1958. André Claveau, "Dors, mon amour" (France)
This is ostensibly a lullaby from the singer to his sleepy lover, although the music is fairly upbeat with more than a faint air of Percy Faith's "Theme From a Summer Place" (which would be recorded two years later, but the coincidental similarities are there). Dramatizations of the eternal love between couples apparently made for great sleep aids in Europe in the late 50's. Stylistically, I found this inconsistent -- is it a gentle lullaby or a vehicle for the chanson singer's voice? -- but by the end, you've got to fairly hard hearted to say that Claveau can't stick the landing. 6/10.
1959. Teddy Scholten, "'n Bettje" (Netherlands)
The cheeky sense of humour that characterizes this song works immeasurably better than it did on Corry Brokken's "Net als toen". First, it's a playful, upbeat song that doesn't take itself too seriously. More importantly, Scholten gives a memorable performance by clearly having fun with the song, telling the story through her eyes even more so than with her voice, and utilizing a wide variety of coquettish facial expressions to completely immerse herself in the character. As a song, it's fairly basic, but make no mistake, this was a champions' performance by Scholten, the first truly great performance by a Eurovision winner. 7/10.
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