A very bloggy birthday + my ultimate Eurovision party playlist!

Please, don’t start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, because it isn’t my birthday (I will let you know when that’s coming up so you have enough time to wrap up your big box of I Don’t Care). Actually, it’s my blog’s birthday – not that you had to be Sherlock Holmes to figure that out via the title. Anyway, EBJ is now three years old, and I couldn’t let the occasion go by without at least mentioning it.

Shortly after Eurovision 2009, I decided to start blogging about the contest for some reason (it was something to do with one of my uni classes introducing me to WordPress, I think). There was a part of me that hoped I’d become an overnight sensation, and that Svante Stockselius would replace his ever-present right-hand woman with moi. Fast forward to 2012, and neither of those things have happened, but I know there are people who read what I write, and occasionally there are people who tell me that I make them laugh, and for me that’s just as good as if I’d been sitting next to Svante (or Jon Ola Sand, as he’s now known) in Baku wearing a headset and looking important. Plus, there have been some great things that have happened because of this blog, e.g. my being asked to write for other websites, and getting acquainted with all you ladies and gents out there who are year-round Eurofans and never get sick of discussing it. So I’ve decided that as long as I have you, EBJ will continue. Thanks for putting up with me, and here’s to the next three years of hilarity and frivolity and stuff!

Okay, that’s enough self-indulgent banter for today. Let’s move on to part II of this post, which (as also indicated by the title) is a list of my ultimate ESC party anthems. As we all know, Eurovision has a strong association with the light and fluffy. Over almost six decades, the contest has certainly produced an astonishing amount of fun-tastic music, which gives us a break from the moodier entries and the sometimes-boring ballads. I’ve narrowed them down to a personal top 20 of contest floorfillers – the songs that are guaranteed to get bums off seats. Check out my list, and let me know below what your favourite Eurovision party songs are!

 

Just A Little Bit by Gina G (United Kingdom 1996)

Satellite by Lena (Germany 2010)

Everybody by Tanel Padar & Dave Benton (Estonia 2001)

Miss Kiss Kiss Bang by Alex Swings Oscar Sings! (Germany 2009)

Vrag Naj Vzame by Rebeka Dremelj (Slovenia 2008)

Waterloo by ABBA (Sweden 1974)

Allez Ola Olé by Jessy Matador (France 2010)

Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz (United Kingdom 1981)

Always by AySel & Arash (Azerbaijan 2009)

Džuli by Daniel (Yugoslavia 1983)

Tornero by Mihai Traistariu (Romania 2006)

Zaleilah by Mandinga (Romania 2012)

Lipstick by Jedward (Ireland 2011)

Wild Dances by Ruslana (Ukraine 2004)

Lose Control by Waldo’s People (Finland 2009)

Ovo Je Balkan by Milan Stanković (Serbia 2010)

Shady Lady by Ani Lorak (Ukraine 2008)

Dancing Lasha Tumbai by Verka Seduchka (Ukraine 2007)

 

And, of course…Wir Geben ‘Ne Party by Mekado (Germany 1994) and Yom Huledet by Eden (Israel 1999) – providing it is a birthday party you’re attending.

 

COMING UP: It’s time for my first news roundup of the 2012/13 season. Will there be a Junior Eurovision this year? Does Malmö have a chance of hosting the ESC next May? And just how many rhetorical questions can I ask before it becomes annoying? Musings on all that, and more, are in your very near future…

 

15 Responses to “A very bloggy birthday + my ultimate Eurovision party playlist!”

  1. Lady Rosa de Vere

    hmm well to me the number seems close to infinity..but seriously I dont think thousands of listens is an exaggeration! Honestly I think I may be getting a taste of the teenage years so I suppose I had better toughen up!!

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    • Jaz

      You may have years of Jedward to “look forward to” yet!! Especially if they keep coming back to Eurovision as they are threatening to…for anyone who’ll have them in 2013 apparently. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

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  2. Lady Rosa de Vere

    Congrats on 3yrs! Frequently your blog makes my day!!

    about your list, some really good choices (in particular Wild Dances 😀 which pre-dates my eurovision time but another friend told me about and now i love it!) but I have come to believe that there is only so many times in life you can listen to Lipstick..and my 8yr old daughter has used them all up!!

