Viewers pick 'the ultimate' Eurovision songs
Organisers of a concert celebrating 50 years of the Eurovision Song Contest today revealed the 14 songs to be performed in a live television show on October 22.
Viewers across Europe have picked the tunes aspiring for the ‘ultimate Eurovision Song Contest song,’ said the Danish Broadcasting Corp.
Fans picked two songs per decade and the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, which created the event, picked four wildcards.
The list includes Domenico Modugno’s 1958 serenade Volare and the 1974 hit Waterloo by ABBA.
Other entries include winning songs by Ireland’s Johnny Logan, French singer France Gall and Britain’s Brotherhood of Man, whose Save Your Kisses for Me earned them the title in 1976. Some of the 14 songs finished second or third.
This year’s winner, My Number One performed by Greece’s Helena Paparizou, also is on the list.
The songs will be performed by the original artists in some of the cases or by other artists, DR spokeswoman Nina Lethin Larsen said. “It’s too early to say now who will come,” she added.
The show has been titled Congratulations, after Cliff Richard’s second-placed song in the 1968 edition of the contest.
Viewers across Europe will cast their votes on the 14 entries by telephone, in the same way that the winner is selected in the regular Eurovision contest.
The show is often derided as a showcase of kitsch and the winners often fade into obscurity.
Its best known champions are ABBA, who were propelled to international fame after winning the contest.
Other entries for the ultimate Eurovision Song Contest song are tunes by: Spanish band Mocedades in 1973, German singer Nicole in 1982, Celine Dion, who performed for Switzerland in 1988, Israel’s Dana International in 1998, Denmark’s Olsen Brothers in 2000 and Turkey’s Sertab Erener in 2003.
