Let's go to Hawaii!

We've had some beautiful weather in the UK recently, and I'm totally in the mood for summer. Summer is a season that often bypasses us in rainy NW Europe, so this prolonged spell of loveliness (15 days and counting) makes me think of Greece.

I've been posting Greek summer songs on my FB account and this one has had the most interest, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's just a silly song (don't expect any meaningful lyrics) but the beat is nice, the video is funny and the lady who sings it has an amazing voice. It's actually a cover of reggae song It's a Pity, sang by Tanya Stephens. The title of the Greek version is "Pame Havai" or Let's go to Hawaii.



A friend asked me to translate the lyrics for her, so here they are, alongside "phonetic" Greek:

Well come, ride the bike / lipon ela sti mixani aneva
let's go to Hawaii with one tyre / pame Havai me mia roda
If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono min katsoume allo spiti

If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono mi minoume allo spiti

Errands, bills, work / treksimo logariasmoi kai doulia
stress, inflation, loans, borrowed money / anhos,akrivia,hrei,danika
the tram is always crowded / pantote sinostismos mes to tram
and the mobile ringing all the time / ke panta eki to kinito htipa
Cooking in the morning / na magirepsis to proi
hanging out the washing / naplosis oti exi plithi
ironing, tidying up, hoovering before he gets home / na siderosis,na mazepsis,na skoupisis prin na 'rthi
then we go to the market, off to pay the bills, phone, water, electricity / meta na pame sti laiki ki epita OTE, nero, DEI gia na pliroso
Give me a break! (sung in English)

If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono min katsoume allo spiti
If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono mi minoume allo spiti

I want walks, travel, sweets and nice food / thelo voltes, taksidia, glika, fagita
I want to lie face down on the sand / na ksaplosoume mproumita stin ammoudia
I want to light a fire on the beach / thelo sti paralia na anapso fotia
I want to swim for hours in shallow or deep waters / kolimbi oron sta rhxa i sta vathia
I want to tan and stay tanned forever / thelo na mavriso ke na mino etsi panta
I want to dance the lambada with Enrique Inglesias / me ton Enrique Inglesias na horepso labamba
I want to grab the microphone from a music band / n' arpakso to mikrofono apo mia mpanta
and scream "God, Amen" / ke na fonakso Thee mou Amin

Well come, hop on the bike / lipon ela sti mixani aneva
let's go to Hawaii with one tyre / pame Havai me mia roda

I bought a lilo and another couple of swimsuits / pira thalassio stroma, dio-tria magio akoma
Armbands and beach towels in beautiful colours / bratsakia ke petsetes me oraio xroma
I've even bought flippers / ama thes eho ke vatrahopedila akoma
and high factor sunscreen / me trianta dikti prostasias krema gia to soma
I don't know what else I need to buy / de ksero akrivos ti allo tha prepi na paro
but I've run out of cash / afou emeina me adia tsepi
I go to the ATM to see if I can get money out / stamato kai sti trapeza na do an ehi lefta
but I don't have the PIN number / ma ksehasa to pin
Thoma, are you there? I'm calling (your mobile) but it's engaged / Thoma ise spiti? giati se perno kai milai
If we go to Hawaii after all / an telika tha pame sti Havai
you need to bring money with you / tote pare lefta ap'to spiti

Thoma, are you there? I'm calling (your mobile) but it's engaged / Thoma ise spiti? giati se perno kai milai
If we go to Hawaii after all / an telika tha pame sti Havai
you need to bring money with you / pare ki esi lefta ap'to spiti

Hawaii is considered the top exotic destination for Greek people of my generation: it's got long sandy beaches and palm trees and is far enough to remain a dream for most of us. Personally I blame Hawaii 5-0 for this. It's the first American show I watched and it's certainly left its mark.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song. If not the lyrics, at least the music!

Satellite

It's been almost a week since this year's Eurovision final took place, so this is old news, but I couldn't not have a post dedicated to the winning song. The title is Satellite and it was sang by Lena Meyer-Landrut for Germany. The last time Germany came first was in 1982 and the last time they finished in the top 10 was in 2004, so it was a much awaited win.



Lena seems pretty crazy, but I like the song. It's got a great beat and a catchy refrain. I'm sure it will be a big hit in the summer clubs all over Europe. It's already on my iPod playlists.

