Irelande Douze Pointe
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 Irelande Douze Pointe |
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| Eurovision Song Contest 2008 entry | ||
| Country | Ireland | |
| Artist(s) | Dustin the Turkey | |
| Language | English [1] | |
| Composer(s) | Darren Smith, Simon Fine, Dustin the Turkey [2] | |
| Lyricist(s) | Darren Smith, Simon Fine, Dustin the Turkey [2] | |
| Place in Semifinal | 15th | |
| Points in Semifinal | 22 | |
| Lyrics | Lyrics | |
"Irelande Douze Pointe" is a parody song by the puppet act Dustin the Turkey. The song was composed by Darren Smith and Simon Fine for the competition to select the Irish submission for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. On February 23, 2008, the song won out against five other entries in Eurosong 2008, held at the University of Limerick. The song represented Ireland in the semi-finals of the song contest on May 20, 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, but failed to qualify for the final. [3]
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[edit] Song's meaning
Despite the French-sounding song title (although the French word for Ireland is Irlande, not Irelande, and the French for 12 points is douze points, not douze pointe); the lyrics of the song are mainly in English. The title refers to the Eurovision Song Contest's voting procedure, where all voting results are read in both English and French, and where a score of twelve (French: douze) is the highest possible result. The voting procedure has become notorious over the years due to geopolitical voting, especially in Eastern countries. [3]
[edit] Reception
The song has received considerable press coverage around the world, most notably Spain and Australia. Sky News even interviewed the puppet Dustin the Turkey about the song.[4]
The song received both boos and cheers during the Irish national final. It is the first Irish entry to be in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. Dustin is joined by backing singers Kathleen Burke and Anne Harrington when performing Irelande Douze Pointe.
The song is similar to the Lithuanian all-star group LT United's 2006 entry named "We Are the Winners", in that it's title suggests success in the contest, and the lyrics appeal directly for votes.
After pressure from the Greek broadcaster ERT, the EBU forced a change to the lyrics of the song so that they would not include Macedonia because of the Macedonia naming dispute.[5]
