I remember this song well from the 1993 Eurovision. The Croatian band Put gave the audience a stylish performance with their song Don't Ever Cry.
It was terribly simple, terribly sad and terribly hopeful all at the same time. Given events in Croatia at the time, the song's title seemed the complete opposite to how I felt at the end of it.
I was certain it would win when I heard it for the first time a few weeks before. Consequently it's 15th place in the final tally was surprising and disappointing.
2 comments:
Talk about capturing the zeitgeist! It's a brilliant combination of sadness and hope. The way the six of them keep in perfect unity with their movements, down to the final bow, add a sense of unity and personal humility (there are no "stars" in this group) - you feel like it's a newly-born nation completely united in their plight.
And when the girl sings "my Croatian sky" at the end the hairs on the back of my neck never cease to quiver, even 15 years on.
There's a horrible English language version that changes (bizarrely) "Don't Ever Cry" to "Why Should We Cry" and somehow it loses all its power.
No no no, chaps - it's the Bosnian entry from 1993 that for me perfectly captures in musical form the awful events in the Balkans at the time.
This is just a disappointingly dull lullaby, performed by a group of mannequins who come across as stiff as a board. And it set the pattern for a lot of other lacklustre Croatian ballads to follow.
It's only the "My Croatian sky" bit at the end that sounds remotely passionate and involving. Sorry, but this is just not a classic Eurovision entry to me.
Post a Comment