Recently in Eurovision Previews Category

It was announced by the BBC this morning that successful record producer Pete Waterman, the man who steered Kylie, Rick Astley and Steps - among others - to chart success will be behind this year's British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Although the smart money (based on tabloid and supposed insider rumour) before the official press release was let loose into the ether had either Gary Barlow, Cathy Dennis or even Elton John pencilled in for the job, there is already some confusion over whether Pete will actually be writing the song, or collaborating with another composer/s and putting some studio expertise and polish on their work. It sounds a bit like the way Andrew Lloyd Webber worked with American songwriter Diane Warren on It's My Time last year.

Swiss representative Michael von der Heide revealed his entry on live TV last night. The Swiss Music Awards gave him the opportunity to perform Il Pleut de l'or to an expectant crowd for the first time - and give a clarion call to all those with telephones to put Switzerland into the Eurovision final for the first time since 2006.

As you may have noticed in the comments section of Boom Bang a Blog (thanks to Closet Eurovision Geekette) Il Pleut de l'or does indeed translate as 'The Golden Shower'.

It's best I don't dig any deeper there, but I can't help but think a title/lyric tweak might be on the cards when word gets around about the potentially embarrassing translations any English-speaking commentators will be making on the night.

Saying that, I've listed to Il Pleut de l'or a few times now and it just sounds like a very weak Bond theme. What do you make of it, BBaBers?

You can be forgiven for not knowing that there's another Eurovision going on this weekend - because not many countries seem to want to enter it. The seventh edition of the Junior version of our favourite Contest takes place in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday night but despite the high hopes the EBU had for the event when it began in 2003, just 13 nations will be lining up in Kyiv's Palace of Sports (the same place that Proper Eurovision was staged in 2005) to have a go at winning the trophy, with the majority of entrants coming from Eastern Europe.

If you don't want to know what the UK staging will look like - or how Jade Ewen sounds live - before next Saturday, don't click any further.

Here we are - the 40th, 41st and 42nd songs taking part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. If you've been following our blogbits since we introduced Monentenegro and Czech Republic all those days ago, you should now have your favourites and possibly spotted a winner.

But don't choose until you've heard the last three songs on offer, beginning with our Teutonic chums.

GERMANY
Alex Swings Oscar Sings!: Miss Kiss Kiss Bang

Boom Bang a Blog has a pound each way on this. It's quite possibly the most under-rated entry of the year.

All of the semi-finalists have now rehearsed in Moscow's Olimpiskiy Arena. Sakis fell over, Svetlana from Ukraine's Hell Machine consists of three giant cogs with naked men in it and the Toppers remain as camp as Christmas.

So that just leaves the five finalists. Here's the first two.

FRANCE
Patricia Kaas: Et s'il fallait le faire

Depending which aisle of HMV you choose to wander through, there's a chance you may have heard of this chanteuse.

What a bumper treat for you all! As there were only three songs left from the seond semi-final to preview, they're all getting lumped in together.

And so, adopting the best Jimmy Savile stance we can muster, here we go now with a song from...

UKRAINE
Svetlana Loboda: Be My Valentine (Anti-Crisis Girl)

Quick, send granny out the room. She might start getting ideas.

MOLDOVA
Nelly Ciobanu: Hora Din Moldova

This is one of those occasions when Eurovision is more a chance to show that your country is proud to be a player on the pan-European stage than a no-holds barred assault on the trophy.

Is anyone beyond the country itself likely to be moved enough by a song which translates as Dance From Moldova to pick up the phone and dial? Possibly not, but there is something rather loveable about this. It begins with a now almost-obligatory ethnic intro, before going a bit Kirsty MacColl in her Tropical Brainstorm era.

And you have to admit, with the exception of Ms Furtado (and even she spells it the posh way), it's a brave pop star who goes by the name of Nelly.

Photographs are also floating about t'internet of Nelly looking fabulous by a Rolls Royce in a fur coat and holding a glass of champagne. Even if she doesn't make the final, she looks far too much like smashing fun to give two hoots about it.

Boom Bang a Blog's three things:

(a) Moldova's best showing so far remains its now-cult-status debut with a grandmother banging away at some drums in 2005.
(b) Their only other jaunt into the Top 10 involved a violinist who was almost wearing a dress in 2007.
(c) Last year the Moldovans sent possibly the dullest song ever performed in the Contest's 53-year history. That didn't qualify.

Rehearsals have begun in Moscow's Olimpiskiy Arena for the first few entrants in the first semi-final of this year's Contest.

This is the time when acts considered no-hopers can upset the bookies as their on-stage presence blows the assembled bloggers away, or those seen as safe hands for the trophy sound like a mouse screaming for help from the centre spot of the Wembley Stadium pitch during a crucial moment in the FA Cup Final.

And judging by this morning's action, one nation which could do better than expected is the Czech Republic.

That's a very funky stage. Just hope Roy Lichtenstein doesn't sue.

GREECE
Sakis Rouvas: This is Our Night

When it was announced that Sakis Rouvas, Greece's bronzed bronze medallist at Eurovision 2004, would be giving it another go in 2009, he made one thing clear - only first place was of any interest to him.

That's a noble statement of intent, but perhaps Mr Rouvas needs to listen to some of his previous live vocal performances before adopting that strut known as 'cocky'.

The song This Is Our Night is an OK-ish dance track, but as the footage from the first rehearsals on the Moscow stage have shown, this year the contestants are performing on a huge stage which flanks an entire wall of the Olympic Arena.

In 2004, Turkey staged the show in a converted basketball stadium which didn't have the same overwhelming vastness. How Sakis' limited vocal range will stand out in this huge auditorium remains to be seen.

A god in his homeland, Sakis' fame revolves more around his six-pack thrusting out of various magazine covers and continual rumours about his private life than any musical accomplishments. He co-hosted the show in Athens in 2006 - effortlessly proving that the olive trees his country is renowned for could beat him in the less-wooden stakes - but that didn't dent his hometown popularity.

This will get to the final, as Sakis has a fanbase which extends beyond Greece (he'll get a fair few points from the UK) - and if this gets a decent spot in the final, even his dodgy tuning won't stop Rouvas revving up the scoreboard. Which is a bit of a shame.

Boom Bang a Blog's three things:

(a) At the closing ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Sakis entered the stadium via wire lowered from a crane/helicopter where he posed and pouted in his usual fashion.
(b) When he touched the ground he fell over.
(c) Boom Bang a Blog thought this was very funny.