Worst Eurovision Winners Ever – Hundreds of people have voted for their personal Top 5 of the Worst Eurovision winners ever. The 5th place of each voter got one point, the 4th place 2 points and so on, the first place thus getting 5 points. The result is a ranking of all 60 Eurovision winners. In the coming days we will reveal the Top 15 of your voting. Today we continue with what followed ABBA as the latest Swedish Eurovision winner in 1984…
In 1984, the first entry of the evening would also turn out to be the winner. Sweden sent “The Herrey’s”, three brothers living in the US with Swedish citizenship. The three belong to the Mormon Church which created a minor scandal in Sweden. Their happy 80s pop song “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley” is about the lead singer discovering a pair of golden shoes that he puts on and immediately feels like dancing. Naturally, the three wore golden shoes and added a slick dance routine to the visual image. Swedish Eurovision participant Tommy Körberg called them “the dancing deodorants” in the Swedish press due to their very clean cut hair. The name stuck with them for the rest of their career. Many countries voted for the song that had not been a favorite before the contest. 10 years after ABBA Sweden won again- incidentally for the first time in Swedish.
Here is their winning performance:
Related articles
- WEWE #9: Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up
- WEWE #10: Sandra Kim – J’aime la Vie
- WEWE #11: Helena Paparizou – My Number One
- WEWE #12: Dana International – Diva
- WEWE #13: André Claveau – Dors, Mon Amour
- WEWE #14: Toto Cutugno – Insieme (1992)
- WEWE #15: Ruslana – Wild Dances
- Ireland: Former Irish Winners Announce Eurovision Tour
I actually like this song… is it Eurovision greatness? No. But it’s a happy little ditty and the slick dance routine is nice.
This should be the undoubted #1 on this list. I would like to meet in person every single jury member that voted for this “song” back then. They should be ashamed of themselves for not giving victory to “Silêncio E Tanta Gente”.
I’ve already said everything about this song in an earlier post, so I’ll just citate myself:
“I have always had a weak spot for Diggi-loo diggi-ley, and I actually think it’s the best Swedish winner, next to “Euphoria”. Yes, I can see why many people hate it. The tune is silly, the movements are silly, the clothes are silly. The song is some sort of an incarnation of what people think is bad about ESC. But yet, I still find myself liking this song. Maybe it is for nostalgic reasons, it was in fact this song that opened up my eyes for ESC. But I can also find something charming and warming from this happy-go-lucky dance schlager of the 80′s. It’s like a Svensktoppen transformation of “Singing in the rain”, with its joyful and exuberant happy history.
With this said, I still don’t think Sweden deserved to win in 1984. My clear favourites are Italy and Belgium. My Top 5 would probably look like this:
1. Italy
2. Belgium
3. Spain
4. Germany
5. Denmark”
A weak year, Italy 1st, NL 2nd, Spain 3rd
1984 was an awful year and Diggo lo, Diggi Ley is my favourite song there hanging out France marginally.
If I ignore my very strong personal dislike of Germany 1982 for a second, this is my least favourite ESC winning song ever. I have already spent too much precious lifetime commenting on it.
And I agree with oxi that Portugal was miles above everything else in 1984. The only other songs I like are Spain, UK, Denmark and Germany. The rest qualifies more or less as waste in my book.
Not a good year. My top 3 are Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands, and I thought that the winner would take #1 on the WEWE list. Now it becomes really interesting to guess who’ll take the top 4 on that list. I’m absolutely sure of Latvia 2002 and Estonia 2001, most probably Norway 1985 and possibly also Ireland 1992. Russia 2008 is also a possibility (or should I say, a “passibility”?) – God, how I detest that song… I was never a great fan of France 1962, Israel 1978 and France 1979 either, but I don’t think any of them are infamous enough to make it to the top 4.
“I was never a great fan of France 1962, Israel 1978 and France 1979 either, but I don’t think any of them are infamous enough to make it to the top 4″
All those three you mention (you probably mean France 77, as ET says) happen to be among my most fav winners ever. I hope that they don’t appear in the top4; it would be a bad joke imo
But France did not win in 1979 …??? Israel won …
Anyway, France 1962, Israel 1978 and Israel or France 1979 (or France 1969 … whichever song you meant …) all have a place in my ESC pantheon.
France 1977 (in case ET is right and you meant that song) is in my pantheon too. LOL
Yes, I meant France 1977 (France 1969 is my absolute Top #1 of all time). France 1977 never really moved me in any way. And I also agree with ET that France should have won in 1979, maybe that’s where the mistake came from.
“mark my words” was what i said there: http://eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/wewe-6-riva-rock-me/
Congratulations! Which one will it be tomorrow?
P. S. Thank you for mentioning Finland yesterday. I had completely forgot “La dolce vita”, which is a given top 5 placed song for me in 1989.
thanks and you’re welcome :p
You didn’t peek into my drafts did you? ^^
actually no and i cant say i know which 4 remain: i think azerbaijan 2011 will be up there but for the other three im less confident (i didnt see ireland 94 coming but 84, 89 and 06 were obvious choices) and i KNOW latvia 02 will be second and estonia 01 first… but i have no idea which one will be the last 4 (i hope for uk 69, spain 68, ireland 70 or germany 82 the most but i doubt it will be that old… sweden 91? nah too popular with fans…)
France didn’t win in 79 (but should’ve).. do you mean 77?
I still love this Song:)
I think that top 4 will -and should- be something like:4- estonia 2001 -3 azerbaijan 2011 -2 russia 2008 and the winner is obviously LATVIA 2002!
The only time Johnny Logan lost. He wrote terminal 3. Deffinitley better than Sweden, but then that wouldn’t be hard.
It’s Okay, I guess.
I expected it to be on the list since it enjoys a huge dislike among the members but thankfully it was not higher at least. A joyful, very 80s fresh tune contemporary for its age and up tempo. A deserved winner in a contest that wants to have diversity. A gentle and beautiful ballad for Germany in 1982, a big ballad in 1983 with one of the best IMO performances ever in the esc history and a very different approach in 1984. That’s what esc should be about IMO thus Sweden 84 is a well deserved winner for its time.