Mysterious Woman

Mysterious Woman
Eurovision Song Contest 1997 entry
Country	Ireland
Artist(s)	Marc Roberts
Language	English
Composer(s)	John Farry
Lyricist(s)	John Farry
Conductor	none
Finals performance
Final result	2nd
Final points	157
Appearance chronology
◄ The Voice (1996)
Is Always Over Now? (1998) ►

"Mysterious Woman" was the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, performed in English by Marc Roberts.

The song is a moderately up-tempo number, with Roberts singing about a woman he saw at an airport (with a "Ticket in your hand"). He sings that he was instantly attracted to her, despite having no knowledge about where she was from or where she was going. In the course of his musing, he wonders if she was perhaps from Paris, Italy or even "the gulf of Araby". As the song ends, however, she has been called to board her plane and he is left still wondering about her.

Quite understandably, the strings on this song were not performed live. 1997 was the first year ever in which backing tracks with instruments not present on stage, were allowed to be used.

The song was performed fifth on the night, following Austria's Bettina Soriat with "One Step" and preceding Slovenia's Tanja Ribič with "Zbudi se". At the close of voting, it had received 157 points, placing 2nd in a field of 25. As of the 2010 contest, this was the last time Ireland had a song that placed in the top five.

It was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1998 Contest by Dawn Martin with "Is Always Over Now?".