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Turkey to be Ireland's Eurovision entry
It's either an act of bravado, or - ahem - simply giving Eurovision the bird, but Ireland looks intent on sending a singing turkey to this year's Eurovision. An actual puppet on a string.
A delightful piece of whimsy for a knockabout competition, you might think. Not, apparently, if you're a songwriter in Ireland. To them, it's as welcome as a turkey twizzler in a health farm:
Frank McNamara, who wrote two Eurovision winners, asked whether RTE, the state broadcaster that selected the six acts, was “giving two fingers” to Irish songwriters. “I think it is absolutely disgraceful,” he said.
Shay Healy, who wrote Johnny Logan’s Eurovision hit What’s Another Year?, wondered “how any bunch of grown-ups could come up with this as a solution”. And Phil Coulter thought that Eurovision was going “down the tubes”.
Shay Healy, who wrote Johnny Logan’s Eurovision hit What’s Another Year?, wondered “how any bunch of grown-ups could come up with this as a solution”. And Phil Coulter thought that Eurovision was going “down the tubes”.
Some observers might wonder if there's very much distance between Johnny Logan and a turkey puppet. The anger of the songwriter might be less about Eurovision and more because Dustin The Turkey's records tend to be more popular than the music they write. After all, it's not like RTE are sending Scooch, is it?
11 comments:
Leave dustin alone. he's had 7 no.1 records in ireland- as many as Britney or Madonna.
he's well qualified.
All Together Now...
"My lovely horse running through the field,
Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the wind?
I want to shower you with sugarlumps,
And ride you over fences,
Polish your hooves every single day,
And bring you to the horse dentist,
My lovely horse,
You're a pony no more,
Running around with a man on your back,
Like a train in the night,
Like a train in the night."
Sorry.
I was hoping someone would mention My Lovely Horse, because then I could be unnecessarily smug and mention that the voice of Dustin appeared in Father Ted about two episodes before.
I've often thought that Neil Hannon would make a decent fist of the Eurovision song
Dustin for Eurovisionand we might actually win!
With all the hard working, talented musicians in this country, this is what we come up with!
what did you think of the EuroTurkeyVision? And what did you think of the fact that two of the songs shown in the Irish finals were written by non-Irish - one was a slovak? I didn't think that Irish songwriters would be competing with the rest of Europe until we got to the eurovision! Now even the limited six Irish national places can be taken up by foreigners? Even if such ones get through (which I feel is unlikely because their songs are woeful - well they sound like all those songs that have failed to win for those countries over the years) - would they truly be a representative of what IRELAND has to offer by way of songwriting? Seems ridiculous to me.
I think that RTE have totally lost the plot. In a total panic to win at any cost they have lost all integrity and try in a vain attempt to 'copy' what the rest of europe are doing, trying to guess what fad or querty dress will win. When what we should be doing is exporting GOOD QUALITY MUSIC, something to be proud of regardless of whether the Eurovision competition is going down the toilet. In this way when people look back on the Eurvision they would not be able to say that Ireland added to the s**t that made the Eurovision go down the toilet. But no, they have no sense of decency and pride and instead Ireland will now be the butt of turkey jokes for generations where before it was respected world wide as a breading ground for art and music.
It is not fair to say 'well the people voted for the turkey'. RTE should never have allowed this act to be voted on. It should never have appeared in the final six. Why? because every boozed up yob watching the programme from the pub, with no interest in the Eurovision except to see it turn into a bigger circus, would be on the phone like a light to make sure this animal is another addition to that circus. They did not vote for a song to represent Ireland. They voted for the novelty of ruining the competition by reducing it to farce. And RTE is to blame for giving them a vehicle.
Sad to say too, that my respect for RTE is now so low that I very much doubt they tallied ANY votes from the public (none were revealed) and that they simply decided from the outset that their RTE employee would be sent to Serbia.
It used to be said in recent years (even immortalised on Father Ted) that RTE purposely sent bad acts so as to lose and not have the expense of staging the show. Now it appears they not only want to lose but destroy the whole competition so that the public will not be bothered even if they don't enter the competition again! They are going for a full wipe-out. Seriously though, are we going to hear in years to come that the staff in RTE were on crack cocaine while making these ludicrous decisions?
Anonymous... you know it's a bit of fun, don't you?
You remember fun, surely?
==
Seriously though, are we going to hear in years to come that the staff in RTE were on crack cocaine while making these ludicrous decisions?
==
Yes, yes, you will. They're all on it. Every last one of them.
I'd have imagined that anybody enterring a supposedly "serious" entrant would be seen as more laughable than someone enterring a turkey puppet.
All that i can say is that i am ashamed to call myself Irish.
Just because we haven't done well for the last few years doesn't mean we should reduce ourselves to this...
When i was growing up i was always told "If at first you dont succeed, try again..." I was never told if you dont succeed make a complete fool of yourself in front of the world...
Shame on you Ireland...
(And don't forget... Dustin was booed off stage after his "winning performance"...)
I was never told if you dont succeed make a complete fool of yourself in front of the world...
..or "don't take yourself so damn seriously" either, apparently.
Went to Times Online to see what the masses out there think, particularly liked this comment: "[Dustin's] entry treats the Eurovision with as much respect as it deserves". Exactly. Go Ireland!
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