Rock Bottom (Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran song)

"Rock Bottom"
Cover of vinyl single
Eurovision Song Contest 1977 entry
Country	United Kingdom
Artist(s)	Lynsey de Paul
With	Mike Moran
Language	English
Composer(s)	Lynsey de Paul / Mike Moran
Lyricist(s)	Lynsey de Paul / Mike Moran
Conductor	Ronnie Hazlehurst
Finals performance
Final result	2nd
Final points	121
Appearance chronology
◄ "Save Your Kisses for Me" (1976)
"The Bad Old Days" (1978) ►

"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink;^[1] and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for "A Song For Europe" by the publishers and when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her.^[2] On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the "A Song for Europe 1977" event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan. It was the first time that a singer/songwriter represent the U.K. at the Eurovision Song Contest.

The jaunty sing-a-long song says that when people are in a bad situation they should work to solve problems and not be pessimistic about tragedies. Apparently it represented the situation at the time; Eurovision 1977 was almost cancelled due to budget restrictions and it was delayed by five weeks due to a strike by cameramen and technicians.^[3] The BBC, who had to host the contest that year, did not give the song its whole-hearted support because it was the favourite to win the contest and, if it had won, then they would have to finance and host the 1978 contest.^[4]

The song contest was planned to take place on 2 April due to the cameramen and technicians being on strike, but it was rescheduled and finally took place on the 7 May.^[5][6] The song was performed ninth on the night, following Portugal's Os Amigos with "Portugal no coração" and preceding Greece's Pascalis, Marianna, Robert & Bessy with "Mathima Solfege". At the close of voting, it had received 121 points, placing second in a field of 18 entries.

It was preceded by "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man as the British representative at the Eurovision Song Contest and succeeded by Co-Co with "The Bad Old Days". De Paul was the last established and well-know international artist to enter the contest for the UK until Scott Fitzgerald in 1988.

"Rock Bottom" charted in several European countries, topping the charts in Switzerland, no. 2 in Austria, no. 4 in Germany, no. 6 in Sweden (no. 4 on the Poporama chart),^[7] no. 7 in Ireland and Norway and no. 10 in France and Israel. In the UK Singles Chart, it reached no. 19.^[8] It also made no. 13 on the Radio Luxembourg Top 30.^[9] On the basis of sales from the record-buying public of Europe, it was the winning entry, outperforming the contest's winner,^[10][11] a quarter of a million copies being sold in Germany alone,^[12] where it was the 38th best selling single of 1977.^[13] After the Eurovision Song Contest, it was released as one of the tracks on an EP in Portugal entitled "Conjunto Pentagrama" ("Pentogram Set"), together with the French entry "L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant", the Irish entry "It's Nice To Be In Love Again" and the Monaco entry "Une Petite Française".^[14]

In a ranking by The Daily Telegraph of all of the UK's Eurovision Song Contest entries over the last 59 years, "Rock Bottom" came in at no. 9^[15] and a year later they wrote "Not just a fun, honky-tonk tune, but also a rather memorable performance. Moran and de Paul were dressed in fetching Edwardian morning-suits, sat back-to-back playing a pair of duelling grand pianos."^[16] In an analysis of all Eurovision Song Contest songs that entered the German singles chart, it was ranked number 20, based on number of weeks on the chart and charts positions achieved.^[17]

The duo also recorded a German version of "Rock Bottom" called "Für Immer" with German lyrics by Marianne Rebesky,^[18] which also had healthy sales figures in German speaking countries,^[11] and this version was covered by the band Wir.^[19] De Paul and Moran's version of "Für Immer" appeared on the CD Greatest Hits - Lynsey de Paul.^[20] Instrumental versions of the song also appeared on James Last's album Auf Last Geht's Los. Other versions have been recorded by the Studio Group, Armi & Danny (Danny (Finnish singer), Jörgen Petersenin Orkesteri, Ted Weber, Brothers Of The World, Leni, Günter Noris, Inger Lise (Inger Lise Rypdal) & Stein (Stein Ingebrigtsen), Daniel Janin, Bingos, and The Hiltonaires and, most recently by jazz guitarist Denny Wright.^[21]

The song has featured on Eurovision compilation albums such as This Is... Eurovision,^[22] Ultimate Eurovision Party!,^[23] Favoriet Van Follet - 18 Unieke Eurovisiesongs (18 unique Eurovision songs)^[24] and Stars Of Eurovision,^[25] as well as a number of de Paul's compilation CDs. It was also a track on the CD double album Die Ultimative Chart Show - Die erfolgreichsten Piano-Hits aller Zeiten in 2010, which made the Swiss and Austrian albums charts.^[26] In 2018, the song was one of 16 songs chosen as 1970s Eurovision classics on a specially released vinyl album that also featured ABBA, Brotherhood Of Man, Baccara, The New Seekers, Anne-Marie David and Gigliola Cinquetti.^[27]

References