SOUNDTRACK: LESLEY ROY-“Maps” (Ireland, Eurovision Entry 2021).
Eurovision 2021 has come and gone and of course I’ve got questions.
Even though I enjoy checking out Eurovision entries, I know very little about the Eurovision process. I didn’t even know that there were countries that didn’t qualify for the final round.
Thirteen countries didn’t make it to the final this year. Remarkably, when I listened to some of the songs that didn’t make it I really don’t understand why not. It almost seems like some of the songs that didn’t make it are just kind of bland–perhaps not over the top enough?
Take Lesley Roy’s song. There’s a lot of drums, there’s strings, there’s dramatic pauses and, given that the song seem to be about running, it’s got a propulsive beat.
The middle of the song breaks for a (very!) short tin whistle break and then resumes with the strings and drums.
It’s feels like it’s catchy and inspirational, but isn’t, really. And yet, it is hardly worse than many of the other songs that did make it, In fact I’d say it’s better than a number of songs that did make it.
So did something happen on the night to make it particularly not very good? Is the whole score based only the performance of the night? Not on the song itself, which people know about ahead of time. Whatever the case, this is the sixth time in seven years that Ireland (who once couldn’t NOT win) has failed to make it.
[READ: May 10, 2021] “How to Spend the Budget Surplus”
Back in the mid to late 1990s, David Sedaris wrote a few Shouts & Murmurs for the New Yorker. It’s interesting to see a writer whom you know for a certain style of writing crafting jokes in a very different manner. Shouts & Murmurs are rarely actually funny, and that’s true of most of these.
Obviously the topical nature of most of these means there’s a component of “wait, what was going on?”, but the set up usually explains everything pretty well. Now we are more likely to say, “Aw, remember when that’s all we cared about?”
This piece contains six letters to President Clinton about what he can do now that the government has balanced the budget. Aw, remember when people (particularly Republicans) cared about a balanced budget?
Three years after the similar “How to Spend the Budget Surplus” this is five letters to the President.
Amanda from Brooklyn says that it should go to the NEA since all the penny pinching has essentially destroyed it. She wants to see her art project come to fruition: carpeting the state of New Mexico.
The Taylors from Michigan want to see shops in the Washington Mall–its just grass and statues.
Brian from Florida says that his father took half of his allowance and put it in a fishbowl for his sister’s college fund (since he didn’t seem like he would be going to college). When she dropped out, his father gave him the balance ($238.00). Does this help?
Dr. Marie, a chiropractor says that a national program of free body massages is on order (there were massages in the Welfare one as well).
Anthony from Nebraska writes to President Pothead and talks about Clinton smoking rerefer while he was fighting in the jungles. No doubt he’s tempted to spend the surplus on Thai stick and Gro Lights, but what we need is a big granite statue of a hero–not that travesty of the Vietnam memorial. Find an American sculptor with a degree in art rather than spelling.
I ownder if it’s fun to write in the character of people you disagree with.
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