Song Of The Day 5/17/2015: Edurne – “Amanecer” (Spain)

I'm Ovision -- Eurovision! 2015: Live, from Vienna, Austria – the home of weinerschnitzel, Franz Schubert, and psychoanalysts who say you dream about banana splits because you hate your mom – it’s the Eurovision Song Contest! Achtung! ¡Atención! Viva la musique! Goooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

Ah, crap, man. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since the last one. I’ve barely had time to unpack the housekeeper I smuggled in last year. And let me tell you, let me tell you something, this year we’re doing it up right. Multi-media, multi-publication, multi-tongue – already I’ve logged in more hours on this goddamn Eurovision thing than I’ve spent raising my children. It’s not just going to be Song Of The Day stuff, either: I went completely overboard. You’re not gonna believe the extraneous bonuses coming up this week. They should just name me chancellor now. I don’t care what country. Whatever country still has chancellors. I can adjust. My family can adjust. I can easily change the heights of my children. I just prefer not to discuss the process.

Forget about it, amigo! Let’s get going with the songs! That’s what we’re hear to celebrate, the songs that will be adjudicated in Australia this week, then decided upon by a labyrinthine process including internet voting, judges in pockets of business interests and high-powered games of draughts. This year I have, just for you, listened to every single one of the songs entered in Eurovision this year. That’s 40 songs. Even worse than that: 40 Eurovision songs. I’m having the sucrose drained from my bloodstream right now with some little rubber works I picked up over in Germany. They seem to be working.

Now, while the music is what this jazz is all about, what this blog is all about is showmanship. Vegas-style ooh-la-la. What that means is that for this theme’s Songs Of The Day (BTW, we’re going eight days on this theme, because feather boas), I leaned more towards presenting the most compelling music videos of Eurovision songs that I could find. And by “compelling,” I mean “uncomfortable to sit through.”

I’ll come right out and let you know that I won’t be featuring the song that, as of this writing, is favored to win the whole contest. That song is “Heroes” by Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw. It’s the oddsmakers’ favorite, but I’m not convinced that it’s a shoo-in yet. It sounds a little like Coldplay, who might just be a little too hip for Eurovision voters. Either way, it just doesn’t move the needle on what I’d like to put up here.

You know what does move the needle? Games Of Thrones-esque music videos that bleed hot, yet aloof love out of its every pixel. And you’re going to get that today with a presentation that screams “Eurovision,” then screams “get that cat outta here.” It’s Edurne from Spain, with her just antiquated ballad of ice and fire, “Amanecer.” My favorite moment: When the male hero, awaiting the female archetype’s sweet advance, meditates on touching her at last – but then she transforms into a tiger, dropping the ring that bound them onto to ground. Wow - talk about your crazy cat lady! I mean señora loca del gato! I mean, I don’t know what I mean! IT’S EUROVISION YOU GUYS!

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