Of the countries I mentioned in last week's Eurovision post, Armenia finished in 7th place with 141 points, Greece finished 8th with 140 points, and the UK sadly finished 25th with just 10 points.

Opa!

Yes, it's Eurovision time again. I've not been paying much attention this year, mainly because I've been working for the last couple of weeks and I've also had a couple of busy weekends with guests, which have meant more cleaning, cooking and going out than usual. So this post is more of a reminder for me than anything else, but I also thought you might want to see the Greek song being performed - it's a scream!

The countries that are competing in tonight's final are:

Azerbaijan
Spain
Norway
Moldova
Cyprus
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Belgium
Serbia
Belarus
Ireland
Greece
United Kingdom
Georgia
Turkey
Albania
Iceland
Ukraine
France
Romania
Russia
Armenia
Germany
Portugal
Israel
Denmark

The competition is taking place in Oslo, as Norway were last year's winners.

The UK will be represented by a fairly nondescript song called That Sounds Good To Me (wishful thinking or simply aspirational?) performed by a boy barely out of school - or perhaps I'm getting older. Anyway, this is the video for anyone who's interested.



Greece's song couldn't be more different. Like it or not, nondescript it ain't. Plus the singer is my age, so I don't feel like a granny when I sing along to it.



I have no idea who's the favourite to win (personally, I favour France's Allez Olla Olé) but my prize for weirdest lyrics goes to Armenia's Apricot Stone.



I have more guests arriving tonight, so not sure when I'll next get time to post. In the meantime, enjoy the music and share the moment!

Fairytale

Well, obviously, anyone remotely interested in the result will already know that Alexander Rybak won the 54th Eurovision song contest for Norway, but I figured it deserved a mention on the blog too. The song is pleasant enough, with a nice beat that makes you want to jump up and dance, and was supported on stage by two blonde Norwegian backing singers (female, of course) and Frikar's impressive acrobatic choreography. Not sure all this justifies the landslide victory it got, but hey, that's what marketing's for, eh?



As for the rest of the participants, this is a sample of what was on offer:

The biggest WOW moment of the evening was Dita von Teese's appearance alongside Oscar Loya who sang Miss Kiss Kiss Bang for Germany. I mean, just look at that waist!! Apparently, Dita's costume on the night was slightly more demure than her outfit at the dress rehearsal after she was reportedly told to cover up by the EBU, which runs Eurovision, because it was unsuitable for a family audience.

Patricia Kaas, one of the most successful French-speaking singers in the world, represented France, and gave us a glimpse of what Eurovision used to be like.

Estonia's was one of the best songs of the competition, and deserved better than 6th place. Beautiful staging too, with no gimmicks.

Very unlike their neighbouring Ukraine, who have a reputation for going completely mad on stage - year after year.

Ditto Azerbaijan, who came 3rd with a very energetic tune sung by AySel & Arash.

Denmark's song was written by Ronan Keating and sung by a Ronan Keating look-and-sound-alike. Spooky.

Armenia was one of the countries that embraced the ethnic look. Apparently, singers Inga & Anush are often mistaken for twins. I wonder why.

Malta was once again represented by Chiara. Beautiful voice, but the song was fairly nondescript and didn't do well.

Iceland on the other hand, did really well with a beautiful ballad sang by the beautiful Yohanna with the beautiful 80's bridesmaid's dress. Disney princesses eat your hearts out.

Sweden took a risk that didn't quite pay off with opera singer Malena Ernman. A beautiful song and fab staging, it deserved to do better than it did.

Last but not least, our very own Jade Ewen belts it out while Andrew Lloyd Webber looks on in admiration (or perhaps it's a side effect of the botox).

The end result looked like this:

1. Norway
2. Iceland
3. Azerbaijan
4. Turkey
5. United Kingdom (near the top at last)
6. Estonia
7. Greece (go Sakis!)
8. France
9. Bosnia & Herzegovina
10. Armenia
11. Russia
12. Ukraine
13. Denmark
14. Moldova
15. Portugal
16. Israel
17. Albania
18. Croatia
19. Romania
20. Germany
21. Sweden
22. Malta
23. Lithuania
24. Spain
25. Finland

Next stop Oslo or Bergen, this time next year!

