Anybody watch this? Unfortunately, I missed it. Waters is the Irish Times journalist guy. It sounds pretty lame so it’ll be a good laugh. I fooking love the Eurovision and The Rose of Tralee.
Song chosen for Ireland’s Eurovision entry
Saturday, 17 February 2007 20:30
The viewing public, voting by phone and text, has chosen a John Waters/ Tommy Moran composition, ‘They can’t stop the Spring’, as Ireland’s entry for the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest.
The song will be performed by traditional music band Dervish in Helsinki in May.
Pat Kenny announced the winner after Dervish performed the four contending songs on the Late Late Show last night.
Mr Waters said the song combined an Irish flavour with a European theme.
'Tommy gave me the melody, and I had this line in an old song which we’d never be able to do anything with, a line from Alexander Dubcek in the Prague Spring in ‘68 when the tanks came in from Moscow into Prague and the students came out and threw the flowers.’
'Dubcek said: ‘They may crush the flowers, but they’ll never stop the Spring, you can’t stop the Spring’.
‘And that line I mean it’s just kept coming back to me and particularly now in Ireland you know we’ve got so many people from Eastern Europe, Czechs and Poles and Latvians - it’s about the new Ireland as well,’ Mr Waters said.
I’ve heard it alright - it’s not top drawer yet but there’s plenty of time before the contest itself for Dervish to give it their own spin and feel. To be fair they had to invest equal time (i.e. feck all) in each of the 4 songs before Friday night’s competition so there’s plenty of room for improvement.
John Waters is a first grade gobshite but I’ll be supporting him all the way in Helsinki.
The Belrussian entry was on the Late Late on Friday as well - very good effort from them. Loud, vibrant, catchy… I think we should be playing up the Irishness of Dervish’s contribution in order to compete with the more pop-sounding Eastern Europeans.
It was obvious that You’re A Star didn’t work with the Micky Harte/McCauls shambles. Just standing on stage with no consideration given to the whole performance package while the Eastern Europeans had amazing energy, vibrancy and costumes.
Brian Kennedy was an improvement last year as he’s a consumate professsional but a band like Dervish with their different instruments and stage presence and typically Irish sound means that I’m quietly confident.
I’m undoubtedly more confident this year than in any recent contest. I think our best chance of winning at this stage is to get a draw in the middle of the order surrounded by rousing pop anthems with fireworks displays and everything, then just tone it down with something a little more traditional.
[quote=therock67 ]
I’ve heard it alright - it’s not top drawer yet but there’s plenty of time before the contest itself for Dervish to give it their own spin and feel.[/quote]
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. They now have the bones of 3 months to make the song their own. The addition of a rousing instrumental part in the middle or even an energetic intro, outro or something could really swing the tide in our favour.
It might also be an idea to head on a promotional tour before the event to whip up some support abroad.
Only 2 weeks to go now folks. Like the Ryder Cup this will be epic. Anyone got any team news from the other countries? There was a huge row in Britain afaik. Wogan called out the wrong winner initially when he received the result of the phone vote in his ear piece.
Not heard many updates - it’s a real low-key build up but I reckon it’s just about to take off. I know the Brits had a big row over backing singers. The winning entry had people on stage half miming (which is not allowed) while the real singing was coming from people singing backstage into live microphones.
I heard the Belarussian entry. It’s decent but nothing too special.
Immense performance by Dervish on the Late Late last night ahead of Helsinki next Saturday. They’ve really worked on the song and it’s a good bit different to the original. I really love the new instrumental part in the middle.
‘They might scare the blackbird, but they cannot stop it sing.
They may steal the honey, but they’ll never steal its sting
They may crush the flowers, trample every living thing.
But they can’t stop the Spring.’
Terrific stuff altogether. There’s going to be a freekick party next Saturday night in a pub venue off Baggot Street in Dublin 4. Bring a pen and paper as we’re going to keep own scores during it.
How Irish is that song, I feel like crawling under a rock and hiding for a while after hearing that song, its cringeworthy. Whatever happened to the rock and roll kids?
I’m in two minds about this. On the one hand it might be a disadvantage to be performing too early and we risk not being fresh in the collective minds of the voters. Equally though we can get in there early and lay down a marker with our unique Irish style before these Eastern Europeans come on with their new fangled costumes and off the wall performances.
Those are certainly the pros and cons of it Bandage.
Looking at it positively though I think we can make the most of our draw. Many viewers (are there any juries out there anymore?) will have made their minds up early on as to who they’re voting for. We can secure first preference votes early in the campaign and if we’re strong enough we should hold onto those voting intentions.
Any odds available? I reckon we’ve a cracking chance. One suggestions for Dervish in the run-up to the main event might be a little work on diction. Sometimes it’s hard to understand exactly what we’re singing but other than that the song is excellent.
That Dervish song is a masterpiece compared to that Ukraine effort. Also I must say the Dervish song doesnt sound too bad without that shiite video. I think the clown with the whistle put me off
Go on Dervish! They wont win as the voting is gone political nowadays but they will give it a go anyway,ya gotta love the lead singer,quote from the late late show:
Pat Kenny:'So how did you feel when you were chosen to represent Ireland this year?
Lead Singer(forget her name):‘Well to be honest Pat it wasnt my dying wish to be going to the eurovision but we’ll go anyway’
;D :o O0