Rock 'n' Roll Kids

HOME

TheInfoList

Click Here for Items Related To - Rock 'n' Roll Kids

OR:

Rock 'n' Roll Kids on: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Amazon]

"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" is a song by Paul Harrington and

Charlie McGettigan Charles Joseph McGettigan (born 7 December 1950, Ballyshannon, County Donegal) is an Irish singer. He lives in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim. Career Performing with Paul Harrington, he won the Eurovision Song Contest 1994 with the song "Rock 'n' R ...

that was the winning song of the

Eurovision Song Contest 1994 The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "In Your Eyes" by Niamh Kavanagh. It was the first time that any country ...

, written by

Brendan Graham Brendan Graham (born 1945) is an Irish songwriter and novelist. Among songs he has written are "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" (1994) and "The Voice" (1996), both of which won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in their respective years, and "You Rai ...

and performed for . The song was Ireland's sixth overall victory, and represented an unprecedented third consecutive time that the same country had won the contest. There was a myth among Irish media that the song was deliberately chosen ''not'' to win. As the contest rules expect the previous year's winner to host the next edition of the contest, the argument runs that the Irish broadcaster was not prepared to do this for a third consecutive year, hence the selection; this has never been proven. Even when Ireland hosted the event in , Irish entrant Marc Roberts confirmed that

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

wanted him to go out and win it, as they had done a deal with

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

to host it the following year in case of another Irish victory. The song, however, won the contest and is popular among Eurovision fans, even being performed in part by McGettigan and

Jakob Sveistrup Jakob Sveistrup (born 8 March 1972) is a Danish singer. He entered the Danish music scene in 2003 as a competitor in the Danish televised talent contest '' Stjerne for en aften'' ("Star for a Night"). He made it to the finals. Unusually, Sveistru ...

at the ''

Congratulations Congratulations may refer to: Film and television *'' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', 2005 television programme to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary Music Albums * ''Congratulations'' (album), an album by ...

'' special in late 2005. It was the first winning song ever to be performed without orchestral accompaniment, as McGettigan's guitar and Harrington's piano were the only instruments needed. It was also the first time in the contest when a song scored over 200 points. Lyrically, the song originally had seven verses, representing various decades including the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s but on the advice of a DJ, Graham dropped the last two verses as they felt the song was too long. Graham got the inspiration for the title while attending a

Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...

concert at Dublin's

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

in 1991. He entered it in 1992 and 1993 and it failed to get through both times, but was accepted in 1994. According to Graham, "I saw the song as a small song, as a conversation in the kitchen, and I wanted the listeners to be drawn into that kitchen, and into that conversation". The song was performed third on the night, following 's

CatCat CatCat is a Finnish duo that participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Nort ...

with " Bye Bye Baby" and preceding '

Evridiki Evridiki Theokleous ( el, Ευρυδίκη Θεοκλέους, ; born 25 February 1968), known professionally as simply Evridiki, is a Greek-Cypriot rock, pop, and electropop singer. She is best known in Europe for representing her home countr ...

with " Ime Anthropos Ki Ego". At the close of voting, it had received 226 points, placing first in a field of 25. The song was succeeded as winner in by Secret Garden representing with "

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

". It was succeeded as Irish representative that year by

Eddie Friel Edward Joseph Friel was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1962. He is a B. Mus. Honours graduate who in 1986 started his professional career as a music teacher. After one year he decided to pursue his talents as a musician and composer in ...

with " Dreamin'". To commemorate the 20th anniversary of their victory, Harrington and McGettigan performed a gig in the Sugar Club in Dublin in 2014. Graham reminisced about the inspiration of the song while accepting his Eurovision trophy: "As I stood on the stage at the

Point Depot The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Qu ...

, through the applause and the cheers, I heard a sound roll in over the Liffey Banks – the sound of a rollin', rumbling piano... and for a moment, I wasn't there. I was back in the Stadium on Bourbon Street, on that steamy Dublin night in 1991. Thank you Fats!"

Charts

See also

*Following three consecutive Irish victories in the ESC in 1992, 1993, and 1994, writers of the ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until ...

'' comedy series wrote an episode entitled "

A Song For Europe A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

" jumping on the idea that RTÉ would pick a song that would lose on purpose.

References

{{Authority control Eurovision songs of Ireland Eurovision songs of 1994 Eurovision Song Contest winning songs 1994 songs Songs written by Brendan Graham CNR Music singles Songs about nostalgia Songs about rock music Songs about old age