Eurovision

We’re flying the flag all over the world Flying the flag for you
-Scooch, Eurovision Song Contest

Perhaps I was truly ignorant in America, but I had absolutely no idea whatsoever that Europe has a huge annual lieder competition. And by lieder, I mean song (although I think the former would be a great addition for next year)

Indeed, it's the Eurovision Song Contest, and the UK wasn't happy with the results. Here are the rules (if any of the other continents are reading this and want to create their own, they're more than happy to):

1. Countries each submit a song
2. Songs go through process of quarter- and semi-finals
3. Finalists perform in the country of the previous year's winner.

And here are the voting rules:

1. People vote by phone.
2. Each country gives 1-12 points based on phone-ins (points going from 1-7, then 8, 10, and finally 12 points for the countries "winner")
3. No country can vote for itself.
4. Votes are tallied, and winners are announced.

All of this is done with a playful attitude (the translator, Terry Wogan, taking the mic quite often) until the votes are tallied. This is where the true fun stops.

[Divergence: I recall much lampooning on the Daily Show about how countries give up their military wars and substitute them for sports in events like Championships, World Competitions, and the Olympics. Bear this idea in mind.]

The difference between the final scores was staggering: Serbia - 208, Ireland - 5. UK came second to last with 19 points (7 from Ireland, 12 from Malta), still under 10% of the winner. There has been a declaration of bias: indeed, it was uncanny that all the Eastern European countries voted for each other, all the Scandanavian countries voted for each other, all the Baltic countries voted for each other. What a coincidence!

Of course, as much as I agree with this vision of the contest (and Western Europe's lofty stance of voting for the best song), I couldn't help but notice two things:

1. UK's only two sets of points came from Ireland and Malta, so we would have been up a creek without their "friendly" votes.
2. Without stepping on too many toes (well, here goes the neighborhood), the UK song seemed a bit...nationalistic.

I'm not sure what Scooch was going for with their flight theme; my initial guess would have been how much air travel has become such a large factor of British life. So we get the whole "flying" comments. But to continue, "we're going to fly the flag"? That seems to be pushing the envelope, IMHO. "Flying high in Amsterdam / Why don’t you catch us if you can " seems to sum it up pretty well.

Of course, knowing Britain's penchant for comedy, I may be inclined to say it was rather tongue-in-cheek; in fact, given the other, more inappropriate lyrics (certainly nothing to be printed in a family blog), I would have to go with this latter thought. In any event,
I would add Eurovision to my brother's "list" of the music of John Cage, and Burroughs's "Naked Lunch": Now that it's been done, now that I've experienced it, I can move on.