Irlande Douze Pointe was the Irish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade performed by Dustin the Turkey.
Its selection as the winner of the Irish national final was met with a mixture of boos and cheers from the audience, but it was revealed afterwards that the Irish public really wanted to send a puppet to Eurovision. Prior to the semi finals, the song received press coverage around the world, most notably in the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia. Sky News even interviewed the puppet Dustin the Turkey about the song.
The song was performed 11th in the first semifinal following Poland and preceding Andorra. At the close of voting, it finished in 15th place with 22 points and failing to qualify for the final.
Lyrics[]
Oh I come from a nation what knows how to write a song
Oh Europe where oh where did it all go wrong
C’mon, Irelande douze point!
Drag acts and bad acts and Terry Wogan’s wig
Mad acts and sad acts, it was Johnny Logan’s gig!
Shake your feathers and bop your beak
Shake ‘em to the west and to the east
Wave Euro hands and Euro feet
Wave ‘em in the air to the turkey beat
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! To the funky beat
G-o-b gobble b-l-e yeah
Hello ABBA, hello Bono, hello Helsinki,
Hola Prague, hello sailor, c’est la vie,
Auf wiedersehen, mamma mia and God save the Queen
G’day Austria, bonjour Serbia, you know what I mean
Shake your feathers and bop your beak
Shake ‘em to the west and to the east
Wave Euro hands and Euro feet
Wave ‘em in the air to the funky beat
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
To the funky beat!
Give us another chance, we’re sorry for Riverdance
Sure Flatley he’s a Yank and the Danube flows through France
Block votes! Shock votes! Give us your 12 today@
You’re all invited to Dublin, Ireland
And we’ll party the shamrock way!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Irelande douze pointe! Do the funky beat c’mon!
Irelande douze pointe! Irelande douze pointe!
Eastern Europe we love you do you like Irish stew?
Or goulash as it is to you, Irelande douze pointe
Yes it’s Bulgaria we love you Belarus, Georgia,
Montenegro, Moldova, Albania, Croatia, Poland,
Russia, Ukraine, Macedonia, don’t forget Turkey,
Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and don’t forget the Swiss… Cheese
Notes[]
- Terry Wogan - an Irish TV and radio presenter, who worked for the BBC and provided the British commentary for the Contest from the 1970s until 2008.
- Johnny Logan - Ireland's most successful Eurovision entrant, winning the Contest twice as a performer (1980 and 1987) and as a songwriter (1992).
- Michael Flatley - an Irish-American dancer, best known for the stage shows Riverdance and Lord of the Dance.
Trivia[]
- After pressure from the Greek broadcaster ERT, the EBU forced a change to the lyrics of the song so that they would not include Macedonia because of the Macedonia naming dispute. This applied to the live version only and Macedonia is still mentioned in the studio version.
