Friday, June 12, 2009

Je Ne Plaisante Pas...

When I nominated a couple of francophone winners of Eurovision on the blog this morning I wasn't joking. Infact, after doing the initial research for the links to 'voustube' I've been listening to these again and again all day. So, just incase you, er, overlooked them this morning, here are a couple of videos of some of the best Eurovision winners ever....




First up,from 1972 is Vicky Leandros with 'Apres Toi' (sorry can't do the accents), for Luxembourg.





And second up is Anne-Marie David from 1973 with 'Tu Te Reconnaitras', again for Luxembourg, this being the time when they swept all before them in Europe until those pesky Swedes turned up in 1974,singing about a Belgian town.

I hope you enjoy these and don't just turn your nose up because it's Eurovision.

And by the way, check out the difference between the audience, then and now.....
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11 comments:

gordonimmel said...

Phew! That's my first time posting videos and it seems to have worked (on my computer atleast). Special thanks to Darceysdad for technical advice on that one.

June 12, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Carole said...

If ABBA had been French, they'd have sung about "Mont St Jean".

Probably not as catchy.

June 12, 2009 at 5:52 PM
gordonimmel said...

How very true, Carole, although the battle should really have been called 'La Belle Alliance' which is the name of the inn where Wellington & Blucher met after the battle , especially seeing as how it wouldn't have been won without the Prussians.
(Sorry, coming over all nerdy there. But then that would be my specialised subject if I ever get round to applying for Mastermind)

June 12, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Abahachi said...

I thought this year's Eurovision entry was one of the better ones, too; utterly French, not a hope in hell of winning but clearly couldn't care less, and one of the few countries to stick resolutely to the "native language only" principle.

June 12, 2009 at 8:22 PM
Carole said...

I have an unfeasible interest in military history myself, gordonimmel.

I blame my Dad, he wanted a son, but I emerged and then my sister wasn't in the slightest bit interested, so it was me that used to get taken to all the museums and football.

I know more about British tanks of WW2 than any other woman I've ever met.

June 12, 2009 at 9:53 PM
gordonimmel said...

Ah yes, the Matilda, Cromwell, Churchill all of them totally useless. If the American's hadn't given us the Sherman chassis so as to develop the Firefly we'd have been the only major power to go thro the war without developing a single useful tank - even the French managed the Char B (wow, see how I brought it back to this week's theme there!)

[Er, what's this got to do with Luxembourg winning Eurovision twice in the seventies? - Ed)

June 12, 2009 at 10:09 PM
goneforeign said...

Not to forget the T34 and Kirsk.

June 12, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Carole said...

Kursk.

The T-34 - with the long barrelled 85 mm gun - was probably the best all round tank of the war.

June 12, 2009 at 11:44 PM
ejaydee said...

Hey tank nerds, my last history teacher used to say that the French had top of the line tanks but couldn't transport them so they stayed in the garage, so to speak. Is it true?

June 12, 2009 at 11:48 PM
gordonimmel said...

[wtf,talking about WWII tanks is more interesting than Eurovision anyway].

@ejaydee, in 1940 the French had tanks like the Somua S-35 and the Char B (mentioned above)which were atleast the equivalent on a one to one basis of anything the Germans had but the problem was how they were used. They tended to be spread out through the infantry divisions as a sort of mobile artillery, so they just got rounded up with the infantry when the massed panzers ran rings around them.
I've not heard that about them not having enough transports although I have it heard it about other armies at different times. I'm sure tho' that in the chaos of retreat in May-June 1940 there would have been plenty of occasions when the tanks couldn't be redeployed fast enough to get to where the threat was.

June 13, 2009 at 4:04 PM
ejaydee said...

Thqnks Gordon, by the way, I'm not sure you receive the comments as emails, but somebody
from your old school replied to an old thread:
http://readersrecommend.blogspot.com/2009/05/no-more-music-its-all-too-much-my-head.html

June 13, 2009 at 6:48 PM

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