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It's a very European time of the year, May. What with the Eurovision Song Contest and the Champions League final, citizens across Europe have a couple of opportunities to gather round the Telly and cheer on their favourites. Unfortunately it is also a time fraught with self doubt and  worry. Does the rest of Europe really hate us that much that they would completely ignore Ryan Dolan's brave effort and give us no votes? The Germans are wondering the same thing. They want to know if  Europe hates Angela Merkel enough to banish them to twenty something place in Europe's premier song contest.

 Of course the answer is no. Europe doesn't hate us, or the Germans. The main reason nobody voted for Ireland and almost nobody voted for Germany was of course that they could see that both countries were simply trying too hard. Now there are a lot of things that could stop you winning the champions league final, missed penalties, missed goal opportunities, biased refereeing, red cards, rain stopping play, injuries and so on and so on... but the single biggest reasons for not doing well in the Eurovision  are; trying too hard or sending a turkey!!
Attempting to second guess the Eurovision  public and catering to what we think they want to see and hear,  is a definite no-no. People see fake tan, fake leather, fake tatoos on fake Riverdance style drummers,  by the time they finally get to the song, it's over. Ryan gave it everything, but as a Eurovision entry it simply had nothing to hang on to when all the glamour and glitz disappeared.
Lets cut quickly to Denmark. No bells, just one whistle, straight to a melody, she didn't even bother to put on her socks. But she could sing the catchy chorus. Come to think of it, are we not the tin whistle experts? , Take Holland. They sent a perfectly normal looking mother of 4, looking like she had just dropped off her kids at the local creche and then popped in to sing us a rather non-commercial but interestingly constructed and altogether memorable little song. No dancers, no explosions, no flashing lights, yet Holland ended up in a very respectable position somewhere about halfway up the side of the scoreboard that matters.

Keep it simple, the boss is forever saying that. The Irish and German Eurovision organizers would do well to take that advice. Don't over-think it. and most importantly of all put the initial choice of songs back into the hands of the public. At the moment it seems we are generally presented with the final ten contenders in a totally non -transparent manner.  Here's a possible scenario...create a website. Allow songwriters to upload entries themselves in whatever state of production they can manage. From the beginning the public votes the most popular songs in a transparent manner until the final 10 are arrived at. Then and only then, get the professional industry types, expert pundits, producers, radio presenters involved. Together with the songwriter they can decide on how the song should be produced and it should be sung by the writer(s) or if it would be better served by some other performer. This way also the public make the ultimate choice and are not expected to get behind a song they may not even like.
One guy who certainly isn't over-thinking his charity work is Mantas, manager of Applegreen  MSA Castlebellingham Sth. Even before you can say Eurovision Song Contest, while the rest of us are talking about it, up he jumps on his bike, (while at work) and does a static cycle raising 550- for Console, while he still keeps an eye on his station. That surely deserves our 12 point vote!