Growing from boyhood to manhood in the United States of America, my exposure to the Eurovision Song Contest was, at best, infrequent.
I was only aware of its existence once a year in the spring when BBC News – yes, I read the BBC News website; some of us Americans do – published articles concerning the winning act. Jamala? Who’s that? Salvador Sobral? Never heard of him. What the hell is a “Måns Zelmerlöw” or a “Netta” and what’s this song “Toy” that people are all worked up about these days? Once those news articles disappeared, so too did my exposure to the contest.
I have had pen friends from all over the world since I was young. One of them, a friendly British chap to whom I still speak today, mentioned Eurovision to me now and then, being a fan himself. I would watch some of the performance videos and appreciate them, but admittedly, my interest level was quite limited. After all, Europe is on the other side of an ocean, I have never been to most of these places, and life here presented me with many other distractions, like domestic news, sports, and entertainment. There was no room in my heart, soul, or psyche for “something else.”
A Spark Is Lit
This changed in 2021. I invited some friends over for a mid-spring swim, as in my part of America, the pool is warm enough to use in May. One of my friends, however, had to get out of the pool in the middle of the afternoon. He pulled out his phone and started streaming the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final from Rotterdam in The Netherlands. Eventually, we would all join him on the patio, watching song after song from his phone. Some songs got my attention, some did not, and while I was not entirely sure what was happening, I started to become invested. Instead of going back in the pool or turning my attention elsewhere, my interest was seeing if my favorite act, Italy, was really going to win. Within an hour, as the tension built during the interval, I had to know. Did Italy do it?
Soon enough, we all knew that they did. I was happy for them, having only heard “Zitti e buoni” once to that point, but could not state in coherent sentences why. I was thrilled with the drama and it felt like a great payoff.
My interest in Eurovision could have ended that day. Instead, I went back and watched the full list of performances from 2021, semifinals and all. By the time 2022 in Milan came, I was ready to stream the first semifinal and counted down the minutes. It was like a dopamine hit that I had to get. When it was done, I wanted more, but I had to wait another two days. Prior to that show, I decided not to spoil myself on any of the songs to, as Frank Costanza said of movies, “go in fresh.” That was my first full Eurovision Song Contest experience, as the EBU nations rallied around Ukraine.
Entering 2023, I did not want to wait until May: I had to hear all the songs before the first show. However, I waited until all the competing songs were announced, and ran through the list from start to finish. Poe Poe Poe. I need to get that green bolero on Amazon. I love that Swedish woman’s nails. (At that point, my knowledge of Eurovision history was still quite narrow, and I did not realize that the Swedish woman with the nails was, in fact, the future Queen of Eurovision.) I geared up for an amazing show in May, and that’s what we got.
Give Me More
So, there I was in the summer of 2023, having to that point watched three Eurovision Song Contests. Over 60 shows preceded it. I then asked myself the question: “…what if I watched all of them? Can I?”
The answer, for the most part, was yes. Some shows, like 1956 and 1964, were lost, but the music itself was preserved. Other issues, like Turkish songs being hidden due to copyright, was another issue I had to navigate. Yet, the path was there.
“What if I watched all of them?”
Me, sometime in 2023
I set out on a summer and autumn journey to watch, absorb, and judge every Eurovision song performed. I even hunted down and adjudicated the Kvalifikacija za Millstreet (Preselection for Millstreet) songs from the first semifinal in 1993. The trek through Eurovision Song Contest history took months. It consumed many of my free moments at home, but there I was, spreadsheet at the ready, taking notes on and grading all 1,684 songs.
Once I finished 2023, polished up all my data, and ranked the songs, there was a great emptiness, as though I had left behind an old friend. A few months later, at the very beginning of 2024, I decided to revamp my scoring so, obviously, I had to watch them all again. This helped me notice details I may have missed the first time, appreciate songs that perhaps I underrated before, or, in a few cases, sandbag some songs, leaving me wondering what I saw in it back in August.
Even if you are a former Eurovision performer reading this article, and yours was one of the songs I dropped a peg (or several), it’s nothing personal. It’s just business, and we’re all friends here. Second, if you performed at Eurovision and you are reading this: I’m honored. I’m not going to ask how you ended up at the Euro Yard, but I’m grateful that you did. The SEO must be working.
With this absorbed knowledge of the Eurovision Song Contest, I needed to do something with it. Here I am, and here is this website, Euro Yard.
By no means do I claim myself as an expert on the contest. I have only been interested for a few years, and many of you have lived through these experiences together. As a relative newcomer, I knew I had a great deal of catching up to do. Perhaps I have done some of it, and for certain, I still have much to learn. Indeed, a key tenet of both self-reflection and watching the Eurovision Song Contest throughout history is the acknowledgment that one does not know everything.
Yet, I know what I like, and experiencing the fullness of this contest over almost seven decades has been an enrichment to my life. There is a great joy about music that has permeated into me. Not only that, but despite having no active ties to any EBU country, I feel their nation’s pride every time their act goes out there. Well, most of the time. Besides, what other event in the world could have me know who the latest Serbian and Finnish pop singers are?
I encourage you to take this Eurovision journey yourself and draw your own conclusions. In the meantime, join me in an examination of mine at the Euro Yard.
