Funny Titles at the Eurovision

Something that defines a song from another is obviously the title. Naturally, songs may vary in style, power, presentation on stage…but the title is of maximum importance. Over the years there have been more than a thousand songs in the Eurovision song contest, some of which have been forgotten once and for all, others will be remembered forever. If one notices carefully, it’s either the name of the singer/s that is remembered or else, more often, the singer is remembered by the title of the song.

Who can forget “Diva” for example? Some people think that the singer’ s stage name is so, but infact the singer is Dana International. Who can forget song titles such as Congratulations, Waterloo, Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (more commonly known as Volare), Invincible, Hero…? Our own Julie and Ludwig will always be remembered for “On again…Off Again”, no matter how many other songs they have released. Olivia Lewis will always be remembered for “Vertigo”, even though she’s the only one who can boast of having participated in the Maltasong festival for 11 times in a row! And I’m sure that for a long time, a particular alcoholic beverage will remind people of Morena.

Today I would like to focus briefly on certain Eurovision song titles that in my opinion are stupid or silly or maybe just funny. Yet, in a way such titles can be very catchy and sometimes contagious. So let’s travel back in time and go back to 1962, when the contest was held in Luxembourg and for the first and only time ever…on a Sunday!

Finland’s Marion Rung (pictured) was the first singer on stage, and her song was called “Tipi-Tii”, or “Chirpy-Chirp” in English. Doesn’t that sound funny? But logically enough the song was about a bird, and it placed seventh out of sixteen entries. Actually this reminds me of another song from the popular Sanremo Festival. In 1970 Orietta Berti, who gave a wonderful concert last year here in Malta, presented the song Tipitipiti…and it is still one of her most requested songs. So, sometimes these titles might be good gimmicks.

Back to Eurovision, this time 1965 when the contest was held in Napoli, Italy. Spain was represented by Conchita Bautista who interpreted her very typically Spanish “Que Bueno! Que Bueno!” literally meaning “How Good! How Good!”. It was the singer’s second participation in the contest, she had already represented her country in 1961, and on both occasions she didn’t just sing but she even danced on stage. I don’t understand Spanish so I don’t know what was so bueno; maybe an ice-cream or a packet of sweets? What wasn’t bueno at all was the result at the end becasue poor Conchita went back home with the much dreaded null points!

Eurovision 1966 reminds me of another funny title, this time from France. Tonia represented her country and placed fourth with “Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel”…meaning “A little bit of pepper, a little bit of salt”!!! Can you imagine a title like that in Eurovision nowadays? Well, as I usually say, Eurovision has no limits, nothing should be surprising anymore.

Two titles from Eurovision 1967 fall within this category of funny titles. “Boom Ba-Da Boom”, which doesn’t mean anything at all, was the title of the song representing Monaco. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Dutch sent a song called “Ring Ding-a-Ding”.

It’s like listening to kindergarten children associating noises to specific objects. I would associate the first title to fireworks, guns, something or someone falling...or maybe gas! Actually, singer Barelli begs to be given the chance to know love and to experience "other paradises" before everything is blown up. The phrase "boom boom" and a countdown are repeated throughout the lyrics. The second title might be referring to a telephone but in fact it is just about the sheer joy that the singer feels on certain occasions.
 

1968 winner Massielle interpreted the infamous “La, La, La”, which is about the things she likes in life. Actually this song was covered by Italian superstar Mina, but it was also featured in an album called Eurotrash ! Yet, the title that really captured my attention comes from Sweden. “Det Börjar Verka Kärlek, Banne Mej” means “It's Beginning To Look Like Love, Damn It !” Well this sounds very funny to me, I have never heard anybody complain about falling in love.

One of the four winning songs in 1969 was “Boom Bang-a-Bang”, presented by Lulu for the UK. Doesn’t this remind you of the other song I just mentioned from Eurovision 1967 “Boom Ba-Da Boom”? And speaking of booms and bangs, doesn’t it also remind you of Norway’s song from Eurovision 2000 “My heart goes Boom” ? And I must not forget to mention “Boom Boom Boomerang”, the song that represented Germany in 1977.

1971 marks Malta’s first participation ever in the Eurovision song Contest. Surely you have heard Pa, Parapa Pajja Pajja Pa….. “Marija l-Maltija” but can you imagine a singer singing about eating an apple? Luxembourg’s representative that year sang “Pomme, Pomme, Pomme” or “Apple, Apple, Apple”, stating that apples remind her of love. Will she find love, or not? But she also makes it clear that in any case, it was nothing to worry about since she was still underage!!!
 

Another silly title about some sort of sound represented Netherlands in 1975, when Malta didn’t end up in the bottom of the list for the first time thanks to Renato ! The group Teach-In were the first on stage and sang “Ding Ding-a-Dong”, and they won. Interesting to note is the fact that the song was the first winner under the now-familiar Eurovision voting system whereby each country awards scores of 1-8, 10 and 12. Almost immediately, the song's lyrics became a source of ridicule, particularly in the UK, because the word "dong" is slang for penis. This did not stop the song from hitting number 13 in the UK singles chart.
 

Another Eurovision winner with a silly title, this time in 1978 was the BoneyM style “A-Ba-Ni-Bi”. This was interpreted by the Israeli group Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta and the combination of the title is quite complex. The chorus is in ‘Bet Language’, a Hebrew language game in which each syllable has to end in Bet. A faithful English translation might in fact be "Ibi Lobove Youbou", and therefore “I Love You”. It isn’t the only Eurovision song title with a made-up language. Do you remember the 2006 Netherlands entry “Amambanda” ? Or the Belgian entry this year “O Julissi Na Jal”  Actually a similar title represented France in Eurovision 1981. The song was called “Humanahum”, and was set in the year 3000 ! That’s clever, you invent a language and represent your country as a song writer ! So, does this mean that everybody can become a song writer?

There have been many many more titles that form a seemingly never-ending list of quirky and nonsensical titles; Diggi-Loo-Diggi-Ley, Diday-Diday-Day, Yamma Yamma, Shoobe-Doo. Probably the latest is “Baila el Chiki Chiki” from Spain this year…and there will be more.

But that’s what Eurovision is all about; good music, bad music, good lyrics, bad lyrics, good singers, bad singers…and funny titles too ! Why not? But in any case, we have to admit that we just love it!