Mr.Eurovision

An exclusive CITY PAPER interview with Johnny Logan.

If there was ever anyone who personified the Song Contest, at least in the eyes of committed Eurovision watchers, it’s Johnny Logan. The Irishman is, hands down, the most successful participant in its 45-year history. He’s won Eurovision three times, twice as a performer and once as a songwriter.
CITY PAPER editor Michael Tarm recently spoke to the 47-year-old Logan by telephone about his close association, for better and worse, with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Note: Excerpts from the following interview, conducted just before the 2002 Tallinn Contest, made news in Baltic dailies and some papers abroad, including The Irish Times. Reports focused on Logan’s criticism of the way Eurovision had been staged in previous years.

CITY PAPER: You’ve won the Contest three times. Can winning Eurovision be a curse?
Oh yes. Yes! (laughter) You enjoy your success at Eurovision and the success of the winning song, sure. But then you become The Eurovision Winner—and that can be very unfashionable, certainly in England. And it becomes harder and harder to break that mold. I’m lucky in so far as I’ve won three Eurovisions, and maybe I stand out more than people who’ve won it just once. But winning Eurovision is a two-edged sword; you have to take the good with the bad.

CITY PAPER: Some people just won’t look past your Eurovision victories to your other accomplishments, is that it?
Well, again, I’m lucky in so much that What’s Another Year, my 1980 Eurovision winner, was No. 1 in every country in Europe. With Hold Me Now, the 1987 song I won with, that was No. 2 in Britain and No. 1 in most other countries in Europe. The songs I recorded myself were big hits, so I can’t run down Eurovision. After all, would you be talking to me at the moment if I hadn’t won Eurovision three times? Realistically, you might not have heard of me.

CITY PAPER: How do you react to critics who make fun of Eurovision, who belittle it?
It would be very easy for me to belittle them. A lot of people who run Eurovision down are like eunuchs in a harem: They see it done every night, but they can’t do it themselves.
It’s so easy to run it down. Eurovision’s such an easy target. But instead of running it down, critics should try to improve it. For me, that would be a positive thing.

CITY PAPER: How could that be done?
Well, first, I don’t believe in this telephone voting. I think there has to be a better way of voting for the winner. I think phone voting is too easily abused.
Second of all, the cost of Eurovision has become so great, they put all the singers on backing tracks. But I would like to see an orchestra available again, or at least for people to have the choice.
I am sure there are a lot of people out there with a lot of ideas, people who love Eurovision. It would be nice if someone set up a forum where people could make suggestions.

CITY PAPER: So you would say the quality of songs in the Eurovision finals has deteriorated?
If I’m going to be honest, I’d have to say I think that’s true, yes. I think bringing in pre-recorded backing tracks takes away any of the feel of the real musician. Backing tracks make it too karaoke for me.
I think the Danes tried hard to do Eurovision well last year, and almost did it. But I heard afterwards that the presenters were far too scripted and it didn’t come across right. There was no spontaneity.
So, I have to say that I do think Eurovision has lost an awful lot of its edge over the last ten years.

CITY PAPER: What has been the secret of your success at Eurovision? There are thousands of singers out there who’d give their right arms to know.
If there was a secret, it’s that I always entered with good songs that weren’t written for Eurovision. They were written from the heart.

CITY PAPER: So it’s a mistake to try to write Eurovision songs per se.
I would think so. Most people are intelligent enough to know when songs are contrived. When you contrive songs, you get four or five songs squeezed into one. The writer is trying so hard to put the right hooks in it that the heart of the song is lost.

CITY PAPER: Why do you think more well-known artists like yourself don’t get involved in Eurovision? Is it true that established musicians are simply afraid of eventually losing if they enter Eurovision?
If people have established careers, they’re not going to take a chance by entering a competition, that’s true. They could do too much damage to their strengths within the music industry. That’s realistic. I don’t understand, though, why more established musicians don’t write for Eurovision. They don’t necessarily have to take part in it themselves. But they could give their song to someone who could use Eurovision as a vehicle.

CITY PAPER: What did you mean when you said Eurovision has lost its edge?
Well, for instance, I heard all the songs for this year on a CD recently. And I think there are maybe two songs that could win.
I just feel that too many of the songs are contrived these days. When I won with Hold Me Now in 1987, there were five or six other songs that were also very beautiful. I recall that because, just a few nights ago, I watched the 1980 Song Contest again on video, sitting down with a bottle of wine. I still get really nervous whenever I watch that, it’s funny: I’m still never quite sure I’m gonna end up winning. (laughter)

CITY PAPER: You mentioned that a couple songs could win this year. Do you want to mention which ones?
I have to say the German song has a strong chance. I know all the people involved with it. It does sound like a very strong Eurovision song; I could see it appealing to a certain segment. I thought the British song was quite good as well; it was better than I thought it’d be. Those are the two that stood out. There was one other song I liked, but I can’t seem to recall which one it was. I only listened to a bit of each song once, so it’s hard for me to say much.

CITY PAPER: Estonians would be very interested to know what you thought of last year’s winner from Estonia?
To be honest, I only heard the winning Estonian song once. I’d tuned in half way through the voting because I’d just arrived from doing some concerts. But I have heard it once since then, too. Obviously, if it won, it had to have something going for it. But I can’t remember it that well.

CITY PAPER: Were you surprised Estonia won last year?
Even without having heard the song beforehand, yes, I was. I thought it was a really great thing for Eurovision. The same countries winning all the time is just not going to allow interest to spread. Now, after the Estonians won last year, everybody feels they have a shot at winning. That’s good.