Eurovision is upon us

Yep, it's that time of year again. The two semi-finals took place earlier this week, and we now know the 20 countries (Greece amongst them - yey!) that will join the "Big 4" and hosts Russia at the final. Later tonight, an estimated 105 million viewers will tune in to watch and vote for their favourite act. Not bad going for a lightweight competition that's been taking place for over 50 years already.


I'm very excited about the Greek entry this year. Sakis Rouvas is well known and much loved in Greece, a great performer and easy on the eye too. My personal claim to fame is that my friend Alex used to go to school with Sakis back in Corfu. I know it's not much, but hey, it's better than the six degrees of separation, and way better than anything my friends can claim (well, apart from Georgia, but she doesn't count as she works in the music industry and has an unfair advantage).

The countries participating in this year's final are: Lithuania, Israel, France, Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, Iceland, Greece, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Malta, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Turkey, Albania, Norway, Ukraine, Romania, UK, Finland and Spain. Last year the winner was Russia (also this year's host - I bet they're gutted about their bad timing, economic crisis and all), and before that it was Serbia, Finland, Greece, Ukraine, Turkey and so on. Seems like the winners come from all over Europe, despite accusations of "political voting" - made primarily, but not exclusively, by the Big Four, who effectively buy their way into the final every year. Ahem.

Still, this year will be different, as each country's public vote will be moderated by a jury vote. We'll know the new system has worked when France comes first. OK, that was a joke. If France wins I'll eat my hat. Norway is supposed to be this year's hot favourite. The song isn't quite my cup of tea, but to be honest, in the current economic climate, it's only fair that a rich country wins. I reckon they're in with a chance too - their song is upbeat and its placement at the final should work in their favour. I personally quite like Denmark and Estonia, and Sweden is fast growing on me too.

But most of all, I like Sakis. Please forgive the shameless plug. I draw the line at publishing his semi-nude (very artistic) photos that my friend Kathy mailed me the other day, so count your blessings.



Good luck to all the participating countries and may the best man (or, indeed, woman) win!

Random thoughts on the Eurovision final

It's already been 111 hours since the Eurovision final (I kid you not, there's a clock on the official website that counts down as well as up), so here is my long-awaited summary.

Overall impression: Good fun, good songs, likable presenters. I've been fond of Željko Joksimović ever since he sang Lane Moje for Serbia & Montenegro back in 2004, so it was nice to see more of him.

The new logo's ace, and the country postcard idea was good, but I found some of the spots that introduced each country a bit bizarre. I guess doing 43 different short films isn't an easy task, but hey, why not just show us snippets of Serbia or something? Anyway, I could live with the postcards, but the one thing I *really* hated were the long camera shots, as it was too easy to lose the singers in the middle of the oddly-shaped, multi-coloured stage. Bring back the zoom lens, that's that I say.

Now on to the performances, a few words about each country.

Romania: I liked the song, it was well performed, but on the day it didn't stand out. The singers did well, but this year just wasn't a good year for old-fashioned ballads. One more thing: jeans with smart jackets are soooo passé.

UK: A funky song that would have done better if it hadn't appeared in the dreaded second place, if it looked more energetic on stage (a dance song with no dancers - what were they thinking?!) and if the UK had a few more neighbours who were prepared to vote for us. As it is, even Ireland didn't give it 12 points, so can we really expect anyone else to?

BTW we love San Marino :-)

Albania: Nice song, performed well by a charming young lady with a good voice, but again, a ballad. Nothing too memorable about it.

Germany: This one was way too memorable for the wrong reasons. The song sounded OK on the CD, but the performance on the day was atrocious. If one song truly deserved nul points, this was it.

Armenia: Qele, qele! Nice beat with eastern influences and a catchy refrain. I wasn't surprised it made the Top 10.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Sounded fantastic with eyes closed, but the presentation was a bit in-your-face. Still, it was pretty entertaining and as jokey entries go, much better than Estonia or Ireland, both of which bombed out of the semis.

Israel: I liked it, it was one of the better ballads (the other one being Serbia's). Not good enough to win, but a very presentable entry, memorable and without gimmicks (although you could hardly fail to notice the singer's well formed biceps - ahem).

Finland: Not a bad performance, but hard rock really isn't Eurovision. Just because Lordi won once, that's no excuse to put shirtless men with long hair on stage.

