2012 Eurovision UK Entry

[q]British crooner Englebert Humperdinck is to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

The 75-year-old, dubbed the "King of Romance", is best known for his 1967 hit Release Me, which kept The Beatles' Strawberry Fields Forever off the number one spot.

The singer said it was "an absolute honour" to be taking part and was "excited and raring to go".

This year's competition will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 26 May.

The song Humperdinck will perform has yet to be announced but the BBC said it would be recorded in London, Los Angeles and Nashville.

It will be written by Grammy award-winning producer Martin Terefe and Ivor Novello winner Sacha Skarbek, who co-wrote James Blunt hit You're Beautiful.

Humperdinck - whose real name is Arnold Dorsey - has sold more than 150 million records worldwide during his 45 year career.

Born in Chennai to a British army officer, he took his stage name from a German composer best known for his opera Hansel and Gretel.

He scored a UK number one with The Last Waltz and had other hits including There Goes My Everything and A Man Without Love.

His last UK top 20 single was 40 years ago with Too Beautiful To Last which reached number 14.

The singer has received four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe for Entertainer of the Year and is one of only a handful of artists with a star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Las Vegas Walk of Fame.

"It's an absolute honour to be representing my country for this year's Eurovision Song Contest," the singer said.

"When the BBC approached me, it just felt right for me to be a part of an institution like Eurovision. I'm excited and raring to go and want the nation to get behind me!"

Humperdinck is the oldest ever Eurovision contestant and if he wins, will be the UK's first victor since Katrina and the Waves 15 years ago.

"Engelbert's age isn't the reason why we chose him to represent the nation for Eurovision, but it's nice to break a few records along the way," a BBC spokeswoman said.

Katie Taylor, BBC head of entertainment and events said: "Not since the 70s have we had such an established international musical legend represent the nation.

"We couldn't be more delighted. Engelbert's experience leaves us in no doubt that he will be able to deliver a standout performance in front of 120 million viewers worldwide."[/q[

I thought today was March 1st not April.

Atomic Kitten were strongly rumoured to be the UK entry last week so we can consider that a bullet dodged. Having an actual professional singer can't be worse than the parade of plucky amateurs that have tended to be picked over the last few years.

Ireland's entry (Jedward) is horrific, btw.

Wait what

Going to get Austria's notable contribution in early:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju06mQGfjpo

Humperdinck obviously a play for the pensioners-on-the-Mediterranean diaspora vote.

ireland really cant afford to win it can they

Half of Europe can't afford to win it

russia ftw then

Mars ftw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdHnenxPPnc

Norway's song's very good.

Ukraine's song's terrible but it's sung by Gaitana who i am mildly obsessed with.

Hungary's song is by Compact Disco - who i don't want to listen to in case they don't live up to the awesome name.

The Humperdinck annnouncement improved the UK's odds of winning to 16/1, but Jedward are still at 10/1 smdhRMDEfml

His last UK top 20 single was 40 years ago with Too Beautiful To Last which reached number 14.

This is..kind of surprising.

I just wish someone would write a song called 'Hansel and Gretel' for him.

Maybe they're going tooooooooo.....

norway's entry is excellent
BUT
it is just an eric saade rip off surely
who somehow didn't win last year

Inspired choice, they know full well who votes in this thing and it isn't the teenyboppers.

Hungary's song is by Compact Disco - who i don't want to listen to in case they don't live up to the awesome name.

― Mohombi Khush Hua (ShariVari), Friday, March 2, 2012 8:35 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They don't imo.

turkey have gone very eurovision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzHVgJd7t0

I like Turkey's song - ethnoshanty and brass bands are always good looks at Eurovision. "Hop onto my ship baby/I'll make you fly" not quite a coherent image though.

Israel is also growing on me, though it sounds like the kind of song Belgium would come 3rd last in the semis with:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsXGd40xkmU

Norway and (God help us) Germany are the only songs so far that sound like potential winners imo. Betting at this point makes no sense; three of the five favourites at Paddy Power haven't even chosen a song yet, they're just the countries that are early favourites every year (Sweden, Russia, Serbia).

This year's fake Cockney accent comes with headgear:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDwCNKJRCk4

Bizarre shenanigans as usual in I-Love-Belarus:

Litesound frontman Dzmitry Karakin has thanked Alyaksandr Lukashenka for his order that the pop-rock band should represent Belarus at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest instead of Alena Lanskaya.

