FRIDAY FAST FIVE | The Aussie songs I’d have sent to some Eurovisions of yesteryear
Welcome to 2016. Välkommen to a year of Eurovision, Stockholm-style (something we most recently could have said post-NYE 1999)!
I hope you guys had a blast doing whatever you did last night, and that you’re currently resting up in preparation for the full-on NF season we’re about to enter into. Said season has technically already started – though in less full-on form – with Albania opting to send Eneda Tarifa’s Përrallë to Sweden (most likely in English) at the Festivali I Këngës final last weekend. That’s assuming none of the song’s writers decide to withdraw it from the contest, á la Elhaida Dani’s Diell. At the moment, I’m crossing my fingers for that NOT to happen, because there’s something about Përrallë that intrigues me. I’d like to see how it evolves and ends up sounding at Eurovision.
Speaking of how things sound at Eurovision…that’s how I’m introducing today’s post (my first of the year. Woo to the hoo!). I should have put together something more relevant to New Year’s Day, like a list of my favourite ESC-related music of 2015 or something – but I forgot to. Although I have selected two top musical moments from the year just passed over on ESC Insight. Mine appear alongside the picks from the core team and the rest of the site’s contributors, if you want to check them out (which you should, because they’re brilliant). So there is that.
But here on EBJ, THIS is what you’re getting on this mighty fine January 1st: a sequel to my recent Friday Fast Five, which listed the Australian artists I think should be on the shortlist for Stockholm. This time, I’m attempting to transport you to a magical world in which Australia has been competing at Eurovision for at least a couple of decades. I’m not saying I wish we had been – I just wanted to ramble on about some Aussie music from the 1990s/2000s that I love, while somehow relating it to Eurovision.
This is the result, in no order other than chronological: five awesome Australian songs I’d have sent to some past contests, if we’d been invited to the party pre-2015.
Oh, by the way…just assume that the following tracks would have been trimmed down to the EBU-regulation three minutes.
! (The Song Formerly Known As) by Regurgitator (1998)
Make way for one of my favourite party songs of all time, people! You may not see the logic in that description, but if you can separate the slightly bizarre music video (which is actually super-sane by Regurgitator standards) and the burst of profanity (I know it’s not an f-bomb, but a more explicit word for ‘popo’ isn’t exactly common ESC fare) from the song itself, that might help. ! is grungy and danceable at the same time, and curiously, never seems to date – 1998, 2008…who could pinpoint a year of release with 110% confidence if they weren’t already aware it was a 90s number? There’s something to be said for a song that has musical integrity and timelessness, but doesn’t for a second take itself too seriously.
How would it have fared at Eurovision? There’s no doubt it would have stood out in Birmingham, but would it have challenged Dana International’s Diva for the trophy? Realistically, nope. I do think it could have been top five material, based on the fact that it would have been unlike any of its competitors. Plus it would have RAISED THA ROOF, keeping celebratory spirits sky-high.
The Animal Song by Savage Garden (1999)
Savage Garden = the shining light of the Aussie music industry during the mid-1990s and early 2000s. That is, until members Darren and Daniel decided they didn’t like each other all that much (but that’s another story). Their back catalogue features a string of songs that would have made perfect Australian Eurovision entries – but as someone drawn to jungle jingles (i.e. any songs that could have played over the Lion King credits) I have to settle on The Animal Song as my pick. I can visualise this on the stage in Jerusalem so clearly. There’d be shirtless drummers. Lots of lights, in the absence of LED screens to display safari vistas. Tons of awkward-but-beautiful shots of Darren singing to the camera as the audience lose their collective shiz in the background. I am so sad that I will never see all of that happen.
How would it have fared at Eurovision? Call me biased, but I reckon this could have pipped Charlotte Nilsson at the post. It’s bigger, it’s more of an anthem, and it sounds much less like a Christmas carol.
Hearts A Mess by Gotye (2007)
Most non-Aussies would recognise Gotye as the painted man-face of Somebody That I Used To Know fame. That smash hit of a song could easily have been my selection here – but Hearts A Mess (yes, the lack of apostrophe is intentional) is a more haunting option, and would probably have been more striking on a stage á la Europe’s biggest. This song is a slow-burner, not unlike the classic Balkan ballads that Željko Joksimović can’t stop sending to Eurovision (which we ALL salute him for). It might be minimalist, but it grabs attention for that very reason; it’s dynamic, dipping in and out of soft and explosive moments; and it was lovingly recorded by Gotye in his bedroom. You can’t tell me the transition from a bedroom to the ESC, had Australia been invited to participate back in 2007, wouldn’t have made sense. Well, you can, but I won’t listen.