Croatia: A rather old-fashioned song which hadn't particularly impressed me in the semis, but I warmed to it in the end. Not enough to vote for it, mind.

Poland: This may have been a great song and a beautiful performance, however the only thing that caught my attention was the singer's orange tan and the contrast with the turquoise dress. I was mesmerised by it, and not in a good way either. I guess others must have thought the same, as Poland finished last despite having lots of neighbours.

Iceland: That was fun to watch. It was never going to make the Top 10, even with heaps of help from the Scandinavian bloc, but it was lively, energetic and pleasant to the ear. High feel-good factor.

Turkey: I didn't like it. Two things I found irritating: the Turkish lyrics and the singer's perfectly shaped eyebrows. Sorry, it just was too much for me.

Portugal: Great song, way too much eye liner. Not one of my favourites.

Latvia: I liked this one. The song was pretty crap if truth be told, but it was performed with brio and was easy to sing along to. Lots of energy on stage and I *am* partial to pirates, but even I can see that it probably did better than it deserved.

Sweden: Loved the song although in the end it didn't stand out and was saved from last place by Sweden's neighbours and ...Malta, who must have bizarre musical tastes (didn't they give 12 points to Scooch last year?)

Denmark: Another feel-good song from the Scandinavians, performed well but not brilliant enough to make the Top 10.

Georgia: This was quirky and I liked it. I actually thought it might make the Top 5, but in the end narrowly missed the Top 10. I guess the weird dance routines didn't help. Or perhaps political angst doesn't sell.

Ukraine: I loved this one, although really it was a bit too slutty for my taste. The tipping back of the head was a nice touch. Great staging.

France: I thought this would be awful, but in the end I found it hilarious. Not sure this was the intention of the songwriter, but still.

Azerbaijan: I thought this would be awful too, and it was. No matter how many times I've listened to it, I can't make myself like it. Seeing it on stage didn't help. Angels with shrieking voices and devils with red eyes? Not my cuppa, thanks.

Greece: OK, so I *am* biased, but I thought it was a fab performance by Kalomira. The song was very Eurovision - nice beat, lots of energetic dancing with an ethnic twist, and a long haired female singer with sparky eyes and a decent voice. OK, so we've seen it all before with Helena Paparizou, but hey, this isn't an eccentricity contest and if you have the winning formula... why look elsewhere?

Spain: Maybe it was funny if you could understand the lyrics. I couldn't.

Serbia: Wow! These guys sure can do ballads. Very impressive. Not at all surprised to find it was composed by Joksimović. The guy is a genious.

Russia: Dima Bilan should have won two years ago in Athens, when he had a much better song (he finished second to Finland's Lordi). Still, this year's song wasn't bad, and Bilan is a good performer and easy on the eye. Bringing Plushenko with him on stage certainly added to the "wow" factor - and I bet it got him a few extra votes. This was the first Eurovision win for Russia, and for me at least it's thumbs up, even though I didn't vote for them.

Norway: Yet another feel-good song from Scandinavia, this one was greatly helped by the four leggy blondes in matching blue outfits, and most importantly by competing last on the night. I dare say, if it had competed second it wouldn't have done anywhere near as well, but as it was, it came 5th. Not a bad result for Norway, which has finished last no less than 10 times so far and was the first country ever to get the dreaded nul points.

Interval act: I expected to see Goran Bregovic and the Serbians didn't disappoint me. It wasn't Ederlezi but still.

Voting: Fairly predictable in the sense that neighbours supported neighbours, Malta voted all over the place, and ultimately the best songs did well in the final line up. It's always entertaining to try and guess where each country's coveted 12 points will go, and although I was very disappointed with Andy's 14 point total, I was really pleased with Kalomira's massive 218 :-D

The end result looked like this:

1. Russia
2. Ukraine
3. Greece (yey!!!)
4. Armenia
5. Norway
6. Serbia
7. Turkey
8. Azerbaijan
9. Israel
10. Bosnia & Herzegovina
11. Georgia
12. Latvia
13. Portugal
14. Iceland
15. Denmark
16. Spain
17. Albania
18. Sweden
19. France
20. Romania
21. Croatia
22. Finland
23. Germany
24. Poland
25. United Kingdom (sniff)

Dima Bilan is currently in Oslo, Norway on his Eurovision Winner's Tour. He will arrive in London on Saturday 31 May and will perform at trendy night club Scala, 275-277 Pentoville Road, N1 alongside Bucks Fizz, the UK winners from 1981. DJ Dave Simmons will mix songs from other Eurovision entrants.

