Tina – ‘Cross Your Heart’

21 March 1974

Sharing its name with a brand of bra which could well have been the template for the singer’s slightly daring dress at Eurovision 1974, ‘Cross Your Heart’ was one of eight songs all performed by Tina at Ireland’s national selection contest. Yes, you’re right: we’ve already seen Tina at the top of the Irish charts; back in 1971 with ‘I Don’t Know How To Love Him’ from Jesus Christ Superstar. This makes Tina the fourth Irish woman in a decade, and the third in just three years, to have two number one singles in Ireland. For comparison, so far Jazzy is the only Irish woman to have two number one singles in Ireland in the 2020s; she’s also the only Irish woman to have a number one single at all in Ireland in the 2020s.

So, how’s the song? Well, ‘Cross Your Heart’ is cut from the same cloth as ‘You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me’ by The New Seekers: bubblegum cabaret with Broadway bluster but replacing the dash of Nashville sentimentality with a double-dash of Nashville gee-whizz down-home cornball. (The first verse begins with “Sticks and stones may break my bones”.) There’s also a dab of ‘Welcome Home’ by Peters and Lee on the end of the chorus, plus the obligatory climactic key change. Tina’s exuberant performance ekes as much out of the song as possible, and on the night she finished a creditable seventh out of seventeen.

Two other songs from Eurovision 1974 go on top the Irish charts later that year. You will know at least one of them.