It's Eurovision weekend, and we can only wish the very best of luck to Britain's entry 'You're Not Alone', performed by Joe and Jake.
But with all due respect to the lads - as well as to
other Eurovision legends like Abba, Bucks Fizz and Katrina & The Waves - one song in particular will never be displaced as JOE's all-time favourite.
That song is 'My Lovely Horse', which was the centrepiece of the classic
Father Ted episode 'A Song For Europe' that aired 20 years ago this spring.
(Yep, 20 YEARS AGO).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg
The episode revolved around Ted (Dermot Morgan) and Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon) trying to compose an entry for the song contest that will send the winning track to represent Ireland at that year's Eurovision Song Contest.
Needless to say, the two fellas are not naturally gifted songwriters - and the best they can come up is a tuneless ditty about a horse that just so happens to be lovely.
As their dreams - quite literally - look set to be dashed, and
after some competitive goading from that smug git Father Dick Byrne, Ted convinces gormless Dougal to go along with a scam where they steal the melody from an obscure Eurovision entry to give some polish and class to their own song-writing effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SphqcYTnEcA
Sure enough, the whole plan falls apart, as only it can for poor Ted, and the lads end up having to perform their original turkey, much to the merriment of Dick Byrne and the silent astonishment of the Song Contest audience.
(They still end up "winning", but that's a whole other matter).
Dougal's "dream version" of 'My Lovely Horse' was, in reality, written by show creators Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews, and singer Neil Hannon from
The Divine Comedy.
https://twitter.com/Glinner/status/1820943783
The cringe
Horse video
was inspired by the promo for this song, 'That's What Friends Are For', performed by The Swarbriggs, which was Ireland's Eurovision entry in 1975.
https://twitter.com/Mumbler3/status/518108184108879872
Here's that full video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL06SqEhsok
The Swarbriggs didn't win with that tune alas (they lost to 'Ding-a-Dong' from the Netherlands), and not many people today would be familiar with either song.
But 'My Lovely Horse' has proved to be imperishable. Two years ago,
a petition in Ireland called upon the powers-that-be to send the song as Ireland's real entry for the Eurovision (it was rejected, sadly).
Just today, Channel 4 sent this cheeky message to Ireland's Nicky Byrne,
who failed to qualify for this weekend's final:
https://twitter.com/Channel4/status/731069015536214016
It's a half-joke not lost on other Irish Eurovision observers:
https://twitter.com/jasonedge1/status/731041327270531073
https://twitter.com/TooManyEmmas/status/730866297295261698
Indeed, #mylovelyhorse was trending in Ireland after the country's disappointing semi-final performance:
https://twitter.com/CarrieHLloyd/status/730853270428749824
Co-composer Neil Hannon has embraced the song's legacy too - here he is performing it for the BBC a few years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OztB98Odm1M
He also broke it out at a music festival last year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbv2lT0b6eU
Hannon even named a charity EP after his famous creation:
https://twitter.com/hamiltoo/status/725774418622951424
So for the weekend that's in it, play the song at the highest volume and sing along:
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