"Where Are You Going, With Your Fetlocks Blowing, In The … Wind?"
14/05/07 22:42 Filed in: Music
Oh dear!
Ireland's real-life "My Lovely Horse" moment came
true last Saturday night, when Dervish came last in
the Eurovision. The post-mortems have been ongoing
since then, with the performers and songwriters
taking most of the flak.
Much of the criticism is unfair, I think (as indeed is my headline.) Unlike Ted and Dougal's infamous ditty, the song wasn't expressly chosen to lose Ireland the competition. Whatever one's opinion of the song - and I hold none, because (a) even though I have heard it a couple of times, I can't actually remember anything about it, and (b) I tend not to opine on the merits or otherwise of individual Eurovision entries - there is no doubt that it was the wrong song for the occasion.
I caught a bit of the discussion on the Ray D'Arcy show on Today FM this morning, and one very good point was made. The song was chosen on the Late Late Show, which has a much older demographic than the voters in the Eurovision. While the song might appeal to the over-35s, it cut no ice with the under-25s.
Secondly, Dervish is a traditional Irish music band, in the same sort of mould as the Bothy Band or Planxty. They just weren't the band for this sort of song. You can't imagine Planxty or the Bothy Band going on Eurovision in the 1970s playing a hybrid diddly-eye/pop song. If you want to do soft-pop diddly-eye, get a band who do it well, like the Corrs.
If Ireland is ever to have notions of winning the Eurovision again, the strategy involved must change dramatically. Forget the idea of meaningful songs. Eurovision is as gay as Christmas, so to do well, Ireland's entry needs to camp it up. Two and a half minutes of fizzy Europop, that kids can remember just long enough to vote for it, performed by a pop starlet or a boyband/girlband. Skimpily clad dancers swishing their hair around, all that sort of stuff. Nothing deep and serious, as that just scares the votes away.
And another suggestion from Ray D'Arcy's show - maybe the performer should be a native of Eastern Europe.
And even though everyone has seen it thousands of times already, the original "My Lovely Horse":
Much of the criticism is unfair, I think (as indeed is my headline.) Unlike Ted and Dougal's infamous ditty, the song wasn't expressly chosen to lose Ireland the competition. Whatever one's opinion of the song - and I hold none, because (a) even though I have heard it a couple of times, I can't actually remember anything about it, and (b) I tend not to opine on the merits or otherwise of individual Eurovision entries - there is no doubt that it was the wrong song for the occasion.
I caught a bit of the discussion on the Ray D'Arcy show on Today FM this morning, and one very good point was made. The song was chosen on the Late Late Show, which has a much older demographic than the voters in the Eurovision. While the song might appeal to the over-35s, it cut no ice with the under-25s.
Secondly, Dervish is a traditional Irish music band, in the same sort of mould as the Bothy Band or Planxty. They just weren't the band for this sort of song. You can't imagine Planxty or the Bothy Band going on Eurovision in the 1970s playing a hybrid diddly-eye/pop song. If you want to do soft-pop diddly-eye, get a band who do it well, like the Corrs.
If Ireland is ever to have notions of winning the Eurovision again, the strategy involved must change dramatically. Forget the idea of meaningful songs. Eurovision is as gay as Christmas, so to do well, Ireland's entry needs to camp it up. Two and a half minutes of fizzy Europop, that kids can remember just long enough to vote for it, performed by a pop starlet or a boyband/girlband. Skimpily clad dancers swishing their hair around, all that sort of stuff. Nothing deep and serious, as that just scares the votes away.
And another suggestion from Ray D'Arcy's show - maybe the performer should be a native of Eastern Europe.
And even though everyone has seen it thousands of times already, the original "My Lovely Horse":