Song of the Day – After Israel did not want to host the Eurovision Song Contest 1980, despite winning it in 1979, the Netherlands filled in. On home ground they were represented by Maffie MacNeal. She had represented the country in 1974 as part of the duo Mouth and MacNeal and came in third place. The duo went on to have some hits in Europe. Their biggest success was “How Do You Do” which didn’t only do well all over Europe but even on the USA’s Billboard Charts.
Due to this impressive merit, MacNeal was chosen to represent the Netherlands on home ground. The contest was held in The Hague, but MacNeal sang an ode to the Dutch capital Amsterdam. MacNeal calls Amsterdam one of the most beautiful cities in the world as “In Amsterdam, Amsterdam. All kinds of things are going on Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Exists for centuries already.” The dramatic song did well with the judges and finished 5th.
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I’m also not fond of 1980 but unlike 1982, 1986 & 1987 it’s not that it has only bad songs, but a lot of nice averagy ones which I don’t really know how to rank and without the big masterpiece that would be my clear winner. Netherlands are in my top 5 for sure, it’s a nice cute song but I find it rather dated and boring after a while. Netherlands and Germany felt a lot like WWII Cabaret songs without the classy performances and acts… Turkey and Morocco were nice and deserved the top 3 way more than that horrid “Grease” wanna-be from the Uk! At alst, Ireland feels like the rightful winner to me, for once that Johnny isn’t singing one of the Johnny crappy songs, it’s more enjoyable! And the sax works too with his shaky gestures, a naive yet good effort.
Yes I forgot I liked Spain too, the other one in my top 5 (along with Ireland, Turkey, Morocco and the Netherlands)… it was moody and stylish
NL ’80 is a song that did age rather well. It is far from my favorite from my country (’65, ’70, ’71, ’74, ’84, ’93 and ’98 are better imo).
Despite that I am not very fond of Johnny Logan, I think it was a deserved winner.
Turkey is another fan favorite, but I can understand why it did so bad. The song sounded way too weird for what people in the then competing countries were used to. Also Yugoslavia didn’t compete that year, and no way Greece would give points to Turkey in those years.
As for the other top songs: Katja sang the weakest of her three entries. Way too gimmicky. The UK was a complete joke. Another of those songs that gained a lot from being sung in English.
Switzerland (and Austria) used a lot of famous names, another Eurovision cliche. I prefer Paola’s ’69 entry though.
Big prize deserves France for their outfit. Denmark deserves to be punished for their styling. So does the UK.
We agreed on almost everything you said, spooky :p
What is there not to disagree
.
Let’s see what Toggie and Shevek think of all this.
Well for best Dutch songs, mine has always been 1965 so I was glad to see it in the list but I don’t agree that much on that list of best dutchies, the only part that prevented me from saying “we agree entirely” :p
As for the production of this contest. Imo it is the weakest of the Dutch contests. While 1970 and 1976 had some nice innovations, it is obvious that they had too little time for the production that year. The intro movie used a lot of the same shots of the ’76 contest. The host presenters of each country was a nice idea that turned out to work rather bad. The stage was nothing like the more impressive stages of ’70 and ’76. And Marlous Fluitsma was an uninspiring host. In fact she only become famous years later when she performed in Dutch soap “Goede tijden, slechte tijden”. At that time she was mainly known as wife of Dutch singer Herman van Veen.
1980′s ESC is one of the contests I think was poor. Spain sounded good as did Morocco and Turkey but Ireland’s winning song is awful
I wonder why this old song by her has so many recent comments in Spanish on youtube.
well the “How Do You Do” song was used in a british add recently, and if people watched british tv during the olympics they maybe spotted her? Or that song was used in a Spanish add?
It is Portuguese by the way. I asked on YT why all those comments. Or maybe Shevek can help.
I did not check it out, I just responded to you and please, tell us once you figure it out!
I just got the first answer. Someone asked if I have something against brasileiros. So I take it as a hint that the solution to the riddle must be found in Brasil. I’ll be back if I find out more.
A classy song and performance. Maggie became a completely different singer when she didn’t have that wacky Mouth beside her. “Amsterdam” is my second favourite of ESC 1980, beaten only by Katja Ebstein. Funny that the song was about Amsterdam when the contest was held in Hague. ESC 1980 had a strange formula in which the commentators presented their entries in their native language on stage; something they luckily never tried again.
Having re-listened to the songs of 1980, this is my top 10:
1. Germany
2. Netherlands
3. Morocco
4. Turkey
5. Ireland
6. Italy
7. Sweden
8. Denmark
9. Spain
10. Switzerland (so much weaker than the studio version)
Luxembourg and Finland are similiar in that I really like the lyrics but dislike everything else. And that giant man penguin, was that Herr Siegel himself?!
