"What's Another Year" is a song recorded by Irish singer-songwriter Johnny Logan with music composed and lyrics written by Shay Healy. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1980 The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NOS), which agreed to stage the eve ...

held in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, resulting in his first win at the contest, as well as the country's second victory. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in May 1980.

Background

Conception

"What's Another Year" was written by Shay Healy. When

showband The Irish showband () was a dance band format popular in Ireland from the 1950s to the 1980s, with its peak in the 1960s. These bands typically had seven to ten members, including a rhythm section and a brass section with various combinations o ...

frontman Glen Curtin, the original choice of singer, turned it down, the song was rearranged by Bill Whelan to suit Johnny Logan's singing style. Musically, the song is easily identifiable by its

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

introduction played by Scottish musician Colin Tully. Logan recorded the song in English, German –as "Was ist schon ein Jahr"–, and Spanish –as "¿Qué es un año más?"–.

Eurovision

On 9 March 1980, "What's Another Year" performed by Logan competed in the organised by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. The song won the competition so it became the –and Logan the performer– for Eurovision. On 19 April 1980, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the in

hosted by (NOS), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Logan performed "What's Another Year" seventeenth on the evening, following 's " Hé, hé M'sieurs dames" by Profil and preceding 's " Quédate esta noche" by Trigo Limpio. Noel Kelehan conducted the event's live orchestra in the performance of the Irish entry. At the close of voting, it had received 143 points, placing first in a field of nineteen, and winning the contest. In his winning reprise, Logan was overcome with emotion and could not achieve the high notes near the end of the song. Instead, he called out "I love you Ireland", a phrase he would repeat seven years later. It was succeeded as Eurovision winner at the by " Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz for the . It was succeeded as Irish representative 1981 by " Horoscopes" by Sheeba.

Aftermath

The success of "What's Another Year" launched Logan's Eurovision career. He would go on to win the with " Hold Me Now", and he would have another win as songwriter with " Why Me?" by Linda Martin in the . On 22 August 1981, Logan performed his song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary concert '' Songs of Europe'' held in

Mysen Mysen is the administrative center of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Eidsberg in the counties of Norway, county of Østfold in Norway. The town is named after the old farm of Mysen (Old Norse, Norse ''Mysin'', from ''*Mosvin''), si ...

. "What's Another Year" was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and a

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU) reference group, from among the 992 songs that had ever participated in the contest, to participate in the fiftieth anniversary competition '' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'' held on 22 October 2005 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. On 31 March 2015, in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary concert ''

Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' (also known as ''Eurovision's Greatest Hits'') was a live television concert programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and produced by the BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation (BB ...

'' held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Logan performed the song as part of a medley with "Why Me?" and "Hold Me Now". In the television special '' Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light'', aired on 16 May 2020 throughout Europe, Logan performed the song live from a studio in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He was backed by the special's presenters Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, and Jan Smit from their studio in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

, and a chorus of Euro-fans from around the world. A short video highlighting Logan's three Eurovision wins was shown during the instrumental bridge of the song.

Track listing

* European single 7" / 45 RPM single (RL 1005)/(EPC 8572) :A. "What's Another Year" :B. "One Night Stand" * Spanish single 7" single (EPC 8572) :A. "Por un Año Más" - 3:08 :B. "One Night Stand" - 3:52 * West German single 7" single (EPC 8732) :A. "Was Ist Schon Ein Jahr" - 3:08 :B. "One Night Stand" - 3:52

Charts

The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in May.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Legacy

The song was covered by Shane MacGowan of

The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

in the ''Song for Eurotrash'' cover album of 1998.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1980 songs 1980 singles Johnny Logan (singer) songs Eurovision songs of 1980 Congratulations Eurovision songs UK singles chart number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Sweden Eurovision songs of Ireland Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Eurovision Song Contest-winning songs Pop ballads Epic Records singles