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The most political ESC entries!

Fluke

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As Macedonia's first choice of entry this year, "Imperija" was replaced as many thought it had inappropriate political undertones, it's time for a comprehensive list of the entries that can be considered political in one way or another! Technically any openly political messages are not allowed by ESC rules, but that hasn't stopped many from trying, and few have actually been refused.


The grand prize, of course, goes to Georgia 2009, "We Don't Wanna Put In!" And i don't care how much you say it wasn't a ESC entry.... it was chosen and put forward by the Georgian delegation as their 2009 entry, it doesn't matter that it wasn't actually performed at the contest!


The second place, what else, goes to "Euro Neuro", which presumably got away with it by being cryptic. But it's pretty obvious it's negative to the EU, as well as condemning nationalism and other things.


Then there's "Dancing Russia Goodbye", of course, which made many wonder how it could pass through with such an obvious anti-Russia stance.


"Eastern European Funk" would have passed for a rather innocuous celebration, if it wasn't for the one line about "survived the Reds", and a few other touches, nevertheless it made it to the ESC uncensored.


Then there's Israel's "Push the Button", which didn't upset that many, and the supposed "controversy" may have been more of a intentional publicity stunt. Funny enough, those who criticized the song mostly saw it as encouraging nuclear weapons, when the point is obviously the opposite.

From there we're moving more into songs that are just celebrations of identity (like "I Love Belarus" etc) and those that are just piss-takes with no real subject ("Baila Chiki Chiki" and that screaming turkey), but there might be some strong contenders through the years that i've missed. What's your thoughts?
 

Yamarus

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"We Don't Wanna Put In" was such an awesome song :(
 

Celia

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Could we consider :il: 2009 There must be another way too? I think it's a message for Palestinians and Israelites to make peace...
 

Verjamem

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With this images, "Sound of Our Hearts" is political to me.
 

NemesisNick

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I'll nominate "Insieme 1992" - Toto Cutugno - ESC 1990 winner Italy. The line that went "Unite, unite Europe" was clearly connected with the upcoming bringing together the borders of the countries of the European Union.
 

Fluke

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Yes indeed! That was one of the first i thought about, but i forgot to include it in the opening post. Obviously pro-EU, i wonder if they got any flack from EBU or others for it at the time?


I don't consider "There Must Be Another Way" to be political in that sense though, just an overall peace message. For the same reason i didn't count Finland's "Da da dam" and others with an enviromental undertone, as it doesn't come anywhere close to breaking the rules.
 

Yamarus

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I loved Luta é Alegria!
 

Verjamem

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"Walka jest radość" - Google Translate rocks, it was awesome :D
 

Hegepege

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Norway was very political in the 80's I recall:

A song about sami people and how they demonstrated with sami song against the building of a huge dam and a powerplant in Alta. It was a huge deal, and one of the first political issues I remember.

The cold war comes to an end.

This was embarrassing. Very. It was also properly rewarded.
 

esc87fan

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In fact, a lot of the entries in 1990 took on a political undertone with the changes facing Europe at the time
 

r3gg13

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I don't know about what you would think of this, but I thought that Apricot stone had a subtly political lyrics. (borderline social and political)


To quote several powerful lines:

Many, many years ago, when I was a little child
Mama told me you should know our world is cruel and wild

But to make your way through cold and heat
Love is all that you need

Apricot stone, hidden in my hand
Given back to me from the motherland
Apricot stone, I will drop it down in the frozen ground
I'll just let it make its round

May the winter stay away from my harvest night and day
May God bless and keep my cherished fruit
Grow my tree up to the sky, once I waved my home goodbye
I just wanna go back to my roots

I bolded some lines that just made me think of political things
 

Keko

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It pains me greatly to promote a Croatian ESC entry, buuuuuuut:


It's about Croatian War of Independence which lasted from 1991 to 1995. This was Croatian debut entry in 1993. Have some lyrics:

''Thousands of dreams far away, rose in hearts of those who fell asleep
Thousands of colorful butterflies, like souls of innocent ones

Eighteen years of my Ivan
Pray for him, song of angels

...

Give us peace, give us peace
Sky of love, sky of love

...

Don't ever cry...
MY CROOOOOATIAAAAAN SKYYYYYYY''
 

SpZ

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Oh and I think by far the most political song is this one. Especially in the non esc version.
 

esc87fan

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I'm surprised nobody mentioned Portugal 1974, the song was the signal for a military coup
 

Guilep

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:it: Italy in 1974. I don't know why about the "Si", but is political, I think.
 
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