Another thing about 1980 is that it is probably the only time in ESC history I think Portugal was overrated.
“Another thing about 1980 is that it is probably the only time in ESC history I think Portugal was overrated.”
So true … It is my third least favorite Portuguese entry. I think that only 2005 and 2006 were worse. I guess that the silly multi-language thing did the trick. 7th??? … LOL So many other Portuguese songs that were totally ignored deserved a top 10 result so much more.
Yes, 2005 and 2006 are absolutely worse than “Um grande, grande amor”. And it’s probably way too true that the language thing helped. But Portugal does really represent the true spirit nowadays when their songs must be performed in Portuguese. Kudos to them!
1969, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998 (José Cid could write good songs too. I like his effort in Festival RTP 1993 and 1995 too)… there are too many examples of Portugal being robbed from a well-deserved Top 10.
Here is my impressive list of Portuguese ESC songs I love:
12/12 1969, 1971, 1976, 1984, 1991, 1996, 2008
10/12 1964, 1965, 1988
09/12 1967, 1972, 1974, 1981, 1983, 1994, 2003, 2009
Only France has more songs in my pantheon.
Oh, I must have misunderstood something because I have always presumed that you consider “Chamar a música” to be too much of “quality screaming”…
“Menina” is good, but it should have been this song in 1971.
“Cavalo à solta” would have got a 12/12 from me too.
“Chamar a música” quality screaming? I have never said so …
maybe you’re mistaking with me (Toggie and I have sometimes been confused) because I truly dislike Portugal 94 :p and I’ve often found Portugal either underrated or overrated and indeed never truly ranked, but I don’t really like it in esc and is only once my winner (1984)
Yes, there must be some mistake or perhaps just a mess in my brain… Maybe I have mixed it up with “To nie ja” or something, but maybe toggie doesn’t consider that to be “quality screaming” either…
“To nie ja” is just horrible
“To nie ja” comes pretty close to my definition of quality screaming … but at least it was quality (= well done or well screamed) in contrast to the random screaming people like La Segovia are known for …
On a more serious note: I totally acknowledge the quality of “To nie ja” but unfortunately the song is in a musical genre I rarely enjoy (“Vuelve conmigo” is the most prominent exception to this rule). I have always been a sucker for gente, restrained or fragile ballads. F. e. I have always preferred Elizabeth’s gentle “Non pianger, mia compagna” to any Eboli aria. (Verdi’s “Don Carlos” is my favorite composition btw.)
I hate Verdi except for “Don Carlo”
I do also prefer restrained ballads mostly. The worst example of a restrained ballad that has gone wrong is Spain 1997, the last chorus when everyone is starting to explode, the whole magic and athmosphere in the song gets destroyed.
Fragile ballads from the Romanticist era are great. I love German Lieds, they have all the right ingredients for me. Especially Schubert’s “Der Erlkönig”. I have found a video with Ann-Sofie van Otter doing it on YouTube (I won’t post it since I have posted enough videos tonight but check it out if you want
) which I love, so obviously “quality screaming” to a ballad meant for a tenor and piano works for me too, LOL.
“Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt!” *shivers*
I love the Romantic lied too, but in general I prefer Brahm to Schubert. His “Zwei geistliche Lieder” is probably my favorite work in this genre.
@ Morgan, Verdi is the most interesting composer ever imo. A lot of his early work is very conventional but you can always tell that he wanted to do sth completely different within the narrow framework of Italian opera … an artistic aspiration which the Italian opera industry didn’t allow him to do until he was a big name … and then he composed all those masterpieces like La Traviata, Don Carlo, Othello and Aida (has anyone exposed the inhuman nature of power in a more straightforward, convincing and frightening way than Verdi did in the triumphal march? And the way he put death by suffocation to music in the final scene … pure genius).
I recommend his “Luisa Miller” btw, in which he put all the boring and conventional stuff the Italian opera industry required into the first 2 acts and then explodes into pure genius in the last act.
I love life, but if I had to die in order to preserve Verdi’s work (incl. his fantastic Requiem) for posterity, I would happily face any martyr’s destiny.
Perhaps I will send you an article I wrote on Verdi as soon as I find the time to translate it into English or French. Would you be interested?