How would it have fared at Eurovision? Well, a shadowy lighting scheme and contemporary dancer or two would have worked wonders…but aside from scoring big with Belgium (Gotye’s homeland), I think this would have been a little too alternative to have viewers voting en masse.
Cosby Sweater by Hilltop Hoods (2014)
Here’s a song that would have been more or less destined to fail had it been sent to Eurovision last year the year before last (*shakes fist at 2016 for making me look foolish*), much like Trackshittaz’ Woki Mit Deim Popo in 2012 and, to a lesser extent, Who See’s Igranka the following year (I’m still seething over that Montenegrin near-miss). Hilltop Hoods’ Cosby Sweater is kind of like a love child of those two tracks, if that child had a super-Aussie accent. I love it, and I’d love to have seen it compete in Copenhagen for entertainment purposes. The Hoods are great live performers with expertise in crowd-rousing, and I expect the live audience would have responded very well – and/or with a ‘WTF?’ – to this ode to ugly jumpers (as we usually refer to them Down Under).
How would it have fared at Eurovision? Terribly, like I said. Europe would not get it. Rap/hip hop rarely does well at the ESC unless Greece sends it. At least one of said ugly jumpers would have made it onto the Hallerne stage, though, meaning Australia may not have won the contest, but would probably have won the Barbara Dex Award for 2014. Sorry, Vilija.
Do You Remember by Jarryd James (2015)
To finish off this Friday Fast Five, I present to you one of my favourite releases of 2015 – a twist on your traditional break-up ballad, feat. a mixture of pop, acoustic and r & b sounds, and a thumping, very hypnotic beat. Do You Remember is about as cool as Aussie music can get, I reckon, and one indication of that is the fact that it charted in Europe (i.e. Belgium, Germany and Switzerland – countries that can recognise smoothness of the highest quality even when it’s unrelated to chocolate production). I wouldn’t be surprised if, no matter what staging treatment it received, this song remained better as a recording than as three live minutes. However, as X Factor judge Guy Sebastian proved last year when he gave Do You Remember to one of groups on the show, it can work as a performance piece. If Guy had been unavailable to do Eurovision no. 60, I would have happily watched Jarryd James march into the musical battle armed with this.
How would it have fared at Eurovision? With the success of “out-of-the-box” stuff from the likes of Belgium and Latvia last year, I think this could have done reasonably well – though maybe not as well as Tonight Again, which is more energetic (meaning it could fight against the army of ballads present in Vienna) and instant. Top 10 wouldn’t have been out of reach.
EBJ Extras On A Night Like This by Kylie Minogue (2000); Zebra by John Butler Trio (2003); This Boy’s In Love by The Presets (2008); Open Season by Josef Salvat (2014); Shoulda Coulda Woulda by Elizabeth Rose (2015)
That’s me done, apart from the hours of hoping I’ve got to do now – hoping that at least one of these five songs tickled your fancy. If there was something you’d have liked to see/hear on the ESC stage in a parallel universe, let me know with a click below!
And, if you’ve got suggestions of Australian songs – or songs from another competing country’s archives – that would have made epic Eurovision entries in their day, head on down to the comments section pronto.
Until next time, keep on having a great start to 2016!
COMING UP I hope you’re feeling hungry for all things Swedish! With Melodifestivalen, my personal highlight of NF season, not too far away, I thought it was time to get nostalgic and get ranking. The result? A three-course banquet feat. some supersized servings of Scandipop. That’s right – I’m preparing to count down my Top 50 Melfest Songs, 2006-2015. I hope you’ll join me with your own ranking at the ready.
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
7 Responses to “FRIDAY FAST FIVE | The Aussie songs I’d have sent to some Eurovisions of yesteryear”
P.S. My Melfest homework’s done! So hard, I can tell, to choose from so many good songs!
May the countdown begin!!!
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YAAAAYYY!!! Can’t wait to see your list. Part 1 of mine might be up by the time you read this, so watch out!
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Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, Jaz! (from a felt half-Dutch German Eurovisioner, living so near to the Dutch border!)
Hopefully the new year started well for you?! Mine did pretty well!
