Irelande Douze Pointe

Infobox ESC entry
song = flagicon|Ireland "Irelande Douze Pointe"


caption =
year = 2008
country = Ireland
artist = Dustin the Turkey
as =
with =
languages = English [The song is mostly in English, but includes words and phrases in French, German, Italian and Spanish.]
composer = Darren Smith,
Simon Fine,
Dustin the Turkey cite news|url=http://www.eurovision.tv/event/artistdetail?song=24489&event=1468|title=Ireland 2008 official page|publisher=Eurovision.tv]
lyricist = Darren Smith,
Simon Fine,
Dustin the Turkey
conductor =
place =
points =
place_semi = 15th
points_semi = 22
lyrics = [http://www.diggiloo.net/?2008ie Lyrics]
genre(s) =
clip =
prev = They Can't Stop The Spring
prev_link = They Can't Stop The Spring
next =
next_link =

"Irelande Douze Pointe" is a parody song by the puppet act Dustin the Turkey. The song was composed by Darren Smith and Simon Fine for the competition to select the Irish submission for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. On February 23, 2008, the song won out against five other entries in Eurosong 2008, held at the University of Limerick. The song represented Ireland in the semi-finals of the song contest on May 20, 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, but failed to qualify for the final. cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7261164.stm| title = Fowl Eurovision entry for Ireland| publisher = BBC News| date = 2008-02-24| accessdate = 2008-02-24 ]

Song's meaning

Despite the French-sounding song title (although the French word for Ireland is "Irlande", not "Ir"e"lande", and the French for 12 points is "douze points", not "douze pointe"); the lyrics of the song are mainly in English. The title refers to the Eurovision Song Contest's voting procedure, where all voting results are read in both English and French, and where a score of twelve (French: "douze") is the highest possible result. The voting procedure has become notorious over the years due to supposed geopolitical voting, especially in Eastern countries.

Reception

The song has received considerable press coverage around the world, most notably United Kingdom, Spain and Australia. Sky News even interviewed the puppet Dustin the Turkey about the song. [cite news| url = http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1306524,00.html | title = Irish Pick A Turkey Puppet For Eurovision| publisher = Sky News| date = 2008-02-23| accessdate = 2008-02-24 ]

The song received both boos and cheers during the Irish national final. It is the first Irish entry to be in English, Spanish, Italian, French and German. Dustin is joined by backing singers Kathleen Burke and Anne Harrington when performing Irelande Douze Pointe.

After pressure from the Greek broadcaster ERT, the EBU forced a change to the lyrics of the song so that they would not include "Macedonia" because of the Macedonia naming dispute. [cite news| url = http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/372/45/| title = Ireland told to change Song, because of Macedonia| publisher = Macedonia News| date = 2008-03-22| accessdate = 2008-03-24 ]

References

External links