Love Games (Belle and the Devotions song)

Infobox ESC entry
artist = Kit Rolfe, Laura James and Linda Sofield
song = flagicon|United Kingdom Love Games
country = United Kingdom
year = 1984
as = Belle and the Devotions
with =
language = English
languages =
composer = Paul Curtis and Graham Sacher
lyricist = Curtis and Sacher
conductor = John Coleman
place = 7th
points = 63
lyrics = [http://www.diggiloo.net/?1984uk from Diggiloo Thrush]
place_semi =
points_semi =
clip =
prev = I'm Never Giving Up
prev_link = I'm Never Giving Up
next = Love Is
next_link = Love Is (Vikki Watson song)

"Love Games", written and composed by Paul Curtis and Graham Sacher, was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed by the trio Belle and the Devotions, which was headed by Kit Rolfe.

Belle and the Devotions won the right to perform at Luxembourg by winning the UK national final, "A Song for Europe", where they were the fourth act to perform. At Luxembourg, the song was performed sixth on the night, after Norway's Dollie de Luxe with "Lenge Leve Livet", and before Cyprus's Andy Paul with "Anna Maria Lena." At the end of judging that evening, "Love Games" took the seventh-place slot with 63 points. At the time, the song was the third-worst performer for the United Kingdom since entering Eurovision in 1957 (the songs in 1966 and 1978 were the only ones to rank lower).

The song was an homage to the girl group sound of 1960s Motown, with the girls lamenting that their lovers had "played love games" with them and broken their hearts. The trio was dressed in bright day-glo coloured jackets and miniskirts, with similarly eye-popping hair (Rolfe went for a platinum blonde, while the other singers dyed their hair yellow and bright red, respectively).

At the end of their performance, some cheers in the audience were met with boos, as many people in Luxembourg were still upset with the United Kingdom after English football fans rioted in the country as a result of being knocked out of the European Championship the previous November. [O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16/newsid_2540000/2540025.stm 1983: England fans rampage in Luxembourg] ]

After Eurovision, the song peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart.

References