing theorem, a little unconventional sex in their songs would hardly be all that surprising really :drama:

20. Jessica Garlick - Come Back (UK - 3rd, 2001)

 

 

So there I was sitting watching ESC 2002 with my friend and Austria announced the magic words 'United Kingdom...12 Points'...Jessica Garlick's brilliantly sung, beautiful power ballad Come Back came joint 3rd in 2002 and is our only decent result in the last decade...If only it had performed 2nd to last instead of 2nd, I think this could have come 1st or 2nd...

It was such a magical moment when Austria gave us 12 :wub: Last year when Malta gave us 12 was more shocking than magical tbh :lol:

19. Lynn - To Dream Again (Malta - 25th, 2003)

 

 

A controversial choice perhaps? Malta's Lynn followed their 2nd place in 2002 by coming 2nd to last a year later...I honestly don't understand why though...did it really deserve to be below appalling songs from Ukraine and Israel for example!?! A really nice summery mid-tempo pop song with an excellent sing along chorus...deserved to be a big one

Water is amaze :wub: Don't really know what Koldun is doing here :lol:

It was such a magical moment when Austria gave us 12 :wub: Last year when Malta gave us 12 was more shocking than magical tbh :lol:

 

I agree...you sort of expect points from Malta (though not usually that many!) but Austria would only give points to the UK if they genuinely loved the song!

I liked Malta 2003 :o It was a bit sub-par though...I thought it was heading for mid-table tbh :o

 

And Mando SO deserved top 10 that year :(

18. Katrina And The Waves - Love Shine A Light (UK - 1st, 1997)

 

 

A storming return to form or were the juries feeling guilty after the Gina G fiasco the year before!?! Anyway, the excellent Love Shine A Light by 80s rock band Katrina & The Waves truly put the UK back on the map, well for a couple of years anyway...such an uplifting song and country miles ahead of any other Eurovision song in the 97 contest...I seem to remember singing this song in church around its time of release :o