Sha-La-Lie Sha-La-La!

It's Eurovision time again on Saturday, and we here at Too Much Apple Pie (or me, at least - Spike's not heard it yet) are getting firmly behind the Netherlands' entry, the wonderfully catchy Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-La-Lie) by Sieneke. This is a real throwback to Eurovision songs of yore, and I loves it!

Leslie Phillips eat your heart out

If you enjoyed the none-more-seventies Europop of Trinity's 002-345-709 that we featured a few weeks ago, the chances are you'll also lurve today's track. (if you're really old you might even remember it - assuming Alzheimer's hasn't set in by now.) Dutch combo Teach-In swept all before them at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest with the bonkers-but-brilliant Ding-a-Dong. The formula was simple: attractive female singer belts out world's catchiest tune backed by sinister-looking bunch of hirsute blokes. How could they possibly fail?

This was actually the last occasion that the Netherlands triumphed in Eurovision, which kind of puts into perspective the UK's current (and possibly terminal) 11-year wait for another winner after Katrina & The Waves - fronted, naturally, by the American Katrina Leskanich - won it for us in '97.

Anyway, I digress. Here be Teach-In!

Teach-In - Ding-a-Dong mp3

Even better is the original Dutch-language version, Dinge-Dong, which the band performed at that year's Dutch National Song Contest ahead of Eurovision proper. Best. lyrics. ever!



Buy cheesy pop

Three of a kind #45

Ah, Eurovision Song Contest, how I love am continually baffled by thee! On Saturday night I sat down to, once again, be entertained, outraged and reduced to a helpless mess of uncontrollable laughter by Europe's premier songwriting contest. As usual, my top three bore no relation to the actual top three, which was populated by the most irritating man to grace the stage that night (with the exception of the host) and a couple of women of whom I had no recollection.
The votes from the Too Much Apple Pie delegation go to:

1. Sebastien Tellier - Divine mp3 (available for 7 days)

Sebastien Tellier - representing France - caused a bit of controversy before the show, apparently due to his video containing images of him in Christ-like poses. Personally I rather enjoyed his (mostly) female backing singers all wearing Jesus facial hair. And the song is pretty good, with lovely 'ooh-la-la' backing vocals and lead vocals which remind me of Jarvis Cocker.

2. Simon Mathew - All Night Long mp3 (available for 7 days)

Demark's entry this year was what I think of as a typical, enjoyable Eurovision song: upbeat, catchy enough to be remembered a good five minutes after the performance has finished, derivative ("Celebrate good times, come on", "Blue suede shoes"? I can't help feeling I've heard those lyrics somewhere before...) and thoroughly unpretentious.

3. Laka - Pokušaj mp3 (available for 7 days)

Finally we have the Bosnia-Herzegovinian song which can't really be done justice without seeing the performance which accompanies it. Bride backing singers, knitting? Public schoolboy outfit? A polka-dot-skirted Helena Bonham-Carter-a-like with a washing line? Fair enough...



Sadly the poncy Russian bloke supported by a poncy violinist and a poncy ice skater won the whole shebang.


The top three was rounded out by forgettable women from the Ukraine and Greece. Bosnia Herzegovina finished 10th, Denmark 15th, and France 19th out of 25. There's no justice!

"Good enough for anyone but me"

At the weekend, the UK picked a song to represent us in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. When I say "the UK", I really mean "those people who were at home watching telly on a Saturday night who could be arsed to pick up the phone to vote and didn't mind spending their money on doing so".
The majority of contenders were singers who had previously been on reality tv shows but didn't win (although not winning reality shows isn't necessarily a bad thing) so I was surprised to see that The Revelations were one of the entries.

Their entry wasn't bad and therefore it didn't win. That's why the song I'm putting up today is The Revelations' You're the Loser. Appropriate, no? Also, it's about a hundred times better than any of their other songs that I've heard and is a bloody brilliant pop song!

The Revelations - You're The Loser mp3 (available for 7 days)

The Making Your Mind Up page on the BBC website describes The Revelations thus:
"The Revelations are Annika, Sarah, and Louise. Their classic soulful pop music extends the lineage of the great 60's girl groups such as The Ronettes and Supremes, while drawing on more contemporary influences, such as the Scissor Sisters and Sugababes with just a sprinkle of ABBA."
but I could have said, "sub-Pipettes" and you would have got the idea a bit better.

Anyway, this video on youtube lets you hear their never-was-Eurovision-entry song It's You and also provides a handy introduction to the members of The Revelations so you can put a name to a face.



Listen to more by The Revelations on their myspace page, buy the single of You're The Loser here and it's now possible to buy their debut album on iTunes (I'd love to give you a link but I'm not iTunes compatible, I'm afraid).

"You thought that you had heard it all"

Today we're going to sample the world of Estonian pop rock. (Wait, come back!) The band in question is Claire's Birthday, formed in 1997 when lead singer and songwriter Vaiko Eplik was only 16. By 2000, the band had become popular in their native country, but I first became aware of them in 2003 when they represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest under the name Ruffus. (Wait, come back!) Their song Eighties Coming Back stood out for me because it was clearly far too good to be there, hence it finished 21st of 26 entries!

Claire's Birthday - Eighties Coming Back (available for 7 days)

Sadly, I have to assume the band have now gone their separate ways since their website has not been updated since 2003, but they've left behind them three quality albums full of pop rock. Plus they were hailed as the "saviours of Estonian rock" and supported Alice Cooper on tour in Estonia and Lithuania. Not a bad achievement.

Ladies Love Me from Claire's Birthday debut album 'Venus' was their breakthrough single and topped the popular TV chart '7 Vaprat' in 1999.

Claire's Birthday - Ladies Love Me (available for 7 days)

Defunct Claire's Birthday website | Buy Claire's Birthday albums