'La chica que yo quiero (Made in Spain)' by La Decada Prodigiosa (Spain 1988)

Countdown to Eurovision 2013: my all-time favourites.

Puffball envy

Dublin 88.  Dion's year.  I was 9.  But it wasn't Celine's chef's tux and puffball that won it for me (mind you, what a voice! And what teeth...), but this here Spanish entry - following the tried, tested and ever continued Spanish tradition of utterly ignoring what the rest of Europe might be doing/want to hear in favour of a jangly Spanish summer pop number performed by the most Spanish looking people it is physically possible to find.   In 1988, they went Spanish Abba, and chico, did it work for me. Days after the contest, I was still rewinding and re-watching the video, over and over and over again, merrily performing my 'own' dance routine (i.e. totally copied off the telly) and joining in with the brief English bit - complete with cod Spanish accent: “the girl that I love, willhhh be MADE IN ESPAIN!”

Listening back, the whole thing is - of course - dire.  But who can deny the everlasting power of double puffball skirt and giant-fan-o-graphy? 

Fantastico.