While I finished the last year with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and a brilliant ballet dancers ensemble at the local musical theatre, my New Years Day started with a five-song-special of ABBA Hits at the later NYE party. Which ones? You can have a guess if you like! 😄
Can a year ever start more Eurovisionary than that?!
Then the first highlight of the year for me is always to watch the fireworks of Sydney, NYC Times Square and Berlin on New Year’s Day with Zeljko’s platinum collection running in the background.
And of course your first great blog post of 2016 that I’d like to refer to right now.
I think it’s time now and the right place to show you my favourite Aussie songs ever, a.k.a. my top 10 Australian hits of all-time. Probably not all of them would have fit perfectly to Eurovision, but I would’ve loved to see them all on ESC stage in their years. So here’s my mixed bag of Aussie ‘diamonds’:
10. Olivia Newton-John – Magic (1980): no Aussie hits countdown without Olivia, no no never! I loved Olivia and Agnetha in the early 80’s, they were both the heroines of my early teenage days. I did not count how many times I watched ‘Grease’ and ‘Xanadu’, but I guess one can fill a week with it. ‘Magic’ is my absolute fave from her! And although I think she wouldn’t have stopped Johnny Logan from winning the 1980 contest, she would again have made a good Top 5 placement with this song, plus she would’ve given me my ‘magic’ moment of the show. And here comes the embarrassing part: I also liked “Suddenly” by Cliff and Olivia much, but please don’t tell anybody! It’s funny that I never liked Cliff’s Eurovision songs, but loved a lot of his songs from the 80’s. 😀
Awkward silence!
Okay, I promise it’s getting better, on with the next song:
9. John Farnham – Age of reason (1988): I like songs that have a true and deeper meaning like this one has. I still remember John as one of the greatest voices of your country ever and probably one of the most successful Australian artists worldwide. He of course was highly successful in Germany too, and this song AOR was his most important one for me. I still like to hear it on the radio and turn up the volume when it’s on. Again he wouldn’t have stopped Miss Dion from winning in 1988, but he would’ve fought hard with Scott for the runner-up position, and I’m sure he would’ve performed in a much nicer perfect suit than his Canadian lady colleague (Barbara-Dex-worthy, If that trophy already existed in that year!).
8. Natalie Imbruglia – Torn (1997): The year 1997 was a good year for Aussie hits (I will come back to that later!). This young Aussie lady had it all in 1997, I mean the whole Eurovision package: a good voice, a lovely song and an emotional performane! The result: Wolf is totally blown away by her! That song is an absolute earworm, and once it’s stuck in your head, you can never get it out again. In my Eurovision Youniverse this would’ve beaten Katrina & the Waves by far, but I guess the conservative juries of 1997 wouldn’t have voted for it, and it probably would’ve ended up as bad as Paul Oscar did, unfortunately?!
7. Real Life – Send me an angel (1983): I know, I know – a lot of people think that this is big Australian cheese, but not me, not I! This is still one of my favourite 80’s hits of all-time, and it was the No. 1 on the German charts during Eurovision month of May 1983. I may be the only person on this planet, but I would’ve loved to see this great Aussie band knock the Swedish Herrey brothers out of their golden Schlager boots. And their debut album “Heart land” is one in my old vinyl collection that I would never ever give away, because I love it so much!
6. Delta Goodrem – The Analyst (2004): 2004 was one of the great Eurovision years of the last decade, so Delta already belonged there that year. ‘The Analyst’ is my fave from her, as you know, and as a piano ballad it would’ve worked well on ESC stage. But she wouldn’t have had a single chance against Ruslana’s outstanding performance in 2004, although her song was MUCH better compared to those ‘Wilde Tänze”! But that’s Eurovision, it is not always the best song that wins the trophy. I hope you’re so right with your assumptions, Delta is THE ONE I’d love to see live on Globen stage, come May!
5. INXS – Need you tonight (1987): I loved Michael Hutchence and his band, he was such an incredible (and handsome) artist! Their album ‘Kick” was probably the most successful Aussie album of that year worldwide, with five songs alone in the U.S. Top 10, and four singles on the UK and German charts. ‘Need you tonight’ is still my fave from them and high on my list of 80’s classics. Whenever this is played on an 80’s party, I could never do a ‘Roman Lob’ (I mean ‘Standing still’), it always gets me going on the dancefloor! So play it, and you can see a ‘dancing wolf’! 😃
Unlikely this is probably the only song on my list that I would not recommend for Eurovision, because rock songs almost never did well (except for the Finnish KISS cover song in 2006!), they hardly never qualify!
