After The Netherlands opted not to host the contest again so soon, the United Kingdom was given the opportunity to take the reins, and so the 1960 contest was held in London.

To begin with, the host nation decided to stick to the upbeat tempo that helped the United Kingdom finish second place in 1959. Bryan Johnson’s “Looking High, High, High” is a catchy song wherein the lyrics describe a man on a literal quest to find his missing lover. It is a strange concept, and even though Johnson’s singing style feels a bit too stilted and formal for the song at times, he manages to deliver it well. Hopefully his performance is less condescending than the UK’s previous entry.

For Sweden, Siw Malmkvist “Alla andra får varann” (Everyone Else Gets Each Other) is a brass-heavy tune which sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place in a club; I can almost see the dancers surrounding her. Malmkvist’s character expresses her frustration what I presume is unrequited love, although it’s a very cheering, danceable “oh well” portrayal if ever I heard one.

After slipping out of the contest for a year, Luxembourg returned with an unusual twist: instead of singing in French, Camillo Felgen’s “So laang we’s du do bast” (As Long As You Are There) was in Luxembourgish, the country’s national language. However, Luxembourg may as well have stayed away another year: this style of this entry harkens back to 1956, with lyrics about remaining forever true to his loved one, etc. By this time the contest was clearly moving on from this type of song.