Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since ‘My Lovely Horse’.
That’s right, it’s been two decades since the creation of one of the greatest songs in Irish music history and the anniversary will be celebrated in style at this year’s Electric Picnic.
Clip via Channel 4
At this year’s festival in Stradbally, Electric Picnic’s Trailer Park will host a very unique song contest called ‘A Rubbish Song for Europe’, encouraging fans to re-create the infamous ‘My Lovely Horse’, the joking Eurovision hopeful from 1996.
Providing Nin Hoogen and the Hoogen Notes have no objection, of course.
The winner of A Rubbish Song for Europe will be selected at a LIVE talent (if that is the word) contest at Electric Picnic’s Trailer Park Area ‘My Lovely Ranch’.
To get that far, in the initial round, judges are asking for simple home-produced videos to be uploaded via YouTube and the link entered on the application here.
Videos must be under two minutes long, with ‘no-holds barred’ production values, an evidence of some musical talent and a vigorous dress sense. Judges are not looking for a new rendition of ‘My Lovely Horse’ but instead an original – or baldly plagiarised – composition, with a performance bearing the hallmarks of a tight budget.
To give potential contestants an idea of what the judges are looking for, Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy, the composer of ‘My Lovely Horse’, has put together his own entry with the help of Cathy Davey, titled ‘Tiffin Tin’.
Clip via My Lovely Horse Rescue
Videos must be uploaded by July 1 with your chances of being shortlisted significantly improving if you donate a subscription fee of €10 to My Lovely Horse Rescue Charity when you have submitted your application.
The judges will select 15 songs, each to be performed live in front of the judges in either Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, Cork or Dublin in July or August. Don’t worry, if you are picked, organisers will be in touch with details for the night.
Three songs will be selected from each heat and the final 15 will be performed live at Electric Picnic 2016, in My Lovely Ranch at Trailer Park, so if you haven’t got your tickets yet, this might be your best way to secure your place at the festival.
Commenting on the announcement, Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy said: “I recall receiving an excited phone call in early ’96 from Graham asking for, amongst other strange things, a ‘really cheesy Eurovision song’ – for which he and Arthur would provide the words.
“I said yes. When I received the lyrics I laughed a lot, and then knocked it out on the guitar almost instantaneously. My Lovely Horse went on to be widely regarded as ‘THE GREATEST SONG EVER WRITTEN’. Now go, my people, and do likewise. It’s your big chance – screw it up!”
For more information, contact [email protected].
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