4. Tina Arena – Chains (1994): What an amazing song! I maybe love it so much because her voice always reminds me of Olivia. Their voices have quite some similarities. ‘Chains’ belongs on my list of top 10 songs of the 90’s, and I’ve read that her album ‘Don’t ask’ was one of the most successful albums of the 90’s in Australia, if not ever. I have high understanding for it, because that album contains only good to amazing songs, which is not often the case, at least not in my musical universe!
And of course this song would’ve been the one I would’ve dialed my fingers to the bone for winning, but unless Edyta didn’t manage to stop the ‘Rock’n’Roll Kids’ from winning, Tina wouldn’t have either, I guess!
And now here come THE BIG 3:
3. Gotyé feat. Kimbra – Somebody that I used to know (2011): Masterpiece! That is the only description I have for this song! And pure art it is! When I heard it for the first time I had goosebumps. But this song got so huge because of the musical dialogue of Gotyé and Kimbra; I think it wouldn’t have been such a massive hit around the globe, if Gotyé had sung it alone?! This amazing piece of musical art was worth every prize, including 2 Grammy Awards and lots of others. And I must say, I normally never download any video clips, but with this one I did. And, no doubt about it, it would’ve succeeded over ‘Running scared’ in Düsseldorf, alone by its outstanding performance. I would’ve loved to see Gotyé in a Gaultier and Kimbra in a beautiful ‘Nadine Beiler’-like dress live in the arena.
I also like your suggestion of ‘Hearts a mess’, but think that would’ve been too sound experimental, and much too dark/ alternative for the Eurovision.
2. Savage Garden – To the moon and back (1997): Bingo! That’s a shot in the bull’s eye. I love Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones and everything they did! Unfortunalety there was only enough love for two albums that I both love. They are my absolute favourite band of the 90’s and of course TTMAB is a ‘pearl’ of a pop song, that to me sounds like winning, winning, WINNING SONG. So here I am with Ali and voted for Savage Garden on your poll. ‘The Animal Song’ is a great song too (although you know I have my problems with animals on Eurovision stage 😉), but it’s not my fave from their 2nd album, that would be ‘You can still be free’ & ‘Two beds and a coffee machine’. Nevertheless, they would’ve made it in 1997 or 1999, I can’t think of anything else than winning, if it comes to Savage Garden. I still like Darren Hayes as a solo artist and think ‘Insatiable’ is a brilliant song.
And now: Surprise, surprise!
1. Icehouse – No promises (1986) / Man of Colours (1987): you already know about my undying love of Iva Davies and my favourite Aussie band ever, so this no. 1 wasn’t a surprise! I love ‘No promises’ so much, because it always reminds me of my fave Bowie song called ‘This is not America’ from the mid 80’s, published only a year earlier. Both are epic and most amazing songs that I will always love until the end of time! No need to say that they both belong to my top 10 list of 80’s classics. It would be my biggest dream to see Icehouse only once live on stage, but unless they never tour in Germany or around Europe anymore, this probably will never happen.
‘Man of Colours’ is an outstanding song too that I can very well identify with. Although I am far away from being a painter or an artist, I feel like a ‘Man of Colours’, too!
At Eurovision they probably wouldn’t have beaten out Sandra Kim or Johnny Logan with both of my fave songs, but they would have been THE AVANT-GARDE of the night, and that is something I would’ve loved to see at Eurovision.
That completes my wishlist of Aussie songs as former Eurovision entries.
In recent years I would have liked to see ‘We are the people’ by Empire of the Sun (2009), ‘Riptide’ by Vance Joy (2013) or ‘Diamonds’ by Josef Salvat (2014) on ESC stage to wave the Australian flag.
Awesome blog post and a great joyride into the past (well, for me!)
Tschüß for now and until next time,
Wolf 😉
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I have to say, I’m pretty jealous of your super-Eurovisiony start to 2016! Although I did start mine off by tuning in to the ESC 250 countdown (very loudly) so it wasn’t all bad. I’m glad you enjoyed Swan Lake – it’s up there with my favourite ballets.
Oh, and I’m a bit scared to guess which ABBA songs featured in that five-song-special…I’m the world’s worst guesser. Surely ‘Waterloo’ made it in, though? Maybe ‘The Winner Takes It All’? I’ve forgotten what you said your all time top track was (because in addition to be being a terrible guesser, I am also a terrible person :’[). HELP!
