Song of the Day 5/13: Baby Lasagna, “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”

Eurovision, the international song contest, rarely makes the news in America, but it’s a big deal in Europe, a sort of a musical Olympics that pits one musical act from each of two dozen or so participating countries, most of them European. They’ve been holding it since 1956, and it’s grown into a live TV spectacle, a combination of awards show and singing competition.

The United States isn’t involved, but that’s just one reason the contest rarely gets noticed here. The winning entry almost always is the kind of disco-beat song that Americans think of as Eurotrash; the last one to dent the American charts was “Waterloo,” the ABBA tune that represented Sweden in 1974 and broke the band in America. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and I guarantee you won’t recognize the title of any winner since.

This year, though, Eurovision reflected the world’s turmoil. Israel’s participation brought out protesters and caused some jurors to boycott the contest. A Dutch singer was booted from the competition for “inappropriate backstage behavior,” apparently because he lunged at a cinematographer when she wouldn’t stop filming him. And, in a more traditional controversy, the wrong song won.

Eurovision determines a winner by combining the votes of a 12-member jury and those of television viewers, so there’s often disagreement between them. A complicated points-for-position system means that the winner of the popular vote loses if the jury places it low enough. That’s what happened this year, when Croatia’s entry won the televote, but the trophy went to Switzerland.

I listened to several of the entries so you don’t have to, and I concur with consensus: Croatia, represented by a guy who goes by Baby Lasagna, deserved the grand prize with his song about leaving the country life for the big city. I don’t know if the video intended to recall Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise,” but it has the same comic vibe, until its poignant conclusion.

You might disagree. Here’s the winning number, “The Code,” by a Swiss group called Nemo. It combines rap with bombastic rock in a very European manner.

In case you thought I was exaggerating about the Eurotrashiness, here’s the disqualified Dutch entry, which at least gives the dance beat some goofy energy. Frankly, I have a hard time imagining this guy threatening anyone convincingly.