tonygoodson

Eurovision - Evolution of the Song

So I started having a look at a few Eurovision songs, present and past, and I think I've spotted the defining moment when Eurovision went Poo Poo Pee Pee and then Boom Banga Ding Dong.  It's Luxembourg's 1965 entry. Listen and watch the first time, and you wonder what the hell it is. 

Play it a second time and you're hooked!  It's fun, it's trivial, it's throw-away, and I think it took Eurovision out of the serious 50s, because for some reason Eurovision has never followed the trends of the day.  I mean mid-60s had had lots of Elvis and Beatles by then, but not in Europe it seems!!  Go check the previous winners before '65.

So there's your Poo Poo Pee Pee, which 2 years later became Puppet on a String with Sandie Shaw.  It's uncanny that they're both singing about puppets, and the orchestral arrangement is similar and has the same hooks. And Poo Poo Pee Pee Puppet becomes Boom Bang-a-Bang.  And then the Puppet becomes a Jack-in-the-Box!

And if you let evolution take it's course, this is what you end up with 20 years later.  If your jaw doesn't drop at this one, and you don't laugh out loud, then you must be Swedish!!

Oh and a bonus thought, it's only after time that you realise some songs sound rather similar.  Save All Your Kisses For Me.  And this one.  Remarkable. I never noticed it.

And then allow another 30 years and this is where we are now, Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV!

Enjoy!

Eurovision - I've sacked Elton John

In my last post, I talked of my dream team of Elton John and Jim Steinman,r composing a Eurovision Song.  Well Elton John is sacked!  He's already written a Song for Europe!
To my amazement, he'd written one of the songs for Lulu in '69, and it came last....to Boom-Bang-a-Bang!
And here it is, with a Sandie Shaw version, followed by the Lulu version!!

Eurovision - Boom Bang a Ding Dong!

Oh Lordi! I made the mistake of checking out the UK entry for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest.  Scooch - It's shite!  Where do you start?  It's so embarrassing, it's that bad.  Check it out.  Ah I thought, let's have a look at the other 5 songs that didn't win.  Even worse!!  So you can hardly blame the voting public for voting for the worst song from even worse songs!!

So, what did I do for the next few hours?  I went on a Eurovision nostalgia trip on YouTube.  Go to WikiPedia, look up Eurovision Winners, and UK entries, and then search on YouTube.  And let me tell you, YouTube was made for Eurovision, because almost every Eurovision song that's ever been sung, has been posted up with loving care and attention.  And no record company or Euro-artist is going to protest about the postings, because not much of it will ever see the light of day again.

Now having said all that, we were brought up on Eurovision, 60s 70s and 80s. It's a study in songwriting.  Or sometimes lack of songwriting!  How difficult is it to write a catchy melody, a visual hook from the singer, a singing hook, an instrumental hook, and something memorable. Well the UK has been failing at it for nearly 20 years!  Who are the people that shortlist the songs for voting?  If the songs that are shortlisted are all bad, then the public will vote for a bad one, and they might as well vote for the really bad (but good looking!) one!!

I'll leave it at that, and post some of the gems in Eurovision Part II.

What I will say is that I'm sure you could programme a computer to write a Eurovision Song and it wouldn't come last, in fact it might win!! I'm serious.  Check out George Martin - Rhythm of Life (I can't find the right bit but here's Brian Wilson and Celine Dion as a bonus) on what makes a good melody (notes close together), get someone to programme the lyrics using a random EuroVision lyric engine, and you'd have a winner!

Of if you've ever seen an interview with Elton John at his piano, when the interviewer asks him to compose a song to some lyrics he's handed, just take Elton John's first 15 secs of contribution, before he overelaborates the song, and add Jim Steinman's lyrics and arrangements, and you'd have a Euro winner, but it has to remain POP-y and not some Disney Lion King/Celine Dion monstrosity.

I think I might just write the song myself!! My Lovely Horse! 

Monty Python v The Goodies

An interesting article in The Guardian yesterday, about The Goodies, and comparing them with Monty Python, given that they all came from similar University backgrounds, mixed together, wrote scripts together and could have been dealt into each other's show. We're not remotely bitter

History belongs to the victor.  We remember Monty Python better, but if my memory serves my right, The Goodies were far far bigger than Monty Python at the time.  Monty Python was a minority sport.  The Goodies were mainstream with massive audiences, and "The Goodies were the fifth biggest grossing pop act in 1975" and that's when a hell of a lot of singles were sold. 

That's big.  It's amazing how people colour history, and with The Goodies not being cool, people forget their impact, and in reality their music!!

NBC v YouTube

Hey, why is this Evolution of Dance, so disappointing, when compared to this? (other than the fact you need effing Explorer to run the first video!)
There's something about the context of Judson Laiplly's dance on the stage in the second video, and the fact that he looks and moves like Colin Mochrie, that makes it so compelling to play again and again.  The NBC interview and dance, ruins the mystique.

I've been thinking why the Chinese Boys - That Way, is so good.
Again there's something about the context, the raw passion, the guy in the background, the broken arm!, the innocence, the Rocket Shirts, the cross swaying, but most of all, I think it's because it's two Chinese guys being very animated in a "Western" way, something you don't expect.