“A very big thanks to the president,” said Mr. Karakin at a news conference held in Minsk on Friday. “It is him who should be given credit for everything.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Lukashenka held a government conference to announce that a probe had confirmed allegations of vote rigging during Eurofest, the national selection contest for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, in Ms. Lanskaya`s favor.

He said that Belarus would be represented at the contest in Baku this spring by Litesound instead of the 26-year-old blonde.

The Eurofest final was held in Minsk on February 14. After Ms. Lanskaya, a resident of Mahilyow, was announced the winner, the frontman of runners-up Litesound walked out in protest, while the third-place winner, Hyunesh, did not even appear on the stage to collect her prize.

“We are overwhelmed by emotions,” Mr. Karakin said at the news conference. “But we were sure that justice would triumph. All of us have contributed to this. It is a victory of the Belarusian people.”

Lukashenko otm. They're both terrible but the first choice was probably worse.

Russia's selection will be made this week, i think. There's a field of 25 entries but i'd guess it's going to be between rappper Timati and the duet between Dima Bilan and Yulia Volkova.

I wish they'd hurry up and choose because i'd rather like to do an article about Russian pop, at the moment, and it's something i'd have to end up mentioning.

Engelbert Humperdinck sounded dated already in his 1967 prime.

And that was 45 years ago....

I like our entry btw, and I don't reckon it sound all that much like Saade. Surely, same composer and the stage performance is similar, but Tooji adds a Middle Eastern touch that Saade didn't have at all and may appeal more to Turkish, Greek and "Yugoslav" voters.

The Norwegian Broadcasting Company NRK cannot afford to win though. Thdy would have to either get extra money from the government's petroleum funds or say no to transferring the London olympics. :)

The Russian grannies finally made it! I think I prefer their 2010 attempt but I am nonetheless very happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0vQ9_BhU1M

Did not see that coming!

haha, i did enjoy that russian one

listened to all the entrants so far
turkey is my fave
but cyprus, ukraine and norway all good

it's song for sweden this weekend which will no doubt contain some amazing tracks but none that could compete with their entry last year

God, I couldn't do this.. There's about 100 songs, or so it seems.

Back in the old days, what was there, twenty?

http://www.eurovisioncovers.co.uk/gb78.jpg

slovakia's just released their entry too, token emo song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvb-6SBEeE4

there's only been just over 30 songs released so far
montenegro haven't confirmed their song yet, but they deserve to win as the best named performer, RAMBO AMADEUS
and he'll be fronting the rambo amadeus world kilo tour

Well at least the Montenegro fans in the audience will have a ready-made chant:

Amadeus Amadeus... Amadeus
Amadeus Amadeus... Amadeus
Amadeus Amadeus... Amadeus
Amadeus...
COME ON ROCK ME RAMBO AMADEUS

can i play the piano anymore?
of course you can!
well i couldn't before!

The russian grans, is that not Bilko and co?

LOL at the Russian grannies. Funny number, but I doubt it'll perform quite as well as Russia usually tend to do. :)
Still reckon "Lady Alpine Blue" by Mumiy Troll is the best thing the Russians have ever entered there.

lady alpine blue is good, i prefer never let you go by dima bilan in 2006
the year before was way better with cool vibes by vanilla ninja and in my dreams by wig wam (although the latter was a bit too bon jovi-esque)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDkqtAx31H4

I reckon "Never Let You go" as a bit too much of a standard pop song, but it as better than the one he won with a couple years later.

t.A.T.u and Serebro are probably the only Russian entries i've really loved. Peter Natlich was pretty good, though.

Ukraine have been consistently better over the last ten tears.

Rambo Amadeus has been making music for over 20 years, his first album is super classic, making fun of Balkanic folk tropes in an endearingly goofy way - one thing ex-Yugoslavian peeps really excel at is making comedy music that's properly funny while also being, y'know, genuinely good music, and Rambo's debut is one of my favorite examples. (amongst other things it includes a ditty about a hard-working space-faring dad who returns to Earth wanting to make his wife pregnant with another child - only to find her in bed with their son, thus killing them both on sight!)

ever since then he's been gradually turning into some sort of Balkan-Zappa, becoming more wilfully difficult with every album, so nowadays he sounds like a rambling drunk backed by a random jazz bar-band rehearsing - god knows what he's got in store for ESC.

btw Romanian finals are being held tomorrow, very much rooting for this to win:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifXJEFXXTjc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SCb0nrjVno

This is the Swedish entry then. Doing the David Guetta thing makes it sound very much up-to-date for the hitlists, but being up-to-date for the hitlists has often meant few votes from Eastern and Southern Europe. May well be another disappointment for Sweden after last year's good result.

