Cahal Dunne performing "Happy Man", the Irish entry at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite its cheeriness and its optimism, kind of a "meh" tune and performance for me - and its 5th place at the voting was certainly overrated, IMO.
He is a choir director for my grandmas church choir, and tonight I got to see him sing this from about 10 feet away. I also got to shake his hand and meet him. It was an incredible experience!
Are you serious? If so, I think that makes us 3rd cousins twice removed! I only met Cathal once, at his father’s funeral. Maybe you didn’t cross the ocean for the funeral? A lovely person and he sang a fine version of Our Father.
I'm so chuffed to see Cathal Dunne giving it socks for Ireland here. I thought I'd never see this again. I had a bit of a crush on CD - I was 13 at the time. He still looks good. Thanks for taking me back in the TARDIS, tasosk3!
He's a choir director for my grandmas choir, I had the pleasure of seeing him sing this from 10 feet away and meeting him, tonight. He's is such a sweet person!
JSas97 Met him once at his father’s funeral in Cork, Ireland. He’s a distant cousin so always took a bit of pride as a child that he represented Ireland in the Eurovision. He’s also a lovely person.
couldn't agree with you more, especially about being "high on drugs" for disliking this song. But I disagree with you on Johnny Logan: I think he deserved to win like he did in '80, with his "What's another year".
I know you wrote this in 2008 but I am so agrre with you!!! Horreble and overrated song who should have got the 19th place much more than Belgium and Austria
Without a doubt THE overrated entry of 1979; no way did this old-fashioned song and this irritating performance deserve a 5th place in this strong year. Cheery, sure, but I can't believe this got more points than - off the top of my head - Denmark or Greece! I agree with LukeJanik; this was followed by a wonderfully strong Finnish song that only came 14th. Sometimes the juries just didn't have a clue.
It was as good as a pop song could be, for the late 1970's in Ireland. Having said that, I think it was a great performance. It was way ahead of the junk that represented us in the noughties. He seemed to dissapear after eurovision, and was hardly ever again heard of.
Ireland sure liked their tame love ballads in the 70's (78 being a bit of an anomaly!). This is on the better end of those, and Cathal reminds me of Neil Diamond. 5th was extremely generous in such a strong year though.
Ah! Like all Irish ESC fans of my generation I'm devastated (LOL!) by the comments. I love the lyrics & think the chorus lifts the song to a crescendo. He was obviously very nervous on the night which affected his performance. And he did compete in one of the strong years.
One of my favourite Irish entries - but admittedly the performance on the night wasn't great. The recorded version was much better. It's better to just sing the song simply rather than going over the top like he did
I was 9 when I saw this song live on eurovision and 40 years later, in work, For some unknown reason, it came to my head and singing quietly to myself. Suprised I still knew the chorus. Great song. A time when the Eurovision was great, not like to rubbish its trowing out now.
Well, I think we can conclude, that this song never would have reached the 5th place, if he hadn't sung in English. It's rather sweet, but no, it didn't deserve the top 5 placing.
Really, that's a bit absolute! And criticism IS GOOD - it only depends on whether it's actual "criticism" or just plain shooting-down, averting the subject at hand.
Seth, why all the hate for this song? Sure, the song is simple, but that's the beauty of it. You don't have to think to enjoy it, you just listen and suddenly you're swept away by the refrain. And that's what love is. Combine this with the seemingly improvised choreography that makes it look like he really *is* in love, and the whole thing comes together as an amazingly brilliant piece. The parts by themselves are decent, but it's the way they work off each other that's special.
Well, I for one am certainly not swept away by the refrain - your points are good but I don't share any of them. I admit that the verses are promising - but the chorus just lets it all down for me. Not my cup of tea at all.
