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.
I have to disagree (in a small way). I still remember the 1981 winner, the UK’s Bucks Fizz doing “Making Your Mind Up”. It’s an ear worm! The reason that I remember the song so well is that I was over in Scotland during the Eurovision Contest, and that song was everywhere.
Here’s the original version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO-mxo-14H4
Bucks Fizz have been together in one form or another since 1981. Here are three of the original members (plus an interloper) recorded last month:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mhNSVsa460
Unfortunately, the other winners are forgettable, except possibly in their home countries!
Rules have varied over the years about whether entries have to sing in their country’s native language. In the period when that was required, most of the songs didn’t travel well. Even those in English don’t get played here, though. There was one back in the ’50s or early ’60s, I forget the song, and then “Waterloo,” which ABBA recorded in several languages. Their manager wrote the English lyrics.
German:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRTZuC2PSXA
French:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMpGQ3phCXo
Swedish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BXyboCMDS4
They covered all the bases with the judges.
Small correction: Nemo is a solo artist, not a group. Yes, that’s one person doing all the vocals.