20 April 1968
Representing Ireland at Eurovision 1968—the first to be televised in colour—and finishing a creditable fourth is not the most celebrated live performance by Pat McGeegan. His real name was Pat McGuigan, he was the father of ’80s world champion boxer Barry, and in lieu of a national anthem he famously sang ‘Danny Boy’ in the ring before his son’s title fights. ‘Chance Of A Lifetime’, the Eurovision entry and less momentous McGeegan/McGuigan song, was written by John Kennedy, father of Irish TV personality Lucy Kennedy. Nepo dads, eh?
Despite being an artefact of 1968, ‘Chance Of A Lifetime’ is rooted firmly in the ’50s orchestral pop ballad idiom. That’s not to say it was completely out of time in a post-‘Puppet On A String’-‘Poupée-De-Cire-Poupée-De-Son’ Eurovision; up until Sandie Shaw’s 1967 winner the UK had been sending this type of old-fashioned ballad too. And Pat McGuigan has a fine voice here. It’s just that neither song nor singer have the epic Sanremo sweep, the dramatic Paris chanson style, nor the bouncy pop of recent winners.
Speaking of which, our next number one single in 1968 is a bouncy pop song from that year’s Eurovision, which was won by a bouncy pop song. They’re two different songs, though.
