Not particularly perturbed by finishing in last place on debut, Monaco return with Francois Deguelt performing the tortured lover’s lament “Ce Soir La” (That Night), a song which doesn’t sound like it would be out of place in the first couple of contests. No progression yet, then. However, it is far better in balance and execution, with Deguelt given the space to make the most use of his voice, and the eventual build up of tension in the music to link the dramatic opening to the even more dramatic ending at least gives the song some structure.

The first Swiss entry to be sung entirely in Italian, “Cielo e terra” (Heaven and Earth), performed by Anita Traversi, is unusual in the sense that when I searched for this song on YouTube most of the recorded versions were around two-and-a-half minutes (as opposed to the four-minute performance at the contest). Hence, I’m going into this fully aware that there will probably be some orchestral meandering in the live version. Not that I think this is going to help much — the song is one-paced, with uninteresting lyrics which appear to be about the fleeting nature of time in relationships(?). Traversi’s voice is the best part of the song, but it’s not enough to save it.