Abba crowned queens of Eurovision

Abba's Waterloo has been voted the Eurovision Song Contest's best ever tune during a 50th anniversary event in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Organisers decided to allow viewers in 31 countries to vote on a shortlist of just 14, a wise move since it avoided the embarrasing spectacles of the Greek jury awarding douze points to a Cypriot goatherd playing a lament for his partitioned isle on the nose flute and former world pop superpower Great Britain coming away with nul points as a result of its improvident involvement in Iraq.*

Second spot was occupied by Domenico Modugno of Italy with Volare with Irish crooner Johnny Logan and Hold me now in third. The UK's former domination of Europop secured it fifth spot with the peerless Save your kisses for me, forever etched in the memory of anyone old enough to remember 1976's epic musical battle which saw the Brotherhood of Man soundly thrash Yugoslavia's Ne Mogu Skriti Svoju Bol and Finland's Pump-Pump into melodic submission.

Sadly, the 1975 Dutch sensation Ding Ding-A-Dong did not make the final cut, so here's a verse in celebration of all that is great and good in Eurovision:

When you feelin' alright, everything is up-tight
Try to sing a song that goes ding ding-a-dong
There will be no sorrow when you sing tomorrow
And you walk along with your ding-dang-dong

Outstanding. Here are the top five Eurovision hits of all time:

1. Waterloo - Abba, Sweden, 1974
2. Nel blu, di pinto di blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno, Italy, 1958
3. Hold me now - Johnny Logan, Ireland, 1987
4. My Number One - Helena Paparizou, Greece, 2005
5. Save your kisses for me - Brotherhood of Man, UK, 1976

Bootnote

*Oh, alright then, the reason Jemini got nul points in 2003 was because they were crap. And the song was crap.