Andy Abraham's new CD, titled Even If, will be released on Monday 2 June.

Roll on 2009, Moscow here we come!

And the winner is...

It's the Eurovision final!

Across Europe and the world an estimated 100 million people will be getting together with their friends tonight for a night of music and light entertainment. 25 countries are taking part in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest and the running order is as follows:

Romania
UK
Albania
Germany
Armenia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Israel
Finland
Croatia
Poland
Iceland
Turkey
Portugal
Latvia
Sweden
Denmark
Georgia
Ukraine
France
Azerbaijan
Greece
Spain
Serbia
Russia
Norway

It's hard to decide who my favourites are this year (well, apart from Greece). I love the Swedish entry, as well as the Russian one, and Portugal and Armenia are pretty good too. Choices, choices!

Ireland sent Dustin the Turkey who failed to impress at the semis, so the country who's won Eurovision more times than anyone else, won't be competing at this year's final and a good thing it is too - I hated that song (I'm using the word loosely).

The UK is participating with a singer who can sing and a song that is passable at worst. A huge improvement over the last few years by anyone's standards.

As for France, they're singing in English for maybe the first time ever. Amazing or what?!

If you're a Eurovision enthusiast (don't be afraid to admit it, guys), the Eurovision blog, a blog "100% dedicated to Eurovision" is the place to go for detailed reviews and predictions.

For the rest of you, enjoy your Saturdays/Sundays, whether you spend them at a Eurovision party or not.

May the best song win!

Go Kalomira!

It's official - Greece is through to the Eurovision final, along with Romania, Israel, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Finland and Norway.

I'm soooo pleased with the result, especially as Greece was the first to be announced and I didn't have to go through too much agony.

Μπράβο Καλομοιράκι!!! Καλή επιτυχία στον τελικό!

My secret combination

All self-respecting Greeks have one main topic of conversation these days: the upcoming selection of a song to represent the country at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place in Belgrade, Serbia, on 24 May. Eurovision has always been popular in Greece, more so since a recent string of Top 10 successes, not to mention winning 1st prize in 2005 with Helena Paparizou's auspiciously named Number 1, so the selection of a worthy performer attracts heated debates online, in the news and amongst friends.

There are three hopefuls at the moment, and I've already made up my mind who I'd like to go through to the semi-finals. Her name's Kalomoira, she's very very sweet, has a great voice and reminds me of my best friend from high school who I had a bit of a teenage crush on. The song's not bad either - it's a catchy, upbeat tune and with the right choreography it could do well. You can check it out here:



In the meantime, Ireland, seven times Eurovision winners but of little recent success, are considering sending Dustin the Turkey to Belgrade this year. There are humans too competing at the Irish final, so we won't know for sure if it's going to be the bird until 23 February.

I wonder whether the UK (also a flop in recent years) will be sending Winnie the Pooh. That'll be one to watch.

A radio station with a difference

Pandora Radio is an internet-based website that plays music it thinks you'll love. You input your favourite track/album/artist and it comes back with other suggestions in the same vein. It's based on the Music Genome Project, allegedly the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Once you put in your choice, Pandora scans its world of analyzed music to find songs with musical similarities (in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, singing and vocal harmony) to your choice.

I put in "Paul Simon" and so far I got two songs by Paul Simon, as well as Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan and Afro Celt Sound System.

Pandora streams music at 128 kbps. You need a broadband connection (DSL or Cable) of at least 150 kbps, and a browser like IE or Firefox. You also need a US Zip Code because their music licence requires listeners to be United States residents, but they're trying to make it available worldwide. Until then, you can have a go to see how it works by clicking on the link above.

Happy listening!

And the winner is...

The 52nd Eurovision Song Contest, held in Helsinki, Finland, is now over. This year's winner is Marija Serifovic from Serbia, who sang Molitva (Prayer), a truly beautiful love song. It was a powerful performance on the night, low on gimmicks and sang entirely in Serbian - a rarity these days when most countries opt for the safety net of English lyrics. Marija proved that Eurovision isn't just about high impact dance routines and glamorous outfits, and that a well-sung ballad can reach the top. I'm delighted with the result, as Molitva was one of my favourite songs this year.

