Best Last Place – 90 songs have come last or shared last at the Eurovision Song Contest. Over the last weeks hundreds of our readers have voted for their favorites. Each voter submitted his personal Top 5. In the next days we will reveal your Top 15. We continue with a country that has come last a lot: Norway!
In 2004, Norway was directly qualified for the Eurovision final due to their good result the year before. They sent the relatively unknown Knut Anders Sørum to Kiev. His entry “High” is a dramatic ballad in which Sørum tells an unnamed person that he will carry them high implying that the person had problems in the past that he can cure. Norway stayed pointless throughout most of the voting until Sweden awarded 3 points to the song, which was actually written by Swedish composers. 3 points was also the final score of the entry which meant another last place for the Norwegians. Since this failure Sorum has not recorded new material but served as a backing singer for the band Wig Wam (which succeeded him as Norwegian Eurovision entrant)
The regular “song that was rejected in MF and therefore sent to another national final where it won”. It’s not that bad imo, just too generic and non-inspired. Knut Anders gave a very lame performance too, and therefore the low place was not unexpected. Not that I would put it in last place, though.
That’s another surprise, but not good one. I did expect a lot of “modern” entries to be in and a lot from semi-years but this one I did not see coming. It’s not a bad song and it did not deserve to be last in 2004, but then th live, the look, it was so underwhelming and lame that no one turned in to vote, again without necessarly thinking “this is the worst” but it so happened it had less votes. So that’s probably why it’s here but there are old last who deserved to be last who are still better than this imo
Also did you notice a LOT of Norwegian and Swedish songs tend to do very well in these rankings?! Often unfairly too (Stella in BSNQ and now this…)
Norway has always been one of my favourite ESC countries. Their 04 entry is the definition of boring and uninteresting though. It never leaves the ground, there is no discerbible melody and it sounds as if they were trying too hard, as if they did not believe in the what they were doing.
P.S.: the Nordic fans are very active, especially the MF crowd, Morgan.
such a non-descript song I had almost forgotten about it till it came up here, maybe if he’d just been in the semi-final that year he wouldn’t have endured the years of “a last place in an ESC final” scenario, because of course one of the worst ESC songs in modern history both in song and performance would have overshadowed him (maybe the microphone hitting his face was the least of his worries…poor Swiss guy, hope he is doing well these days!
)….
indeed, Switzerland 2004 I think won “worst esc song ever” in here too
I’ve only recently joined this site but I wouldn’t be surprised if it won that honour..it’s a true horror! between that and Austria 1988 IMO…:-)
Bland and lame and underwhelming … and therefore does not belong onto any Best of list imo.
I brace myself for the things to come which will probably include boring ‘Jestem’ and the Persian Prince without singing voice …
No one has mentioned the clothes Knut Anders chose yet. I feel very uncomfortable just by looking on them. A white t-shirt, a blue shirt and some steel-grey costume that’s a couple of sizes too big.
2004 was the first ESC I followed with passion, and I think it was a pretty good year. The national finals were not that good, though. I shall see if I can find some good songs to post here, just to keep up my repertoire.
yes I did mention it
Oops, sorry. I missed it.
I agree that 2004 wasn’t a good year for national finals. I like this one though … although many people say that it is 3 or 4 songs cramped into one …
It is a disgrace we didn’t send this to Istanbul
i was in love with Charly back then… considering how well greece or bosnia did, netherlands could have gotten top10 but it’s not a masterpiece for sure but it’s charly (he took my breathe away)!
Yes, he is rather cute. He participated in The Voice last year.
“She’ll take my breath away” would also have been a much better choice for Istanbul.
it’s in my NSF winners list as I have him first in 2004, the song’s a tad typical, but imo the one with the most chances to do well in esc… and Charly is not rather cute, he’s adorable (at least he was in 2004) ps: i love blondes :p
His name is Charly Luske and YT is full of clips with him. He did age, but imo rather well.
Based on google images, he’s still adorable and id do him good (oops…)
Blondes … next one, please …
Arvingarna?
Indeed!
Thanks for the clip btw. I did not know that song and I love it.
Serbia held the best NF in 2004 imo. There were many good or decent songs … like this one:
A very nice song. Nothing that can match “Lane moje” (who could?) but still very pleasant.
Of course.
I like this one too … very moody in a Balkans way …
i like this one more than the first one you posted!
Extremely bland and boring.This song shouldn’t have made it to this list IMO.
Is Havard Gryting one of the backings?
How could I forget. The Finnish final of 2004 contains one of my favourite ESC related Finnish songs ever; the astonishing “Toarie”.
