# 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.

# 3 Die for You

Die for You featured in the 2001 Eurovision. I didn't actually realise that until only yesterday. Up until that point I'd known Die for You was a Eurovision song (and a surprising one at that) but hadn't known when it featured or who had sung it.

Somewhere after the UK last hosted the Eurovision (back in 1998) and 2002 I lost interest in the Eurovision for some reason. I still recorded it on video, convinced that having a library of videoed contests would prove useful in years to come, but didn't watch a single contest live until 2003.

Consequently Die for You was one of many songs I only heard on audio downloading it from the original Napster service. I did a search for Eurovision. "Antique - Die for You" was one track returned in the search.

It's an unusually satisfying track to listen to. It's flicks all the switches in the space of 3 minutes.

There are still some astonishing clichés in it. The chord progressions in the chorus crop up in lots of different songs and classical music. It’s short hand. Just listen to the instrumental break at the end of the first chorus.

The beat is fast enough to walk quickly to (very useful for listening to when running late for a meeting) which although not a cliché in itself, does afford the composer enough time to run through a couple of verses and choruses before racking up the tension and resolving with a good shameless key change before the end.

I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why I like it, but there’s a hint of the kind of excitement I get whenever I visit a forward thinking European country where the air is fresh and the skies are blue. I don’t quite know how I get that from the song, but I do.

What's surprising for me (having only just watched this video for the first time today) is what the singer went on to do for Greece only a few years later. The comparisons between the two performances are really quite surprising, at least they surprise me at any rate. Maybe I'll make that video the subject for the next post.

Die for You, sung by Antique, came third for Greece in 2001 with 147 points. And no, I don’t know that off the top of my head, I copied it from a book.