I loved this list of Aussie hits, by the way. There’s a few not even I’ve heard before (I don’t think) so I need to brush up on those.
Natalie’s ‘Torn’ is a great song, but couldn’t have competed as it’s a cover (I don’t know if you already knew that, but a lot of people don’t so I thought I’d throw it out there!). Still, in this fantasy land where Australia was always a member of the ESC family, I guess we can imagine that Miss Imbruglia could have taken that song along to Eurovision with her in ’97. I think it would have done well, but definitely wouldn’t have beaten ‘Love Shine A Light’. If it had ended up down at the bottom with Paul Oscar and his sexy couch performance, there would have been twice the injustice.
Aaagh, I was SO close to including ‘Need You Tonight’ on my list! My dad raised me on the likes of INXS, and this song is my favourite of theirs too. I would have LOVED to watch them rock the house in 1987. Johnny Logan wouldn’t have known what hit him.
‘Chains’ is another epic number. It would have been perfect for 90s Eurovision.
‘To The Moon and Back’ is another one I was tossing up over – ended up going for my other top Savage Garden song, obviously! But I’m so happy to see you’ve listed it here. And once again, we share affection for the same song: ‘Insatiable’. Darren’s voice is just amazing.
It’s so funny you should mention your wish to see Icehouse live – my parents are doing exactly that on Friday night. So, even though I know this won’t ease your pain entirely, I’ve asked them to take some photos if they can, and I’ll send them to you. Think of it as an exchange for the MZW photos you sent me 🙂
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Aaah, nooooo! That is SO NOT TRUE, isn’t it?! Your parents are going to see ‘Icehouse’ in just a few hours. I can’t believe it and I’m SUPER jealous of them and everybody else who goes there to see my favourite Aussie band. If I could, I would take my spaceship and come straight to Western Australia the minute I am writing this. And your job would be to tell your parents that there will be an uninvited guest in their car on the road to ‘Icehouse’ 😀!
I hope they will have a superb evening on that concert, and I am already DYING for some original photo footage of Iva Davies and the band. That would really make my day, no, probably my whole month, since I’ m dreaming of going to one of their concerts for more than 25 years!!! 😪 Believe me, I would give away all of my NYE party moments, plus my whole ABBA collection (AND THAT WOULD HURT!) for such an opportunity to see them live!!!
Hopefully they’ll release a DVD from that tour that I can buy some time later, siiiigh!?
How can I go on after that NEWS OF THE WEEK? Okay, here’s the five-ABBA-song-special solution: of course they started off at 12 o’clock with “Happy New Year” (one point, since you mentioned it in your first line and I know you had that specific song of them in mind! That counts! 😜), followed by “Super Trouper” (always a Christmas & NYE classic in Germany!), followed by “Waterloo” (your second point!), followed by “Take a chance on me” (one of their great songs, IMO!), and finished with “Dancing queen” ( What else? It’s one of THE dance classics of the 70’s and their biggest success!). So that wasn’t too difficult, was it?!
I’m glad you also like ‘Torn’ and ‘Chains’, they are both great songs! I actually did not know that ‘Torn’ was a cover song, so thank you for that information. But I cannot imagine anyone singing that song in a better way than Natalie did (BTW, Natalie is my favourite name for a girl/woman! Not that it is important! 😄)
And I am so happy that we share our fave songs of Darren Hayes (and Daniel Jones)! He’s got such an amazing and clear head voice, almost as good as Michael Jackson and better than Justin Timberlake, if you ask me!?
Finally, give my special regards to your dad and tell him he’s got a great taste in music, just like his daughter 😊! I like it much that he raised you with some ‘INXS’ sound. They were an amazing band, too.
BTW, I also forgot to say that I loved “Live it up” by Aussie independent Band ‘Mental as Anything’ really much, and I think that this song you mentioned by Jarred James is a pretty good one. I’ve heard it a few times on German radio and liked it, but never knew who was the artist. 😉
But now I will take a look at your grand opening of your great Melfest top 50. 😄
So be prepared there will be a (huuuge!) comment some day soon.
Until then and au revoir on EBJ,
Wolf 😉
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[I posted this comment late last night, but for some reason it didn’t appear – so if it now suddenly comes up twice, apologies, and just think of it as an overly elaborate rhyming couplet …]
Happy New Year, Jazzz!
(Hmm, those zeds seem to be multiplying!)