Serbia were given the sought-after douze points by:

Austria

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Croatia

Finland

FYROM

Hungary

Montenegro

Slovenia

Switzerland

It was also voted by every other country, except Andorra, Estonia, Lithuania and Turkey, totalling 268 points.

Congratulations, Marija! Well done, Serbia!

Belgrade here we come :-)

This is the actual performance from the night:

Ukraine came second with 235 points and a performace which couldn't be further removed from Serbia's if they tried. Comes to show that there's room for everyone on Eurovision ;-)

Eurovision funnies

Over the last week or so, the Great British public have discovered two things:

1. The Eurovision song contest is round the corner
and
2. The British entry sucks

However, not everyone has grasped both points - there are some who think that if we end up with nul points on Saturday, it will be because of the war in Iraq, or because no one likes us, or in fact any other number of reasons, none of which have anything to do with the quality (and I use the word loosely) of our song.

I kid you not. Here's what I read in the London Paper this afternoon:

“Some countries vote for each other out of loyalty rather than the merits of a song, with Cyprus and Greece being the obvious example. The smaller countries like to gang up on bigger countries like Britain. They don’t seem to want to hand a musical accolade to a country which has a nuclear arsenal and the world’s best city – London.”

So the reason hardly anyone votes for us these days is because we've got nukes, and also because they're jealous of London (Parisians, eat your hearts out). If it wasn't for that, millions of people across the Continent would be admitting that Flying The Flag is God's gift to music - worth a musical accolade, no less.

I wonder whether the person who made this statement has actually seen the song performed. I think not.

At least the paper was free. I'd be horrified if I'd paid 40p to read *that* kind of twaddle.

Yassou Maria

Last year's winners - Lordi from Finland

May is Eurovision month - yay yay yay! There are only nine days to go before the semi final, and eleven before the final on May 12th in Helsinki, Finland, and I can't wait!

Last year 7 of us went to Athens and watched the final live. It was an amazing experience, not least because we were there for five days and spent practically every one of them on the beach. This year I'm having a Eurovision party at home. Not as much fun, but it'll have to do, as no one fancied Helsinki - with temperatures topping 7 C at the moment, and flights costing an arm and a leg, I can't say I blame them. On the plus side, Loops promised to make a Baileys cheesecake for the party, so that's one yummy thing to look forward to.

I just ordered the Eurovision CD from Amazon, so I've not listened to the songs yet, but since Sarbel, who's singing this year's Greek entry, is one of my favourite singers, I hope you'll forgive me the shameless plug. The song's not half bad, I hope those of you who click play will enjoy listening (and maybe even dancing) to it.

Nights full of light

I love this song. And I like it better in Italian.

Notte di luce
Una notte infinita
Una lettera che
Non sara mai spedita
Cos'e la realta
Non lo so piu
Ad occhi aperti
Il mio sogno sei tu

Io ti amo
Si, ti amo
Quanto ti amo

Guardo la gente
Mano per mano
Nessuno capisce
Quello che provo
Respiro il silencio
Dei tuoi pensieri
Un giorno sarai
Tutto quello che speri

Io ti amo
Si, ti amo
Quanto ti amo

Nul points, again...

The Great British public have decided. Once again, we've done our best to eliminate any act that would have the faintest hope of success in the Eurovision Song Contest. Let's hope the political voting doesn't let us down now - can you imagine if this entry came back with any points at all? Musicians around the country would give up making music and take up crocheting instead.

(I know I would if I was a musician. Maybe not crocheting though. Embroidery would be more my thing.)

P.S. Anyone remember Slovenia's Transvestite Sisters from the 2002 contest? We can't even claim points for originality.

P.P.S. This is the song. Listen at your peril.

A jukebox just a click away

I read about this music site in Gigi's blog and thought I'd share it with you.

Whether you're after a trip down memory lane or just looking to listen to some good pop music, you'll enjoy visiting the site.

NB: Works best for the over 30's.

Pop! Goes My Heart

I found the video clip from Pop! Goes My Heart on YouTube. Check out those hip movements ;-)

The clip is the opening sequence of the film Music & Lyrics. The rest of the film is set in the present day.