19 April 1969
If Franco thought he could simply rock up to London, steal a home 1968 Eurovision victory from Cliff, and actually get away with it, then he was in for a land. Summoning up the spirit of Dunkirk, D-Day and The Italian Job, the Brits went to Madrid in 1969 to give those foreigners what-for and repay el Caudillo in kind by winning his home Eurovision. And do you know what? They did it! The UK won! In your face, Franco!
The only thing is, Spain won too. And the Netherlands. And France. Yes, with a pre-douze-points low scoring system and no tie-break rule in place, or even a penalty shoot-out, Eurovision 1969 was the year of four joint winners. Since then, there’s only been one tie-break Eurovision winner, when in 1991 Sweden defeated a vastly superior French entry by having received more ten-point scores, after both had got the same amount of twelves. A similar tie-break rule for the 1969 scoring system would have given victory to the Netherlands.
And what was the UK’s weapon of choice at Eurovision 1969? Well, as with their royal family, they went for something German. ‘Boom Bang-A-Bang’ is pure cabaret schlager. You might like it if you feel excluded by the highbrow cool of ‘Puppet On A String’ or if you’re Harry Kane posing in lederhosen at the Munich Oktoberfest. Lulu, with her innate energy and raspiness, does her best to inject a knowing slyness. However, the oompah rhythm, comedy brass and childlike lyrics all shoot ‘Boom Bang-A-Bang’ right over kitsch and squarely into naffness. What with that unsatisfying 1969 four-way tie as well, clearly Eurovision 1970 would need to find some way to touch grass, keep it real, and shed its image of wee Celtic lasses with four-letter names serving saccharine tweeness.
