Was Congratulations by Cliff a Eurovision song.
It was, though it didn't win - famously pipped at the post by the Spanish entry "La La La" (though years later it was revealed that the voting was rigged).
I used to love Eurovision back in the 70s and 80s when the UK regularly used to come in the top two. Even in the 90s we generally continued to perform well, dipping a bit with Jonathan King's misguided attempt to change the style with "Love City Groove" but then coming back strongly with our 1997 winner "Love Shine a Light", performed by Katrina and the Waves. For me that's almost a perfect Eurovision song - simple, catchy melody, clear lyrics with a straightforward message. I was surprised by how little publicity the British win got at the time - maybe because it was two days after Tony Blair's first landslide election victory.
Then along came Jemini in 2003, with their appalling performance in the wrong key. Naturally it got
nul points because it was literally painful to listen to, but that didn't stop a lot of journalists who had probably never heard the performance from claiming that it was all political and to do with the UK's participation in the Iraq war. The UK hasn't really recovered since then - our best place was 5th in 2009. Is it too cynical of me to suggest that the voting is regarded as "political" when the UK does badly, but not when the UK does well?
