Quando, Quando, Quando

Quando, Quando, Quando – is just about right. When will the UK realise that we will never win the Eurovision Song Contest, and in my opinion that’s okay!

Eurovision is not so much about the singing as it is the political flexing of muscle, and the political nod that is frequently given between countries that are known to get along and have close ties. It’s a little bit like picking teams for gym class, the UK though is sadly the kid that no one wants to choose. Also I find it ever so slightly amusing that this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, that’s right – Euro vision Song Contest, is in Azerbaijan. Really – is Azerbaijan in Europe??

I don’t think that we should feel too hard done by, by the fact that we’re unlikely to ever win given that a lot of people in the UK don’t really care. If asked what concerns you more, the fact that we have Englebert Humperdinck representing us this year or the current petrol prices, I’m thinking most people care about how much it cost them to get from A – B and not how many times we’ll be told nul point. Also if you answer the other way round, again I say – really??

That said, I do think this year’s choice of representative for the UK is – I was going to say amusing, but I think that I’ll amend that to bemusing.

Englebert Humperdinck is often billed (I read on the internet) as “The King of Romance.” Now, I had to read up on him on the internet because, well, he’s 76, and to be honest unless my mum had said; “you will know him” and then started to sing; “Release Me” followed by “Quando Quando Quando” I’m not sure I would have known who he was. Until that was, all the radio stations also started to play these two songs to prompt their listeners to recall who Englebert Humperdinck was.

I do not wish to diminish Englebert Humperdinck’s successes. The man sold millions of records in the sixties and seventies, and apparently is still very popular today – especially in Europe! A ha I say! Perhaps therein lies the method to what looks a lot like madness.

Could it be that those responsible for the UK’s selection have decided to go less for someone that people in the UK would have voted for, and more for what the European audiences might vote for? In theory you can see why this might seem (well to anyone who’s never seen the Eurovision Song Contest before) a genius idea. Yet given that those making the selection you would assume have seen Eurovision before, then you’d have thought that they might have realised that this is not the X-factor. The political bias on display will, just as it has always done, determine the point scoring. 

Given how much we (well our politicians) have recently been irritating the French and Germans; I don’t think Englebert should hold out any hope of any points from either of those countries.

Yet regardless of the expectations of a UK success story – whether they are in your opinion positive or negative, I think that we should all just be glad that we are being represented by someone with singing talent. Whilst EH will not be everyone’s cup of tea, and a lot of people will have had to Google him, he can at least sing and he has the accolades and record sales to prove it.

We also probably shouldn’t forget that one year we nearly had Katie Price representing us! I don’t even think the politics of the day would have altered the scoring for the UK on that given year.

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