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    • Jaz

      Frequently? So not all the time then….='[
      JOKES!! And thankyou.
      I do agree that Lipstick has an expiry date, but I don’t have that many parties so I haven’t reached it yet. Just out of interest, how many times is too many?? I think I could handle more of that than Waterline.

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  3. Annika

    Woooo! Writing a blog is hard and time consuming, so special congratulations for the 3 year anniversary *round of applause* and happy birthday to your blog *more applause* I love your blog too and I’m really glad I found it 😀
    Now, my ultimate esc party songs are probably Euroband’s “this is my life” and Tornero (and Zabava from jesc 2004 xD don’t laugh)

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    • Jaz

      Thanks for the virtual applause!! I think I remember congratulating you on your 3rd anniversary, but maybe I imagined it. Is your blog three years old?? Ahh my brain is turning to mush in my old age =P
      Hey, you won’t get any laughing from me on the topic of JESC…well, not often anyway. Especially with what’s happening at the moment. AKA the fact that there may not BE a JESC this year *sob* But may you continue to Zabava your way through life even if it is cancelled *multiple sobs*

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      • Annika

        ugh don’t say that you’re old because you’re younger than me and that makes me feel even older 😛 And well, technically I started blogging in 2008, so my blog would be 4 years old, but that was another blog and I barely wrote anything during 2009. The blog that you know started at the end of 2010, but I started blogging regularly during esc season 2011…All that too say that I have seriously no idea of how old my blog is, so there’s almost no chance that you congratulated me for the third anniversary xD
        Anyway, I’m starting to get psychologically ready in case JESC gets cancelled…but I’m still hoping it won’t

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        • Jaz

          Okay, so I am old and you are ancient!! I’m not sure what that makes out parents.
          I guess I imagined congratulating you, unless it was for something else. Like having excellent taste with your Dima/Zeljko Appreciation Days. Claps for that.
          If ESC ever got cancelled, I would actually die. If JESC does, I will just be depressed for a while I think. But it must not happen!! The Eurovision gods have to intervene.

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  4. Balkanheart

    sretan ti rodjendan, sunce moje drago. (: sry for singing a serbianirthday song ._. =D I love your blog(: Sometimes it just makes my day. so thank you for writing(:
    omg *-* džuli? I absolutly looove this song.

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    • Jaz

      Hvala for the song!! That’s so sweet. I had to Google Translate it ^^
      And thanks for the blog love. Comments like this remind me why I do it =]
      Dzuli is SO GOOOOOOOOOD. One of my all time favourites. I have to do the claps every time I hear it!!

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  5. nprovenghi271

    Happy blogging anniversary! I had that same part of me when I began to brush up on Photoshop by making fake Eurovision themes over the summer. Anyway, I think that this could be a very long list! My top five additions would be the last two entries from both Sweden and Norway (“Popular,” “Euphoria,” “Haba Haba,” and “Stay”) along with Cyprus’s “La La Love” from this year. Along with that, the list could change if there was theme to the party. For instance, if one decided to throw a really camp party, then many of these songs wouldn’t fit and songs like Scooch from 2007 and “Celebrate” from 2011 would be more popular than “Popular” or “Satellite.”

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    • Jaz

      Thanks for the happy wishes!!
      I love looking at all the fake themes on Youtube actually. I did one for an assignment in high school but it was rather dodgy!! Did you ever put yours online?
      At least we have a lot of songs to choose from if we want to theme a party playlist. I think the only party the other “Celebrate” (Switzerland 04…yeuch) would be useful for is a kid’s one…and even then the guests would probably complain. Haha.
      “Popular” and “Euphoria” would have gone down very well in the Euroclub.

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      • nprovenghi271

        Lol! I can imagine like fifteen children complaining and whining about having “Celebrate” played at a birthday party. I never put anything online, but I did make all the videos for them and I’ve set them all to music. I think that I made about four of them for last year. Maybe I should put them online just for the heck of it? Hm.

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        • Jaz

          No child – in fact, no human – should be subjected to that, not ever!! Although watching the performance with the sound muted is quite entertaining.
          Let me know if you do put your themes online. I’m not sure if there’s any for 2013 up yet. People like to get in early!

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