The Eternal Runner Up

Everybody knows how hard it is to win the Eurovision Song Contest. It has never been an easy task but lately it seems to be almost impossible. Whoever wins must be considered to be good in his/her own right but also very very lucky. It’s not a piece of cake to select one song from such a wide variety, especially nowadays with more than forty countries taking part!

That’s why it’s always a big deal for any country to actually win and host the contest. Malta had never had this opportunity yet, even though we were close to victory on four occasions.
 
I’m sure you all remember 1992 (Mary Spiteri) and 1998 (Chiara) when ‘we’ placed third.  And what about 2002 (Ira Losco) and 2005 (Chiara) ending up in second position ! Finishing such a hard contest in third or second position is also a great honour…but let’s be honest, it’s also bitter.

There is a particular country, one of the Big Four, that won the Eurovision five times but placed in the runner-up position fifteen times! So fasten your seat-belts and let’s go to the United Kingdom!
 

A year after that, in 1960, UK placed second again. This time the singer was Bryan Johnson with the song “Looking High, High, High”…quite a clever title once again ! And the following year, 1961, the runners-up in Eurovision were UK once again. The Allisons earned their second place with the song “Are you Sure?”.

In 1964 Gigliola Cinquetti from Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest with the famous “Non ho l’Eta”, and guess who placed second behind her…of course UK ! Matt Monro sang “I Love the Little Things”, but it seems that the Italian fifteen-year old stole everybody’s heart on the night. Kathy Kirby represented the UK a year later, in 1965, and even though her song “I Belong” still sounds beautiful today, she didn’t manage to win…and placed second as well.

In 1968 the UK was represented by a very young Cliff Richard. His song “Congratulations” is a world-wide known tune and at the time, everybody was sure that it would be the winning song. Yet the UK ended up in the runner-up position once again after “La la la” of Spain. As I pointed out in an earlier article of mine, it has been discovered that the 1968 results were a fraud and in actual fact “Congratulations” should have been the winner.

Actually, Sir Cliff Richard represented the UK on another occasion in Eurovision 1973, but this time he placed third.

The 70s :
1970 was very important for Ireland, because they won for the very first time, but for the UK it was another second place. “Knock Knock, Who’s There?” was the title of the song interpreted by Mary Hopkin. In 1972, the UK was represented by a group that was very popular at the time, The New Seekers. Actually some of their songs are still popular nowadays, like for example “Beg, Steal or Borrow”, which earned the UK another second place in Eurovision. But there was another very popular group that represented the UK and finished in second position. The Shadows sang “Let me be the One” in 1975, but they were beaten by the silly “Ding ding-a-Dong” from the Netherlands ! Two years later Lynsey De Paul & Mike Moran were the UK representatives in 1977. Their song “Rock Bottom” was regarded as a possible winner but Marie Myriam from France was luckier, so once again UK finished second.
 

The 90s :
Eurovision night 1992 was nerve-wrecking for all on the Maltese islands. Mary Spiteri could have easily won, it was quite obvious that she was going to make it. But thanks to the votes from UK, Malta ended up in third position. Linda Martin from Ireland won…and who placed in between? Of course UK, who else? Michael Ball sang “One Step out of Time” and after the festival he commented that he would rather stick pins in his eyeballs rather than taking part in Eurovision again. Obviously political voting was becoming more and more evident.

The following year, 1993, the UK ended up in second position once again…this time thanks to us ! Mysteriously the telephone call from Malta couldn’t get through during the voting so Malta had to vote last after all other countries. Funnily enough the Maltese jury gave points to those countries with fewest points on the score-board , gave twelve to Ireland and none to the UK. So Ireland won again and Sonia from UK was runner-up. Personally I think that the UK’s song “Better the Devil you Know” was much better than the Irish winner…but sometimes revenge feels so sweet!
 

Chiara’s first Eurovision adventure takes us back ten years, 1998. Who didn’t feel sorry or angry after the voting that night ? Once again political voting robbed us of a much desired victory, but anyway the heroine…or hero…that year was Dana International. The Israeli singer had already stolen everybody’s attention due to the fact that she is a trans-sexual, but one has to admit, the song “Diva” is still very popular today. So Israel first, Malta third….as expected, UK second ! Imaani gave a very powerful interpretation of her song “Where are You?” but she needed five more points to win.

The new century hasn’t brought any luck yet for the UK in Eurovision. OK they placed third in 2002 but otherwise it was one disaster after another. Jemini in 2003 got no points at all, and Andy Abraham this year came last. Who knows, will they have a revival ? I heard that Verka Serduchka, the crazy transvestite who placed second last year for Ukraine, might be interested in representing the UK next year ! We shall have to wait and see…but in any case, let’s also hope for better results for Malta as well !