And from Dora, we have this enjoyable pop/ethnic song. Since Huljic & Huljic already had written a song about Mary Magdalene, it was time for another Biblical character to have his own song: Noah. But first a presentation from wonderful Catherine Baker:
“Next up, singing Noah, is Andrea Šušnjara, a 17-year-old from Split, with whom Huljic is making his Dora comeback. Is she supposed to be modelling that sailor suit for Gaultier, and did anybody really need haute couture on the Ark? And do I hear a touch of Amina, or is she, as a Radio 101 DJ said pre-Dora, giving birth? The arrangement on the chorus is half Hrvatska rapsodija and half Ko me zove, but Huljic probably thinks we won’t notice him cannibalising his back catalogue any more.”
yeah Riikka was the true wonder of 2004: she was in Jari Sillanpää’s backings, how sad (also my 2009 #3 behind Patricia and Caroline!)
Riikka … the Goddess of Harmonies.
Riikka should have won in both 2004 and 2009.
Jari Sillanpää did probably need all backing singers he could afford since his microphone was almost dead in Istanbul.
I remember dancing to this one all week long on my holiday in Spain in 2004, was a bigger hit than that boring Ramon guy, and Davinia seemed such a cutie and great singer! from Spanish NF 2004, always puts me in a holiday mood even now with those trumpets etc:
A final song, “Solens sang” by Neighbours for the Danish final.
I think it’s also worth mentioning “Jigga! Jigga!” by Scooter from the German final. Not because I’m that in love with it, but because I think it gave new blood to the German final that had been so over-dominated by Ralph Siegel during the last decades.
I guess NFs are always a case of well…what if…? but in the end the ESC final is the final, and first SF then, who came last in the final as is this thread, so these days there’s a debate on 3 levels, where in the past was just one (or maybe 2 if was a NF to a final), no wonder I get lost with everything these days!!…maybe there should be a reverse kind of voting in the future: Top 15 of those songs you were really GLAD (and pleasantly surprised) never got to ESC final!: of course my no 1 would be princess Belarus 2005, paying her way into SF, after changing her song, how her princess tiarra and voice fell on the night, will always remember that evening and her fall from (princess) grace” haha!
Totally off topic but I have always wanted to share this with you guys. A fantastic performance by Dida Dragan, who tried to represent Romania in 1993. I wish that they would send sth like this instead of the extremely superficial (and mainly silly) stuff they have a habit of sending …
dramatic stuff indeed, but I guess Europe wasn’t quite ready for it, for sure ex Yugoslav country voting among themselves helped the top 3 win…was to be expected I guess in those times, the difference in voting was so slim that difference in ponts between 1st (Slovenia 54 pts) and last Romania (38 pts) was minimal but sure helped the top 3, Slovakia missed out by 1 vote…
And Slovakia had the 2nd best song imo. (BiH was miles above everything else.) However, if I have understood correctly, Dida had to perform lame ‘Nu pleca’ in Ljubljana … although she had such a masterpiece at the time.
What I love about this song is that it is so Dracula. You expect her to hold up a cross and garlic every second … or to grow frightening teeth.
Don’t make me start again.
This Romanian song is very dramatic and and dark. The two ingredients I love. Such a pity that the semi-final 1993 was an obvious tactic voting from every country.
indeed, you expect a stake through her heart at any moment, it’s funny, as far as I know, top 3 in that contest got reverse result in the final contest Croatia 15th, BH 16th, and Slovenia 22nd, a pretty bad result …
Nope. Ex-Yugoslav voting amongst themselves in Millstreet is suprisingly minimal.
Bosnia gave 8 to Slovenia, 10 to Croatia, and 12 to Slovakia (most bloc of the night).
Croatia gave 8 to Estonia, 10 to Slovakia, and 12 to Romania (a last-place 5 to Bosnia).
Estonia gave 8 to Bosnia, 10 to Slovenia, and 12 to Hungary.
Hungary gave 8 to Estonia, 10 to Bosnia, and 12 to Croatia.
Romania gave 8 to Hungary, 10 to Bosnia, and 12 to Slovenia.
Slovenia gave 8 to Croatia, 10 to Slovakia, and 12 to Estonia.
Slovakia gave 8 to Croatia, 10 to Slovenia, and 12 to Bosnia.
