Ireland 1998

Dawn MartinIreland selected "Is always over now?" sung by blond-haired Dawn Martin (pictured left) in RTE TV studios, Dublin on March 8th. It was heard all over Europe on 7.56MHz subcarrier of VH-1 on the Astra satellite.

Results table is below.

As usual Pat Kenny was the host, and he promised us a "Thai jury" (ho!, ho!) in the event of problems. That's what I call an International jury!

 
My view on the songs:

A - "Is always over now?" - Very standard ballad with the usual key shift at the end. We've heard it all before, but still likeable, and my favourite. She likes to sing Soul music.

B - "Shine" - Two blokes. Simple, barely noticeable.

Vard sistersC- "Cold shoulder" - Fast paced country music. Not bad in its own way, but totally wrong for this show. Composer/singer from Derry (or Londonderry, according to taste) has been in the Eurosong twice before.

D - "Seol" (pictured right) - Gaelic song from a priest. He's written songs for the Vard Sisters album, and was backing vocalist on this song. Ethnic, slow, atmospheric. A bit new-age. I thought they'd go for this.

E - "Save this dance for me" - Slow start, weak voice; rather ordinary ballad.

F- "Ina measc" - Easily the worst. Described by Pat Kenny as "Techno-Cajun", this has gaelic whistles giving way to brass and guitars. Dreadful singing in gaelic; no melody to speak of. Father Ted (a TV character who once had a Eurosong entry; the actor who played him died last week) did so much better with his appalling 'My Lovely Horse'.

Carter TwinsG - "Make the change" (pictured left) - Ronan Keating has been writing 2 years, but this wasn't one of his better efforts, I think. "This song is a message to you, we can build our future, we can show the old ones from where they've come, we can turn this world around one by one, let's all make the change". 1994 winner Paul Harrington was on guitar with 22 year old Carter Twins.

H - "Overload" - An overload of 'Too manys" in the lyrics to this one with bagpipes at the start. Basically a plea for us all to slow down. Vaguely country style. "I suppose if you live this way, there has to come a day, when you fall into, overload".

Thanks goes to Peter Henshaw for a preview tape of the songs. The result table:

 

#

Song Title

Composers

Performer(s)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Total

Place

A

Is always over now?

Gerry Morgan

Dawn Martin

12

12

10

12

7

10

12

6

8

6

95

1

B

Shine on

Niall O'Brien-Morgan

Partners in Crime

5

6

6

6

6

7

7

5

7

8

63

5

C

Cold shoulder

Ray Doherty

Ray Doherty

3

4

3

3

4

5

4

4

4

5

39

8

D

Seol

Liam Lawton

The Vard sisters

7

8

12

8

10

8

5

12

10

12

92

2

E

Save this dance for me

Des & Danny Sheerin

Family

6

5

5

4

8

4

8

8

5

4

57

6

F

Ina measc

Sean Monaghan

Sean Monaghan

4

3

4

5

3

12

3

3

3

3

43

7

G

Make the change

Ronan Keating

The Carter Twins

10

10

7

7

5

6

6

10

6

10

77

4

H

Overload

Jo Collins

Jo Collins

8

7

8

10

12

3

10

7

12

7

84

3

#

Juries

1

Athlone

3

Dingle

5

Dundalk

7

Limerick

9

Sligo

2

Cork

4

Dublin

6

Galway

8

Maghery

10

Waterford

A song written by Boyzone's Ronan Keating has made the last eight for selection as Ireland's entry in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Ronan, currently in the United States, has penned Make The Change for the Carter Twins, 22-year-old Dublin brothers. The eight shortlisted Irish songs were cut down from the original 400 hopefuls.
Keating's rival composers include Catholic priest Father Liam Lawton, whose Irish language song will be performed by the Vard Sisters. Father Lawton is the director of music at St Patrick's College in Carlow.