I totally disagree, Verdi comes no where near he earlier Italian works imo… (my favorite composer being Berlioz, you can just tell what world apart there is to Verdi)… “Macbeth” is particularly HORRIBLE
Well, then we have to disagree. I absolutely detest this opera attitude which is all about big things and idealising, in particular here in Germany, where most people love Wagner and look down onto anything Franch or Italian. Imo, Verdi is the only honest opera composer … he is the only pre 20-century composer who does not fall into the trap of idealisation. Humans are cruel and banal, and that is perfectly reflected in Verdi’s work music-wise … but then there are those moments of authenticity (as I like to call them), when his characters are all alone on stage and the music gains a totally different quality all of a sudden (like Philipp’s aria in DC f. e.)
I actually don’t like Wagner too, just Berlioz (“Damnation de Faust”, can there be any better?) and I like opera in general, I’m talking about music, Bellini, Rossini or Donizetti produce better music as far as music goes, that’s all there is to it (and dont forget i’ve specialied in XVIIIth french century, so there’s no idealism there yet)
I agree re comments above, but I guess Dutch TV did their best in the circumstances, am not sure about those presenters for each country though, how famous were those “presenters” in your own countries at the time?, I mean the UK sending uhhhrgh! Noel Edmonds (anything for a free trip I guess) or maybe to go well with the tacky UK entry which I hate, I liked the Greek presenter forgetting her (very few) lines, at least she seemed human! btw love “Amsterdam”…much better than “Theater” and the winning rubbish…
yes I guess Greek presenter was just another victim of a rushed together contest, she looked kind of nervous and unprepared like they’d asked her to fly into the Hague at the last minute, like most of those presenters…then we got “Autostop”, no wonder Anna Vissi doesn’t put it on her CV, but in a way I kind of like it…here we go:
Kelly Sakakou is kind of legend among tv presenters here in Greece; she is one of those classic figures of the greek tv during the 70′s and the 80′s. Unfortunately a few years ago she took part as “commentator” in some of those trash tv shows, having her say on esc entries as well. She kept saying every year that our entry was the best. I even remember her bashing Mariza Koch when the latter said back in 2006 that the greek entry in esc 2006 was awful. Sad
Well, except for the competing songs I do not remember anything about the 1980 contest. I never felt the desire to watch the whole contest again, which in itself tells a lot about what I thought about it when I watched it for the first time. Still, I will watch the contest again once I am back home … Atm, I do not have more than 10 or 20 minutes for ESC every day.
As for the songs, I agree with Morgan. There isn’t anything that stands out from this decent yet average bunch of songs, and as a result I have a different winner every time I listen to the 1980 songs. After my last review, which I did last autumn, Morocco is my n° 1 with 8/12 but Belgium, Germany (only because it is Katja …), Spain and Sweden have 8/12 too, followed by Turkey, Ireland and the Netherlands with 7/12 (All these songs have been my 1980 winner at least once in the past …). All the rest but one are totally irrelevant and forgettable imo. The one that is not totally forgettable is Luxemburg, which I hate (and I use this word very rarely) with a passion. ESC at its worst … totally repulsive … of course Ralph Siegel was responsible for this …
I haven’t ranked all songs in one master list like Morgan but with 8/12, my favorite song from this contest would be around 350th place. There are only two other contests where my winners have an equally low score and dismal placing on my list, 1958 and 1959.
oh yes I do like Sweden too and do hate Luxembourg too (my dead last, the song is still known as kids’ nursery rhyme here too, how repulsive)… my lowest esc winner ever in terms of actual points is Sweden 1999 at 9/12 but there are a few around the 10/12 anyway (like Ireland 80 indeed)
maybe I wouldn’t be so harsh about ESC 1980 myself but true there was a lot of rubbish on show, I guess it was that turning point in ESC where a lot of countries lost interest, far worse for me than Luxemburg entry was tacky UK entry, in history of UK voting for Song for Europe it’s the only song that won on a tie-break (and the juries completely changed their minds after the 1st vote!) much better was Maggie Moone “happy everything” the “losing song” I have it as an mp3 but it’s now impossible to find anywhere sung live (can anyone help?), such a travesty!!!, here is final UK voting with Terry Wogan (with his “jokes” and regional juries):
Tense voting!
I would most surely prefer “Happy everything” in front of “Love enough for two”. After all, it’s written by Don Black.
closest I can find to the song live is from a famous girl group from Chile from 1982 (you see the song even became famous in Latin America and beyond!) and with several versions in different languages in different countries (maybe other countries will recognize the tune), as you see from the comments unfortunately Maggie Moone version disappeared, such a shame it’s a great song by Don Black, lyrics are perfct IMO!! here version from Chile, a bit like the Colombian girl in “Modern Family” but still great!!
