Let’s see, where do we start
The Eurovision thing in 1977 makes for a much more interesting miniseries on Netflix than almost all those we have on the platforms. There was drama, booze-soaked comedy, continental intrigue and conflict throughout. Better than Mad Men. It was the last time that Eurovision was held in London and there they lost their desire. What happened to Miki Nunez in Tel Aviv , despite attempts to boycott Israel, is a walk alongside what his namesake Micky experienced 42 years ago.The interpreter of Teach me to sing got ninth place, a position that, given the level, should have been better and that we can’t even dream of now for La venda. Between Migueles there is no color.
The lively song from 1977 can be as ratty as the one from 2019, but it had a nice naïve patina, with the color of a joke, which continues to make it one of the most lively, candid and fun numbers sent by TVE. Among the “inconsequential songs”, as they described it, it is almost one of the best in our history. Micky, the one from the Tonys, was the representative of a happy, touristic Spain, shaken with dandruff and crossing the bridge towards democracy. “Wishing to forget” , he says in his first stanza.
Getting to London was a matter of faith. The festival of 1977, when the event was the party of the club of Western democracies (for this it was born at the suggestion of NATO), was held a month later on the announced date and in those four weeks there were times when no one could certify that it was going to be done. In that very long waiting time, at a time when it seemed to us that the clocks were going on pedals, the aspiring songs were repeated in the intermissions and in the Sunday 625 lines, so through this month of chewing gum to the viewers It gave them time to memorize Micky’s, the Silver Convention Telegram (the German pop-discos, the favorites), the Lapland song from Finland; Casanova, from Norway; or the Solfeggio Lesson by Pascalis, Marianna, Robert & Bessy, the Greeksthat, we warn, will be fundamental in Micky’s performance. The exotic Tunisia came to present itself, but due to pressure from its neighbors it dropped out due to the presence of Israel. Until these times on YouTube, the Eurovision songs were never so much hammered.
The video of Teach me to sing was amortized. It was recorded by Valerio Lazarov in the worst days that are remembered in Ibiza , between rain and wind. Not a hint of sun between the jumps of the Madrid singer, the rubber boy, and his smiling extras, including a fashion show. As in music journalism it was made up of serious men with mustaches,as soon as the expedition landed in the United Kingdom they were insisted on saying that that song of the banjo and the Ibizan girls “was worth nothing”. So there was nothing to gain. Nor lose. Micky and his people took to relaxing. They had also already told him in Madrid not to even think of first place, lest the costly organization fall for us.
Torremolinos asked to organize Eurovision 1977
Since the Eurovision broadcast was in danger in London , the Costa del Sol Tourist Board volunteered to quickly organize the event at the Torremolinos Conference Center. Torremolinos 1977: the city of the Costa del Sol Brigade. Waiting for the first elections, the country was not at that time for festivals.RTVE was not amused by the proposal and flatly rejected it. In the Algarve the request for Portugal also arose and it did not go beyond being an occurrence.
The BBC had found itself in a serious crisis with the organization of the festival. All the technicians of the British corporation were on strike for the bonuses of their displacements, 3 pounds per day. It even sounds strange. The strike suspended the scheduled date for the musical event, April 2. With everything booked, everything was blown up and for two weeks there was no idea what was going to be done. The London tourist guild for years got hives from the word Eurovision. Since the Torremolinos thing was impossible, the idea that was closest was to connect with each of the countries, that each interpreter did it from home and in some dish cast the votes. Desperate nonsense given how inflexible the organizing entity, the EBU, is.
The BBC management tightened the screws and finally there was a salary agreement with the technicians and the final night was the late (by then) May 7. There was a date, but few things were closed. There was no recording of the postcards, the introductions filmed with the participants in the seconds in which the stage is prepared. The expeditions agreed with the BBC to be recorded at an informal dinner with a toast as an introduction by each participant . Micky and his people were recorded in full swing . We said they had nothing to lose. Those images between glasses received the complaint of the delegates of TVE and other countries. It was decided to eliminate everything recorded and the transitions between songs were made bareback: focusing on the public in a tie, as had happened for many years, including that gala at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 1969.