It's the unexpected that attracts, even if you watch it time and time again.
Numa Numa is also compelling time and time again.  Why?
(Just reading about Numa Numa on Wikipedia and it's interesting that Gary Brolsma claims he derived it from this Japanese Flash Animation of Numa Numa)
Imitation of the Chinese Boys, Numa Numa, and even the Chinese Boys doing other songs, don't quite hit the mark.  Why?

Funnily enough, I explained it myself in my own brilliant(?) writing a few years ago, The Meaning of Life.
The Wassup and Flat Eric adverts weren't made for the products they advertised, the products found them, and set the context for them becoming funny, just as sad imitations of some great viral videos, lose the context.

Which brings me back to why I don't watch TV anymore.  It's shit!
Predictable drivel, out of context.
Except for House!
I spend more time watching YouTube than I do watching TV.
A Wank I Think! (of course you need bloody Explorer to see the context (and an understanding of English humour)).

You Tube Addiction

Damn, I have a new addiction.  You Tube.
Starting with the Top 100 or Favourites or Most Highly Rated.
Love the old ones.  Chinese Boys and Evolution of Dance.
But then you realise you can search on almost anything and find old classics.

An hour plus of Eddie Izzard (oops that's on Google Video!).
My absolute favourite Football Sketch - Charles "Charlie" Charles with Harry Enfield.
And then I just keep searching and searching.  Sham 69, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Sex Pistols.
Eddie and the Hot Rods are interesting, because it was the first sign that Punk was coming.  So whilst they weren't mainstream punk, you could hear the energy and double speed rhythm, which was very different at the time.

And they don't make music like this anymore - Cat Stevens - Maybe You're Right.
Now that is unbelievably good.  Am I getting old and sounding like my parents' generation going on about Sinatra or Nat King Cole?
Blimey, it just gets better and better.  Teaser and the Firecat!
And why are Cat and His Family sitting on a squash court playing chess??
And an Older Cat (are his feet playing the second guitar?)
And Cat teaching that punk Ronan Keating, that the "Father" bit of Father and Son is sung an octave lower coz he's the Daddy, oh and the counter tune and lyrics coming from Cat, just to put the (slightly scary) Boyzone Damage right.
What a Laugh!!

Dinner for One

Before I lose the links (via Tom Coates), this is a weird story about Germans watching a British 1920s sketch on TV, every Christmas/New Year, to make it the most frequently repeated TV program ever in the world. 
Watch it and let your jaw drop.

Shine on you Crazy Diamond

A month ago I was reading Dave Allen's follow up book to Getting Things Done, Ready for Anything, and in it he says "Something was coming in a months time that I couldn't foresee that would effect me significantly."  So I made a note in my Outlook tasks.
Today it pinged up.  Bloody Hell.  He was right!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Firstly, I drove along The Great Ocean Road today.  Something we've been meaning to do for a few years, and finally we did it, from Warrnambool back to Melbourne.  We went down on Friday for the Children's Festival.  What a great idea, and we'll definitely go back again.
And something else massive happened on Friday, but I have to wait for the dust to settle to talk about it.

I was watching the telly last night, about to go to bed, and Parky is on.  Gerry Springer.  Not interested.  Patsy Kensit. Not interested, but I started listening, and it was an amazing interview with her.  I never knew her history, and it's amazing how she carries herself so well now.  Of course she's an actress so you never quite know what to believe, but on the face of it an amazing woman.

And then to bed.  But No.  I suddenly catch a documentary on Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, and now I'm obsessed with looking into the the whole Syd Barrett thing, which I've never really followed, even though my first album was Dark Side of the Moon.  Actually, that was my first Vinyl LP, my first album was Tubular Bells on tape!!

Geldof given Enough Rope

I just saw Bob Geldof on TV, interviewed by Andrew Denton, here in Australia.
A fantastic interview.  One of the ones I'll never forget.  The transcript should be up on the ABC website soon.
Philosophy on life.
Starvation in Africa.
Live Aid.
His mother dying when he was 7.
The Celebrity of the Rock Star.
Paula Yates.
The Kids.

When I've seen great interviews, I'm inspired and see parallels.
The pain of his breakup with Paula Yates, partly being about taking him back to the loss of his mother.  The way he protects himself from a similiar break-up.  I can identify with that one.
And an interesting parallel of the loss of his mother with that of what his own kids have gone through.

And of course, Andrew Denton rapidly becoming the New Parky, and he interviewed Parky a year ago.

Old (young) Deaths

I keep finding people who have died!!
I just caught the "Doctor" series on TV1on Foxtel cable this morning.
I wonder what happened to Robin Nedwell?
Quick Google search
Shit,I just found out!
It's like losing a long lost older brother.
When characters like that die, who at some point have been a small but entertaining part of your earlier life, it hits you.  Well it hits me.
Not just the Doctor series, but suddenly you realise he was Roland in The Lovers, workmate of Geoffrey (Bobbles Bon Bon), played by Richard Beckinsale (father of Kate Beckinsale), who died so young, and The Lovers was written by Jack Rosenthal, who died last year.
Shit I'm depressed now.