It’s a new week, so it’s time to go right back to the start in our daily series, as Sophie picks a song from the early years of Eurovision.
Austria 1965: Udo Jürgens – Sag ihr, ich laß sie grüßen (4th place)
After his debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 reaching place 6 for Austria with the song “Warum nur, warum”, Udo Jürgens gave it a second shot in 1965. “Sag ihr, ich laß sie grüßen” made it to place 4. The third time’s the charm was apparently Jürgens’ motto as just another year later he won with “Merci, Chérie” as we all know.
With “Sag ihr, ich laß sie grüßen” Jürgens sticks to the traditional chanson style. In the song, the protagonist sends his regards to a former lover, but doesn’t want to let her know that he is miserable missing her. He wants her to know, though, that he loves her. A little tragic and heartbreak has for sure always been and probably always will be appropriate for Eurovision.
Udo Jürgens is one of most successful musicians in the German speaking area. Songs like “Griechischer Wein”, “Aber bitte mit Sahne” or “Ich war noch niemals in New York” are memorable classics. His career as singer and composer lasted for more than 50 years – even until right before his surprising death of a heart failure in December, 2014. It would have been nice to have had him around when the Song Contest returned to Austria for a second time, but you could definitely feel his spirit in Vienna this year. However, his songs will definitely live forever. I highly recommend watching the musical “Ich war noch niemals in New York” which is composed around the greatest of Udo Jürgens’ hits and guarantees a fabulous time at the theater wanting to jump up clapping and dancing to every single song.
