Alaska's Winner 1958: Hiversum

The Third Eurovision Song Contest took place in Hilversum, the Netherlands, on March 12th, 1958.  Like the previous contest, ten countries took part in the contest, with Sweden taking the place of the United Kingdom--who withdrew because they were upset by the placing of the entrant in the 1957 contest.

 

After a contest plagued with technical difficulties, the winner was this song:

André Claveau "Dors, Mon Amour"

Naturally it makes no sense in retrospect, especially since the song "Volare" was performed by the Italian singer Domenico Modugno, which went on the be a worldwide success and came in third.  Third!

And sadly, the prior year's winner, Corry Brokken, came in dead last with her song "Heer de wereld", giving her the unlikely record of being the only person to come in first and last in the contest.

So I sent them off to the jurors for their opinions on the ten songs, and poor André came in seventh.

What was more surprising is that we had a tie for first place--something I hadn't expected.  Like most of the readers, I had expected that Italy's Domenico Mondugno would run away with the voting.



Domenico Mondugno  "Nel blu dipinto di blu  (Volare)"



But after calculating the scores, this famous song tied with the entry from Luxembourg:

Solange Berry "Un grand amour"

So back to the jury I went, because I don't accept ties in the Alaska's Winner.  (Since I create the rules, I can modify them along the way, just like the contest has done.)

After getting answers back from the judges, the winner was Italy's Domenico Mondugno.  So Domenico and "Nel blu dipinto di blu" is the third Alaska's Winner. 

And for those who are interested, here's how the songs placed in our vote:

1.  "Nel blu dipinto di blu"  Domenico Mondugno   Italy

2.  "Un grand amour"  Solange Berry  Luxembourg

3.  "Lilla stärna"  Alice Babs  Sweden 

4.  "Ma petite chatte"  Fud Leclerc  Belgium

5.  "Giorgio"  Lys Assia  Switzerland

6.  "Heel de wereld"  Corry Brokken  the Netherlands

7.  "Dors, mon amour"  André Claveau  France

8.  "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe"  Liane Augustin  Austria

9.  "Für zwei Groschen Musik"  Margot Heilscher

10.  "Jeg rev et blad un af min dagbog"  Raquel Rastenni



 Next up 1959, with the return of the United Kingdom and the first  song from Monaco.

Eurovisionaries: Domenico Modugno

I know what your thinking.  "Who is Domenico Modungo?"

But just take a listen to the song he performed for Italy in 1958 and you can figure out why his is most assuredly "Eurovisionary".

Domenico Modugno  "Nel blu dipinto di blu"

Yes, that's right, Domenico Modugno sand the song most people know as "Volare", and is arguably the most successful Eurovision song in the United States. 

It was released in the US after the performance of the song contest hitting the top of the Billboard charts in August of that year of 1958, becoming the first foreign language song ever to do so.

What's even more impressive is that "Nel blu dipinto di blu" won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the very first Grammy Awards, and has become something of a standard among American singers, with covers done by diverse artists as Dean Martin, Barry White, and Ella Fitzgerald.

The most amazing thing is that "Volare" didn't win the Song Contest that year, coming in third losing to both the French and Swiss entrants, perhaps one of the most egregious discrepancies in the Song Contest.

But because of his success internationally, combined with the fact it's a standard is most every Italian restaurant I've been in, definitely makes Modugno a "Eurovisionary".