Well true, a lot of times, our favorites in each national finals stuck in there… that’s why nowadays people (including myself) hold contests of all songs in national finals to make a “better” version of eurovision… I wished we could access al NF from the past: on youtube I found all MF editions since 1978 (Johnny the rocker!), I found most Irish NF and most Dutch NSF… a lot of hidden jewels there I discovered and was shocked were not chosen to esc… just a example, since we’re on the dutch page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRwSViMmj8&feature=related
So true, and some countries have become experts in picking the wrong songs over the years, at least imo, Norway, Sweden and Romania f. e. And the two horrific choices Austria has made since their return are probably unsurpassed in ESC history. They had so many great songs on offer in 2011 … and they had Valerie and Deladap this year. What a shame …
Austria held twice one of the best NF of the year in 2011 and 2012 and they managed to bring in the top 2 superfinal each time the two worst songs of the finale! How insane!
Netherlands is an interesting case: I never hid that I really don’t like the country in esc and not just for the many recent craps but it held a great NSF that sometimes surpassed in quality MF but back then Netherlands chose incredibly bad (in 1982 passing over Bonnie and “Fantasy Island” to pick that horrible thing that is my last of 82…) while Sweden usually wouldn’t make many mistakes in terms of what would work in Eurovision (even if as we said yesterday they passed Lena Ph three years in a row)
The Netherlands are in last place on my 1982 list too …
The strange thing is that it was so much better at NSF. That year we had a format with three aritists and three songs (the same format as in 1975) and imo we made the right choice.
But then it was murdered on stage in Harrogate.
By the way, I can’t stand “Fantasy Island”. I don’t care if Tight Fit made a hit of it. Even after all those years I am glad we didn’t pick it.
I agree, although I’m not an expert on all national final songs, but sure plenty of songs were robbed, I only give you UK 1980 as an example because IMO best song was robbed on the night, as you see “Happy everything” became an international hit and nobody remembered UK crap, well only backing singer was Paul McCartney’s cousin, and awful lead singer girl was in Bardo in 82, I think Dutch ESC is a a good example of non-winning songs at least being more famous or well-known, even UK band had a big hit with a cover of a Dutch NF song:
ok actually none of them could actually sing and were just there for eye candy (brunette was girlfriend of Stock of Stock Aitken and Waterman, maybe the model guy was boyfriend of Aitken or Waterman), whatever, they chose a Dutch NF song:
And this is my favorite Dutch should-have-made-it song, except it was in 98 and I do like the song that made it, how unfair life can be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQQuZ2z2HAE&feature=BFa&list=PL3A4F630568241213 (the playlist is all my NSF winners through the years I did, I did 1982-2010 each year a NSF was hosted)
And if anyone interested, my youtube playlist on my Melodifestivalen winners (1978-2012)
Forgot the link silly me: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL72D43F174D9C7BBF&feature=edit_ok
Bookmarked.
I kept looking for MF 1977 and 1978 online and they werent on so I gave up. I just right now discovered that both are on youtube, so I guess I’ll watch that tonight and give it a rank, yay! Hope you’ll enjoy better Swedish songs. One of their best is Jim Jidhed in 1991 and he lost to Carola :’(
Thanks for the list. Many interesting choices you have made. I especially agree with you on 1992, 1994, 1997, 2009 and 2010. As far as I know, there are studio versions on almost every MF song on YouTube, but I remember that togravus couldn’t watch “När min vän” for example, so maybe it’s the same problem for most non-Swedes. If you’re rooting for live performances, you won’t be able to go any longer than 1974, because no MF before that is left in the archives.
Yes I only rank based on live performances (both for vocals and the whole clothes-attitude things mean a lot to a song spirit, and to a LIVE TV show)… well that’s still a few years for me to rank if 1974-1978 are available online!
1979-2012 are all all all very easy to find on youtube so it was no problem to watch and rank for me 
“Mijn hart kan dat niet aan” is one of my favorite Dutch eurovision songs also. But I doubt it would have done as well as Edsilia.
Haha, “Johnny the Rocker”. It was called “Johnny the Rucker” in the beginning, because it would rhyme with fuc… ehm… Together with “Symfonin”, “Johnny the Rocker” is the most well-known example of a MF jumbo song that became even more popular than the winning song.
And I agree 100% with what you write about NF. Just as the right song rarely wins ESC, the right song rarely wins its national final. Therefore, I have during the last months found the national finals being more interesting than ESC itself. I have especially concentrated on the Maltese national finals now, since every finl from 1991 and onwards has been put on YouTube now *yay*.
All Maltese NFs since 1991??? Which symptoms have you developped during this massive exposure to Maltese ESC fare?
That’s a secret between me and my doctor.
