If I may refer you back to my previous post here I am happy to say that I am still fond of all those songs, especially Yes Man, Synk eller svøm, and Give it to me.

Plenty of new songs have come our way since then, some that will bedeck the stage in Oslo with their jewels, some that will only exist in a few months’ time on some anoraks’ hard disks. I suppose I should throw my hat into the ring and say that I do like the song that has been chosen for Iceland, Hera Björk’s Je ne sais quoi; I didn’t at first, very much. Too reminiscent of Euroband’s iconic “This is my life”. And indeed the music is written by the same person, so I guess he is entitled to rip himself off. Anyway, after a few high volume hearings of it cruising down the motorway, it has become firmly wedged in my brain.

To Armenia, where they have chosen “Apricot Stone” by Eva Rivas to be their representative. It’s actually a rather charming piece, with a softly evocative start, building to a nice ethnic feel and a groovy chorus. I like it. Apricots are apparently a symbol of Armenia. You learn something every day.

In Norway I’m not going to elevate their entry “My Heart is Yours” to the level of “songs I like” yet – because I am still ambivalent about it. I think I will like it in due course, but I’m not there yet. So I’m going to offer “Jealous cause I love you” by Venke Knutson as an amusing character piece; unfortunately she didn’t perform it too well when it mattered and it is a rather slight song, but it’s entertaining and you can sing it to yourself whilst doing housework. Or rather Mrs Chrisparkle could, as my back is probably too painful for me to do such a thing.

There are two songs I like in Estonia, one is Siren, which snuck in to the final luckily as a previously selected finalist was disqualified. I find it very haunting and once you hear it, very hard to get out of your head. I doubt it will win in Estonia.

I also like Maagiline Päev by Violina and Rolf Junior. I suspect in a month or so’s time if any of these selections will have got demoted from Songs I Like to Songs I’ve Had Enough Of Now, Thank You, this may be the most likely.

In Finland my choices were pretty much kicked aside early in the day. An unfortunate performance from Bääbs meant that You Don’t Know Tomorrow got a deserved flea in its ear.

I also liked America I think I love you, by the Boys of the Band, but I’m sure parts of Europe wouldn’t have approved of such an overtly political statement.

In Denmark, I really like Breathing by Bryan Rice. It came second to the eventual winner, which everyone except me is raving about.

That’ll do for now. I like some of the Melodifestivalen songs but, as you may know, SVT guard their tv output with their lives, so I can’t upload the videos.

Keep enjoying the National Finals season!