You’ve made an excellent start on some Oz ESC entries from the Noughties and the Noughteens. The Regurgitator link didn’t work for me, but I found it elsewhere online: great track, but my vote in the end went to Savage Garden (which I’ll treat as a child of the Noughties for the sake of the exercise below).
As we know, there does exist a parallel universe in which Australia has been a participant in the ESC since 1956. So I hope you don’t mind if I also do a bit of a “fast five” by having a stab at picking one Aussie song for each of the preceding five decades (’50s to ’90s, inclusive). BTW these are not my ‘dream’ Australian entrants, but are ones that I think would have imbued the contest with a certain Aussie ‘je ne sais quoi’ (as Hera might say), and they are all hits in their own right, because Australia always brings its A game, of course. (Sorry – I’m too lazy to put in links to the clips, but they’re all readily youtube-able in one form or t’other.)
1950s:
‘Wild One’, Johnny O’Keefe (1958)
Poor André’s amour would have struggled to get to sleep with JO’K shaking up Hilversum with this early rock ‘n’ roll classic. It would probably have been regarded as too ‘American’ and modern to have podium’ed back then, but would certainly have livened the place up a bit.
1960s:
‘The Real Thing’, Russell Morris (1969)
Again, a bit too ‘out there’ to have done well in Madrid in those days, but it would at least have ushered in a bit of surrealist psychedelia befitting of the Dali-designed sculpture in the stage background. The politically incorrect German lyrics at the tail end of the soundtrack would have had to have been cut – and not just for reasons of keeping within the time limit (although it was still Franco’s Spain, I guess? …)
BTW, my back-ups for the 60’s were The Seekers with Georgy Girl, and the Easybeats with Friday on My Mind.
1970s:
‘I go to Rio’, Peter Allan (1977)
Unlikely to have toppled L’Oiseau et L’Enfant on the night, but it would have got a rapturous reception from the crowd at the Wembley Conference Centre, who were just gagging for anything that would let them tap their toes a bit. (They heartily cheered Forbes, for Gawd’s sake!)
1980s:
‘Down Under’, Men At Work (1981)
This would certainly have been a more ‘OK’ form of (‘white’) reggae than was served up by Finland’s Riki Sorsa on the night. And would have given us the first mention of the word ‘Vegemite’ in a Eurovision lyric.
1990s:
‘What do I have to do?’, Kylie (1991)
With this, she would have blitzed it, probably resulting in a three-way tie in Rome, with our Kylie coming out on top after the countback. What drama!
Thank you for allowing us Aussies (well, at least one of us) this chance to retrospectively fantasize a bit … but it’s gotten late (yawn) so for now I have to go off to sleep, dear Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz …
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Happy New Year back atcha, Aliiiiiii! Two can play at the game of multiplying letters.
Thanks for taking the time to put together a Fast Five of your own (it is fun though, right?). You’ve got the 50s-90s covered, and I’ve got the 00s and 10s – together, we could have won Eurovision for Australia (if appointed to the selection committee) on many occasions in that wonderful parallel universe.
‘Wild One’ would indeed have added some spark to that sedate late-50s contest. I have trouble telling a lot of the songs from back then apart from each other, to be honest; so I’d like to imagine that standing out as he would have, Johnny could have outdone André. But realistically, you’re right.
So no five-way winning tie feat. Russell Morris, then? Shame! I would have LOVED (in retrospect, given that the first Eurovision I was on the planet for was in 1992) to have seen ‘Friday On My Mind’ hit the contest too. Great choice, my friend.
‘They heartily cheered Forbes, for Gawd’s sake!’…*snickers*. ‘Rio’ another nod-worthy pick. I reckon it may have hit the heights of the top five, with zero chance of finishing (as Lynsey and Mike would have said) rock bottom, given the entries put forward by Austria and (your favourite, I assume?) Sweden that year.
You couldn’t get more Aussie than ‘Down Under’, could you (even though our man Colin is really Scotland’s man). Although…I am all for us putting out stamp on the ESC, but if I ever did/do hear a Vegemite reference in one of our entries, I may have to do something drastic.
One can only dream of Kylie elbowing Carola and Amina out of the way to claim that 1991 victory! I’m actually not a big fan of hers, and I wouldn’t be thrilled to see her represent us nowadays, but vintage Kylie is far more appealing.
Thank YOU for fantasising with me. It’s good to know I’m not the only one investing valuable time and thought on stuff like this!
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