Home
The Nul Pointers
Country Rankings
History By Country
History By Year
Forty Facts On ESC
Voting Tables
NP All Time Chart
News / Blog
Ones That Got Away
Love Thy Neighbour
Nul Points Store
Links
Superstars
The Worst Songs?
Congratulations!
Oj Oj Oj!
East Is East
Languages
Voting Changes
Roll Of Honour
Evolution
Medal Table
The UK At Eurovision
A Song For Europe
UK Chart
UK 50: The Vote
The Big Vote
Guestbook

 

 

 

Ones That Got Away

Odd Borre

Over the half century of Eurovision there have been hundreds of songs performed on the big stage but a small number of ditties were due to be performed but never made it to the big night. The plot thickens..........

1967 - Italy - Non Pensare A Me - Claudio Villa
During the rehearsals it was discovered that this song had been released too early, and it was replaced with another song by the same artist.
1968 - Norway - Jag Har Aldri Vært Så Glad I No'en Som Deg - Odd Borre
This song swept the Norwegian final but was swiftly removed when the similarities to Cliff's "Summer Holiday" were at first listen blindingly obvious, especially when the saintly Cliff was actually one of Odd's opponents in 1968!. 
1970 -Portugal - Onde Vais Rio Que Eu Canto - Sergio Borges
Was withdrawn as a protest against the 1969 result and scoring system.
1974 - France - La Vie A Vingt-Cinque Ans - Dani
This song featured in the previews and was withdrawn days before the contest after the sudden death of President Pompidou.
1976 - Germany - Der Star - Tony Marshall
Disqualified because it had been previously performed in public.   
1976 - Liechtenstein - Little Cowboy - Biggi Bachmann
Was chosen but the Alpine nation didn't have a TV station so was ineligible.
1979 - Turkey - Seviyorum - Maria Rita Epik & Grup 21 Peron
Was selected as the Turkish entry, but the contest was in Jerusalem and other Arabic nations persuaded Turkey to withdraw.
1980 - Israel - Pizmon Chozer - Ha'ahum ve Ha'ahayot
Chosen as the Israeli entry but the Dutch hosts scheduled the 1980 contest to coincide with Remebrance Day in Israel so was withdrawn. 
1982 -Greece - Sarantapente Kopelles - Themis Adamantidis
Selected by Greece,  who subsequently withdrew from the contest. NB. the singer bore no relation to the British New Romantic star of the time.
1986 - Greece - Wagon-Lit - Polina
Selected by Greece,  who subsequently withdrew from the contest because the date clashed with a religious festival.
1988 - Cyprus - Thimame - Yiannis Demetriou
Finished 3rd in the 1984 Cypriot final, then won the internal selection for 1988. Doh!
1990 - Austria - Das Beste - Duett
Won the National final but was discovered to have been entered in the 1988 German heats, dq.
1992 - Switzerland - Soleil Soleil - Geraldine Olivier 
Was rejected as a French language entry to the Swiss final but then won as a German sung entry. The French Swiss complained and was DQ. 
1997 - Greece An Den Agapissis Den Tha Agapissi - Dimosthenis Stringlis
This was selected but Greek TV demanded that the composer be replaced by another singer. Stringlis refused so the song was ditched.
1999 - Bosnia - Starac I More - Hari Mata Hari
One month after winning the final it was discovered that the song had been released in Finland two years earlier by a different singer. The singer went on to finish third at Eurovision in 2006.
1999 - Germany - Den Kindern Einfach Zu -Corinna May
The winning song had been released on a single in 1997 by another singer. Corinna went on to represent Germany in 2002.
2002 - Lithuania - We All - B'Avarija
Was withdrawn when it emerged that a Lithuanian language version of the song had been released in 2001. Lithuania's replacement finished second last.
2004 - France - L'aissez Moi Le Temps - Jonathan Cerrada
French television announced this as the entry but it was very soon replaced with another song by the same artist.
2005 - Lebanon - Quand Tout S'Enfuit - Aline Lahoud
Was forced to withdraw when Lebanese television could not guarantee transmitting the Israeli entry.
2005 - Belarus - Boy And Girls - Angelica Agurbash
Was totally arbitrarily withdrawn by the Belarussians (and replaced with another song from the same singer) due to bad reviews on internet sites (!).
2006 - Serbia & Montenegro - Moja Ljubavi - No Name
This Montenegran song won the 2005 national final but Serbian TV protested that the voting of Montenegran jurors was partisan and proposed a second final with different voting. Montenegran TV believed that their song had won fairly and squarely.  The two sides could not agree before the entry deadline so Serbia & Montenegro withdrew from the contest.  
2006 - France - Nous C'est Vous - Virginie Pouchin 
The French song for 2006 was commissioned from a top French songwriter. Many weeks later after a bewilderingly long talent show the singer was chosen. It became clear quite soon that the song and singer were not well suited. After a short impasse the songwriter came up with a brand new song!