1968

All is going well until the first chorus, where the song takes an unexpected and slightly odd turn. The effect is to make the song sound messy.

Ronnie gives a cheerful performance of Morgen, which is a decent enough song without being inspiring.

Claude made her way through a very gentle and understated ballad. Her voice helps to give the song a nice, haunting quality.

For the sixth year in a row, Austria entered a ballad, and a powerful one at that. Karel sings it like he means it.

Despite being one of three songs sung by a duo this year, Chris does most of the work. In fact, Sophie only joins in during the chorus.

With possibly the best song they had sent to date, Switzerland were ‘looking at the sun’ and reaching for the stars with this classy, strings based ballad. Maybe Gianni’s orange suit put the jurors off.

Generous use of the accordion makes this song more memorable than it otherwise would have been. There is a key change, but the tempo and melody stay the same.

As well as having one of the longest titles in the history of the contest, this is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, as is Claes’ performance. In an era when the singer basically stood behind the microphone and sang, it’s a lively one.

This is a nice mid-tempo song which moves along steadily and contains no surprises. It makes for pleasant listening, though.

La Source is one of the most fondly remembered songs from the 1968 contest. It’s an infinitely superior ballad to Isabelle’s 1962 winner. C’est la vie.

In Cliff Richard, the BBC had persuaded one of the biggest international stars ever to sing in the contest to perform in his own contest. The song (which was a big hit in many countries) was written by the same team who wrote Puppet on a String. It can still be heard at birthday parties over 40 years later. 

No-one could accuse Odd of not being enthusiastic. He sways Tom Jones like and adds to the impact of the song. A fat lot of good it did him!

Pat, father of former world boxing champion Barry McGuigan, continued Ireland’s by now predictable sequence of sending a male singing a ballad. That aside, it’s a decent song and does what it needs to do.

Forty years after it won, La La La is still used as an example of a typical Eurovision song. The verses are calm and the chorus a bit more bouncy.

Norwegian Wencke sung for Germany. It’s lively and Wencke’s face is very expressive throughout.

The use of a traditional guitar gives Jedan Dan an appeal it would otherwise be lacking. The song opens with the chorus, moving into a more melodic verse.