This Romanian song is pretty cool. Bagpipes!

Did you say that like Jarvis, while waving yr hands?

Mandinga have won (hooray!) but i'm not 100% sure if i want them to win the whole thing, Costi Ionita's ego is rampant enough as it is ;) anyways he's one of my favourite producers right now - while i don't really rate most of his Romanian stuff, his pop-folk/chalga output for the Bulgarian market is just sooooooo so good

His stuff with Andrea is great.

Euro Neuro is here! It's good and a nice contrast, but not so good that I'll be crushed when it comes last in its semi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSx0WCiDzDE

I am having sights of this guy with a bazooka and a swearing tie.
[http://www.wpclipart.com/famous/composers/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart.png/]

What the hell!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kQBEzzFRBs

Oooooo, Ooo Ooooo
I like it
Are you ready for a late night chat?
And a song about the Internet
It’s the story of a social doer
You’ve never seen before

If you want to be seen by everyone
Wanna be in the dream and have some fun
If you want to be on the hook
Simply take a look

Facebook Uh, oh, oh
Everybody loves you so
Facebook Uh, oh, oh
Everybody that you know

This is the best song ever.

If this was two years ago and instead of Facebook the lyrics mentioned ChatRoulette, then I could get behind it.

do you wanna play cyber sex again?
do you wanna come to my house
and click me with your mouse?

0_0

The rest of the lyrics are about cybersex and "click on my mouse" btw.

xp

Glad to see Ralph Siegel strike again with his special brand of catchy inanity.

uh, so a certain section of Eurovision entries now resembles those fake chat windows that pop up on dubious websites and say things like "Hi! This is amazing, I'm near you in 127.0.0.1!"

It's basically "Sex over the phone" for the uh what do we call this decade? but without the Village People.

I've been thinking about "Facebook, Uh Oh Oh" a bit on account of having it stuck in my head all day...My guess is that it's directly inspired by "Friday"'s success in the sense that San Marino decided the way to get 100m views with zero marketing budget is via an easily parodiable video and a risibly stupid song. They have to know that they'll be forced to change the lyrics for the contest so it looks like they're just trying to invade everyone's mind beforehand.

You might be right.

It looks like they've already been told that they'll need to change the lyrics.

So it's the 2012 Eurovision UK Entry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFNv9pjqZkk

Well, it's one of the better snoozeballads I guess.

"Facebook will set you freeeeee..."

chord change shenanigans covering up a lack of actual song imo

Don't have nightmares, do sleep well.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59165000/jpg/_59165863_59165862.jpg

chord change shenanigans covering up a lack of actual song imo

otm

It's a shame because it suggests, in flashes, they could have come up with something pretty great had they had a better writer. I really like his voice.

me too!! something i never imagined saying or thinking.

Voice way better than the song. Clearly the UK does't want the expense of hosting the contest the year after the Olympics (although surely the infrastructure left over from the Games would make this easier?), but OTOH we have to at least look like we're making an effort. And for the second year we're fielding an act that people have heard of, and who isn't singing a joke of a song.

I still don't understand Eurovision at all but it still makes me very, very happy

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59165000/jpg/_59165863_59165862.jpg

Jonathan Ross at the age of 87 / a melted Terry Wogan?

The UK flag makes him look like a Presidential candidate.

That doesn't make much sense, but coming after 'a melted Terry Wogan' I thought I could get away with it.

And how nice of Engelbert to wear a black tie in anticipation of our song getting buried by the competition.

Surprisingly good for an Engelbert song. Still don't think it would be a potential winner, but may appeal well to many older watchers.

The UK flag makes him look like a Presidential candidate

You mean, the UK has a president? :)

The UK has been drawn first. Oh well!

As a song, it's OK and no more; the key changes are over-obvious and were clearly put in to prove that EH still has a voice. It's stuck with me since I heard it, though. Nice rusty Kenny Rogers edges to his voice; another candidate for the Rick Rubin treatment? In the video he looks like Bryan Ferry's unfunny uncle but the closing blackout is haunting - he's not saying goodbye, of course, but it comes across that way.

Alas, since it's first on it'll probably be forgotten when it comes to voting. Not sure if it'll be that big a chart hit either but that's perhaps the fault of the charts rather than Mr Humperdinck.

So San Marino's entry has been amended to "The Social Network Song". Still classic.

BBC's trailers for the final are already going for the lulz. "Get behind the Hump", says Graham Norton.