The musical qualities are overall not as good as the Estonian and Portuguese finals of the 90′s, which I enjoy very much too; but, as I’ve said, I love the effort and the love for ESC they put down, so I can handle with it. And there’s a few gems I really love. Like this one, performed by very the very talented Ray Caruana (UK 1989).
Walk with me in the gathering storm
When the wind is high
Take my hand when the twilight fades
And the willows sigh
Does it matter anymore
If we live or die?
Close the window, shut the door
Eagles dare not fly
There’s a scarlet song within my heart
That keeps haunting night and day
Bringing dreams of yesterday
There’s a mystery deep inside my soul
That keeps chasing sleep away
In a world that’s gone astray
Where love’s grown cold
Cry with me in the pouring rain
When the rivers flood
Kiss my eyes when the evening mists
And there’s death in life
What the future holds in store
Seems to be the end
It ain’tt that much I’m looking for
A lover or a friend
There’s a scarlet song within my heart
That keeps haunting night and day
Bringing dreams of yesterday
There’s a mystery deep inside my soul
That keeps chasing sleep away
In a world that’s gone astray
Where love’s grown cold
There’s a scarlet song within my heart
That keeps haunting night and day
Bringing dreams of yesterday
There’s a mystery deep inside my soul
That keeps chasing sleep away
In a world that’s gone astray
Where love’s grown cold
Take my hand when the twilight fades
And the day is done
“And there’s death in blood”, it should be.
ahah I hear you friend. I did Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland and the UK, but I don’t have the heart (yet?) for Malta… and I have ALL the NFs in videos on my computer since 2005!
Netherlands 80 is a nice song imho; the only thing I don’t like in it is the title itself; kinda pretentious. I like Maggie Mcneal’s 1974 effort as well.
My 1980 favourites’ list:
01.TURKEY: Ajda Pekkan- Petr’oil
02.MORROCO: Samira Bensaοd- Bitakat Hob
03.GERMANY: Katja Ebstein- Theater
04.SPAIN: Trigo Limpio- Quιdate Esta Noche
05.NETHERLANDS: Maggie MacNeal- Amsterdam
06.Ireland 07.Italy 08.Portugal 09.Sweden 10.Denmark
just missing out: Norway, Belgium
can’t stand: Finland, France, Greece
off topic: I’m watching Malaga fc vs Panathinaikos atm; the “greens” are deplorable.
It’s: “Quédate esta noche”, of course
Málaga 2 Panathinaikos 0
But at least your club hasn’t been relegated to the 2nd league …
Hi Togravus
Actually, I’m an Aris Thessaloniki fc fan
I’m sorry for Bochum
You are a Bochum fan, right?
Yes I am … and a sad one too. And now Auxerre has been relegated too.
just watching again that Tight Fit rubbish reminds me of Mill Vanilli, in UK we can appreciate a plucky loser but never a downright cheat!! (eg OLympics), I can see that match too, am sorry for your team , I guess it’s not the end of the world…or? I wish sometimes I was back in 1980. had a great time!!
Btw, Greece 80, is one of my least fav greek entries.
Here is the Anna Vissi that I love:
I understand you completely, and appreciate Ana Vissi in later years, like UK 80 is so horrible too, especially with Noel Edmonds recommendation, such a slimy man , as a reminder for younger members here, UK can forgive but will never, ever forget…even Paul McCartney’s cousin (background singer) won’t talk about it and she went on to a lot of success in comedy (famous “Spitting Image” etc), a very fine comedy actress in fact in UK:
Come on, don’t be so harsh; UK80 wasn’t that bad.
you are right, I know 1980 wasn’t the best of contests for euro fans, but within my non ESC fan circle who had to endure all my ESC DVD contests and give their votes, 1980 came out as one of the top contests, I guess they thought bad meant good, or maybe we don’t appreciate 1980 as we should, anyway their top 3 was 1/Netherlands 2/POrtugal 3/ Spain, my good friend even found English version of Portuguese entry and always sings it when he comes to visit, he loved it so much
POrtugal 1980:
So true!Those songs carry a sweet nostalgia and are timeless.I also love these 2 from the early 80′s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfBto4OjO4U&feature=fvwrel
Nice ones too Dimitri; “Methysmeni Politeia” in particular. I even remember myself watching the tv series with the same title back then. I was 9 or sth
one of the greatest songs in UK song for europe 1980 was “Pussyfoot”, at least represented the songs of the time, electro pop etc, she was an ex girlfriend of the great Gary Numan as I heard, and that song is well remembered in the UK, lead singer was great and I so love that song!!! of course it wasn’t chosen but it still has that Gary Numan /lena Lovich /siouxie and the banshees feel…llove it to this day!! you go girl!!!