The Spanish Eurovision song was decided at that time by a commission of experts. Promising names were proposed among the record companies. Ariola, through the composer and representative Fernando Arbex, from Los Brincos, pushed the name of Micky, who had triumphed in the RFA and the Benelux with Bye, bye, Fraulein (“Froilan”, as they rescued her in Martian Chronicles). Along the way, Paloma San Basilio stayed, who got even in 1985, or Lorenzo Santamaria, who was in fashion. Arbex convinced the journalists and those responsible for TVE that his Ensename to sing was a light song, affectionate for the public, without political complications, which was not the oven for susceptibilities in a tense Spain, and without vocal intensity, which at that time would have given real chances of victory. Micky, who was 33 years old, somewhat older by festival canons, was the first surprised to see himself in the challenge and found out that he was the chosen one when he was in soccer, he confessed. He was not delusional. And if you have to go, it goes. But at least they adjusted the date.
The death of Waldo de los Rios
They recorded the final version to release the album in several languages (Apprends-moi a chanter, Ich singe la, la, la, in German), bizarre promotions. The arranger of the Arbex song was the illustrious popular composer Waldo de los Rios .
The Argentine, fundamental in the history of Spanish pop for the Anthem of Joy , directed Karina for En un mundo nuevo, second place in 1971 . And his last job was precisely this recording of Ensename a sing. He committed suicide on March 28, five days before the festival was held on its scheduled day. TVE ruled out the signing of Waldo because he asked for 100,000 pesetas per day away from home. Who knows what would have happened if his claim was accepted. In his place came Rafael Ibarbia, the one from the other La, la, la; Massiel’s.
The composer’s death did not come precisely to encourage the Spanish representation, and for this reason, on Saturday, May 7, the spirits of the Spanish expedition were rather relaxed due to pure disenchantment. With so much alcohol rolling around in that musical London, Micky got excited (too much) with the Greek singers. He went up on stage with the splendid girl with the banjo (a model, Paloma, about whom little else was known but everyone wanted to hire her), as second voice a certain Amadeo, cheering himself up with a percussion jug, and Judy, Jazmin and Jamisoe, three dancers-choristers of the choreographer Sandra Lebrocq, an Englishwoman based in Spain and wife of the decorator of so many TVE plates of the 70s, Willy Rubio.
Micky in Eurovision 1977, ‘Teach me to sing’
There was nothing to lose. So the Spanish interpreter, dressed informally by Jesus del Pozo, when the others opted for jackets (he is the first Spanish representative who did not dress up for the event) went from Scottish effusiveness to the Greeks. Infected by the fun of his song, which encouraged his heart to rejoice, he came out on stage rather tipsy, as he admitted. Before starting, he slammed into the microphone, although they only noticed the mishap in the auditorium. If the recording above is reviewed, the microphone can be seen bouncing for several seconds, victim of the blow. Micky pictured himself on the front page of the papers with the ill-timed headbutt, but the old rocker kept going,affected by the cubateo but with room to wiggle, shop around for the guitarist and save the matter without further setbacks. His choir goes down in history for having the most exaggerated faces among all Eurovision gestures.
Teach me to sing was not destined to win but it took certain distinctions from those impaled juries. Italy, Belgium or Finland gave us 7 votes. In total Micky obtained 52 points, but for a point, the one he had throughout the night. In that year, strangely, Sweden was last and the idiot sent by Austria, penultimate. He had to beat some intense song and it was L’oiseau et l’enfant, by Marie Myriam .
It was the last time France won. The winner wasaccused of plagiarism for being too similar to the Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti by Joan Baez, the singer-songwriter who in that same year, at Jose Maria Inigo’s Esta noche fiesta dedicated No nos moviran to La Pasionaria.Wow. How we have changed. And no one had noticed. Less Mickey.