If we take the scores exclusively from the former Yugoslav nations and add Slovakia’s scores for only the three Yugoslav nations (to make three countries giving points to each country and to give the Yugoslav nations the greatest advantage, we get this:
Bosnia: 5 (Croatia) + 7 (Slovenia) + 12 (Slovakia) = 24
Croatia: 10 (Bosnia) + 8 (Slovenia) + 8 (Slovakia) = 26
Estonia: 6 (Bosnia) + 8 (Croatia) + 12 (Slovenia) = 26
Hungary: 7 (Bosnia) + 6 (Croatia) + 6 (Slovenia) = 19
Romania: 5 (Bosnia) + 12 (Croatia) + 5 (Slovenia) = 22
Slovenia: 8 (Bosnia) + 7 (Croatia) + 10 (Slovakia) = 25
Slovakia: 12 (Bosnia) + 10 (Croatia) + 10 (Slovenia) = 32
Qualifiers: Slovakia, Estonia, Croatia
If I instead choose to substitute Estonia (the most critical to the former Yugoslav nations, instead of the advantageous Slovakia):
Bosnia: 5 (Croatia) + 7 (Slovenia) + 8 (Estonia) = 20
Croatia: 10 (Bosnia) + 8 (Slovenia) + 6 (Estonia) = 24
Estonia: 6 (Bosnia) + 8 (Croatia) + 12 (Slovenia) = 26
Hungary: 7 (Bosnia) + 6 (Croatia) + 6 (Slovenia) = 19
Romania: 5 (Bosnia) + 12 (Croatia) + 5 (Slovenia) = 22
Slovenia: 8 (Bosnia) + 7 (Croatia) + 10 (Estonia) = 25
Slovakia: 12 (Bosnia) + 10 (Croatia) + 10 (Slovenia) = 32
Qualifiers: Slovakia, Estonia, Slovenia
It was actually the Slovak vote that allowed for the post-Yugoslav takeover of Millstreet in 1993.
well i never did the maths but i watched the whole semi, slovakia voted last and was in the lead through most of the votes, and got OUT of the top3 only at the very last vote, its own, by giving all its points to the ex yugoslav countries that sneaked above it…. so without the math the experience is just there to prove it!
“High” gets a 4 out of 12 from me and is my number 22 ( 3rd last ) in the 2004 Final.Of course the last place should have been given to the Romanian or Bosnian horror in the Final that year , hands down !
Especially “In the disco” , is my #7th most overrated entry post-2000…Sweden and Albania were overrated as well !Estonia should have been definitely IN the Final ( awkward stage performance though ).
My ranking in the 2004 Final :
1)Serbia&Montenegro
2)Turkey
3)Ukraine
4)Cyprus
5)Croatia
6)France
7)Spain
8)Ireland
9)Germany
10)Greece
11)Russia , 12)Netherlands , 13)Poland , 14)UK , 15)Sweden
16)FYROM , 17)Malta , 18)Albania , 19)Belgium , 20)Iceland
21)Austria , 22)Norway , 23)Romania , 24)BiH
We mostly agree.
1. Serbia & Montenegro
2. Cyprus
3. Spain
4. Ukraine
5. FYR Macedonia
6. Turkey
7. Iceland
8. Malta
9. Croatia
10. United Kingdom
11. Belgium
12. Germany
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Sweden
16. Netherlands
17. France
18. Norway
19. Albania
20. Austria
21. Russia
22. Ireland
23. Bosnia & Herzegovina
24. Romania
when I look at your top 20s I realise just what a poor year 2004 was IMO, nothing that would ever, in 40 years time when people were reviewing ESC on those TV channels, would say, and in ESC 2004 we got….really nothing……
Yes it was indeed a weak edition song-wise but still it gave one of the greatest songs EVER = Lane moje ! Turkey 2004 is a classic as well…
Strangely enough , even though the 2010 edition gets a way higher average than 2004 , I just can’t find anything that could be described as classic through the years…Maybe it is still recent on my mind? Who knows?
Siren.
Clip-wise , “Siren” already classifies as a classic one! Their live performance still needs some time to grow and mature on me.However if there was one act from 2010 to be described as a classic one through years , I agree it would be Estonia.Satellite will be considered as a classic ( for Lena and winning mostly , even though “Taken by a stranger” suits that tag more imo… )
Turkey 2010 gave a very memorable and high quality performance !
Horehronie is already a classic ( more in a cult way ) in my eyes !
2010 is one of the worst ESC years ever. There is no song from that year I really love. On the other hand, there are five songs I really like: Romania, Belgium, Greece, Israel and Estonia (Germany on my sixth place). “We could be the same” is a song I’ve never liked and probably never will like. The song is boring and the performance is lukewarm.
I agree!It was clear from the national finals season that it would be a disaster.Many good songs were left behind.The esc final was a drag…Never ending.The stage was boring.The only good thing was the interval act IMO.Sweden,Israel(bad live performance),Estonia(weird live performance) and Armenia(kitsch live performance) were my favorites before the contest.
The most underrated entry in the 2004 contest along with Austria IMO. An effort that deserved to do much better than Romania, B&H, Greece or Poland.