# 36 Tomorrow I Go

As the Thoroughly Good Eurovision bus makes its long and windy journey through the myriad of offerings, there are one or two things are slowly becoming clear to me. I am beginning to enjoy this massive process rather more than I thought I would. And I'm beginning to remember useless facts, useless scores and random song titles. I am, at last, embracing the inner geek.

Take Albania's efforts, for example. I know little about Albania and can recall even less about the last few years output from the Eurovision machine. That's why listening to some of the songs from the Thoroughly Good thirties I've found myself pleasantly reacquainted with some forgotten joys. Sure, they probably won't meet the exacting standards of some who read and consume this (there's only a handful - don't be misled) but some of these numbers do strike up some interesting memories.

Not so with this one. I don't really recall Albania's entry from 2005, quite possibly because it was lost in what I imagine I regarded back then as a sea of quite similar sounding tracks.

Whilst "Tomorrow I Go" starts off pretty well (in my book at least), it's not long before my attention is waning. The melody doesn't hold up against the whistling criteria I tested it against this afternoon (it just sounds crap when I whistle it - even the builders on the second floor of the office gave me funny looks when I passed them) and it's clear that gorgeous singer Ledina Celo struggles to deliver a strong enough performance.

But there's one thing which sticks in my mind the most about this little parade and that is the inexplicably dull and ultimately pointless choreography. I can forgive the balloon pants passing as ethnic dress but why on earth have six dancers on stage leaping around with fake violins ? It just don't work love. Sorry.

Ultimately however, every time I listen to the song (don't get me wrong, I have watched this video a few times as well) it's also painfully close to My Number One from Helena Paparizou which as we all know now won for Greece the same year.

Poor old Ledina never stood a chance. No surprises she came 16th with a grand total of 53 points. Still, she could have done worse. She could have come lower than the UK that year. But let's not go there. At least, not yet.

Final place: 16/24
Final score: 53

# 32 Boonika Bate Doba

Talkon's correct. Moldova does have an impressive past when it comes to Eurovision (or at least their first contribution stands head and shoulders above the rest at least) as this, their debut performance in 2005 clearly demonstrates.

Boonika Bate Doba - translated as "Grandmama beats the drum"- is edgy and fresh and sufficiently different from anything else heard in the contest without alienating.

In fact, listening to this after a great deal of Europop makes me feel young, hip and trendy. Imagine the kudos at parties when people say "Who's your favourite band?" "Oh," I'd reply, "Zdob Si Zdub from Moldova. They're a fusion of hip-hop, rock and traditional Romanian music". People would be impressed, I'm certain of it.

The band, Zdob Si Zdub, had an impressive pedigree. Ten years playing together including tours all over eastern Europe as well as Germany and the Netherlands. This bunch were a real band and as a result looked like a real band on stage. It comes across in the performance, something which makes their sixth place in the final well-deserved.

Every now and again good stuff seaps through the Eurovision net. This is one of them. Love it. Zdob Si Zdub's website is pretty good too.

Final placing: 6/24
Final score: 148

# 5 My number one

Yet another confession to be made with this particular Eurovision song, one which won for Greece in 2005. It wasn't until a few days ago I discovered that Helen Paparizou actually sang for Greece in 2001. That lack of simple knowledge is really quite shameful. (Listen out for the hoards of "serious" Eurovision fans chase after me with rusty spears as a result.)

This is not the only confession here. The truth is that after having completed what is a very rigorous testing procedure where this particular song is concerned, I have to say that this isn't a song I'd necessarily want to hear again.

The song does tick some good Eurovision boxes however. The verse has an ethnic feel to it - there was a time when the aim of the contest was for countries to submit songs to the final which represented their cultural identity. The choreography on stage is considerably tighter than in the 2001 show and Helena shows the performance experience she's obviously gained over the years. How anyone is able to deliver a song powerfully and confidently like she does at the same time as leaping around the stage is quite impressive.

In those respects it's not surprising that Greece won with the song they did. Here was a plausible television act with a tub-thumping beat representing a country which was long overdue for a win. Who could deny Greece a win? No, not even me. I just don't think I particularly want to hear the song again.