1969 song by Salomé
"" (; "I Live Singing") is a song recorded by Spanish singer Salomé with music composed by María José de Ceratto and lyrics written by Aniano Alcalde. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 held in Madrid, and became one of the four joint winning songs and the second song from Spain –and last to date– to win.
Salomé also recorded the song in Catalan, Basque, English, French, and Italian.
Background.
Conception.
" was composed by María José de Ceratto with lyrics by Aniano Alcalde. It is a very up-tempo number, sung from the perspective of a woman telling her lover about the positive changes he has had on her, specifically that she now lives her life singing.
Eurovision.
On 20–22 February 1969, " performed by both Salomé and Ana Kiro competed in the first edition of the , the national final organized by Televisión Española (TVE) to select the song Salomé –who had already been internally selected– would perform in the 14th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition so it became the Spanish entrant for the contest.
In addition to the Spanish language original version, Salomé recorded the song in another five languages to promote the candidacy: in Catalan as "Canto i vull viure", in Basque as "Kantari bizi naiz", in English as "The Feeling of Love", in French as "Alors je chante", and in Italian as "Vivo cantando".
On 29 March 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Teatro Real in Madrid hosted by TVE, and broadcast live throughout the continent. Salomé performed "" third on the night accompanied by Los Valldemossa –brothers Rafael, Tomeu, and Bernat Estaràs– as backing singers, following Luxembourg's "Catherine" by Romuald and preceding Monaco's "Maman, Maman" by Jean Jacques. Augusto Algueró –the event's musical director– conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the Spanish entry.
Two memorable aspects of Salomé's performance were her costume –a blue pantsuit designed by Manuel Pertegaz covered in long strands of porcelain resembling beads that weighed –, and the fact that the singer chose to dance on the spot during certain parts of the song. Dancing was against the contest rules at the time; Salomé was not penalized, however, as the performers from Ireland and the United Kingdom had done the same that year as well.
At the close of voting, the song had received 18 points, the same number of points as the United Kingdom's "Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed by Lulu, the Netherlands' "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr, and France's "Un jour, un enfant" by Frida Boccara. As there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners. "" was succeeded as a Spanish entry at the 1970 contest by "Gwendolyne" by Julio Iglesias.
Aftermath.
"Vivo Cantando" was included in Salomé's studio album of the same name. On 14 February 1970, she guest performed the song at the final of the 2nd edition of the , the national final organized by TVE in Barcelona to select the song and performer for the following Eurovision.
Legacy.
Impersonations.
Salomé performances singing "" were recreated several times in different talent shows:
References.
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