Based on Russia 2021
Manizha — Russian Woman

Two chickens digging a tunnel as quietly as they can
Wait…    Ah, Ah, Ahhhh… !
One tries to stop the other sneezing

Close call!
They carry on digging

Following my poorly laid out plan
Corrugated walls were stacked up high
Captured birds were poisoned instantly
Hapless heads on poles ensuring our compliance

Chickens clench in fear
You’re better just not looking, fear will win!
Chickens clench in fear
I’ve got another plan! Let’s go, who’s in?
This one involves rocks, heaving rubble out
Lots and lots of lovely dynamite, blasting underground
Jotting, dotting, plotting corridors
Excavate our lives, then we will be free!
Sighs as she looks around

Just you, Beth?
Surely there’s more?

“Clown! Clown!”

“Jenga!”

“Baba!”

“High! Low!”

Caving underneath was very slow
“Sad! Eyes!”

The two of us were aching from the toil
“Colour!”

Daily we got nearer to our goal
“Bees! Bees!”

Eventually we’d get to go AWOL!
“Two-Step!”

Stocked up on some howitzers
Old, but half the price
Just on the small off-chance
All our plans go south

Our failure last visit
“M.O!”  just don’t listen

They’re really quite silly
No word of a fib
Yet I DID all I could and
I DID think of others!
Don’t go slagging me off, I’m at odds with my conscience!
You don’t think I thought this? I’m tortured!
(I’m fine now)
I’m choosing some karma
I’ve planned this some time now
We’re mining this space
A Shawshank Redemption!

It appears I’m repeating, but this time we will escape this venue. I will not be charred
Chicken Vindaloo

Underground
Four miles down
Set of hen-made corridors
Final check success
Safety tests done
Large space to go
There’s hope for my family
Let’s go round them up!

“House! House!”

“New! Land!”

That one there, it had to take my 12!

They slide down a steep bit of tunnel
Weeeeeeee

Staying where we were was a firm no!
“Mongol!”

Our fallen paid the price more than we know!
“Dobri!”

Maybe there’s some light? End of tunnel?
“Wall! Talk!”

How long, Beth, did you say it would go on?
“Surprise”

(this is apparently a picture of me. I’m middle aged)

Hey wait a moment…  (oh no…)
“Malice!”

Seen that before, girl…
she looks suspiciously at Beth
“Flirts Back!”

You double-crossed!
“Shoes Washed!”

We’ve circled back!
“Scenes!”

(me hugging the old man as tightly as I can)

Dumb bitch, you snake!
“Spit On Children!”

What did they pay?
“Love Is A Bus!”

Beth: “My Family Safe!”
“Ma Dove Cazzo”

Take her away!
“The Ebstein Files!”

Wrong Outside (wails)
Still Inside
Right back where we started from
That’s our coop right there!

So, whats to come? (wails)
More deaths by gun?
A door opens suddenly
Guess we’ll find out now… Aggghhhh!

Chickens enter the door, fall into a cavern beyond one by one, bright with light to an unknown future..
“Aghh”    “Aghh”
“Yeee…?”    “Yeee…?”
Camera pans away showing a tunnel entry and a tunnel exit hole next to each other.
“Whaa…?”    “Whaa…?”

 

Chickens can be heard gasping in delight…

Based on Malta 1996
Miriam Christine – In a Woman’s Heart

http://escnation.com/mbnews/viewmsg.php?id=5366450
Author note: be careful what you wish for 😉

Like Verstappen powered by Elon Musk
Ingvild’s been running away from dawn till dusk
Κωνσταντίνος has been harassing her
Since she said hello, he lives in a blur

And I follow them, it’s like I am streaming
A bad Netflix show, that I am really hooked in

Ingvild on the run, stalker Cypriot guys are her peeve
Fighting for her life, to survive she now needs to leave
Otherwise, she will find herself married to him for life
And there’s just no way they can keep the flame alive

She seems so tired, Omega 3 would help
She’s just desperate, so she begins to yelp
No one helps her, Johnny and Mary stop
But Harrow ignores her, he’s in a thrift shop

In the airport now, she’s booking the next flight
No matter where to, she did not check, it’s all right

Ingvild on the run, imminent Brexit waits for her
“Where this plane goes to?”, she asks a nice ginger monsieur
“Nicosia? No! Was hoping for Pluto or beyond”
She is dejected now, she feels like she has been conned

Maybe she should give up
(succumb to euboria)
Well, he smells like a wet dog
But, then, his teeth are white
And his genetics seem just fine
Can do wooooooorse, much worse

Oh, wait!
He goes to meet her
Surrender!

No more on the run, Ingvild just settles for him
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
(Not Ryan Gosling)
The posh Cypriot guy is giving her a small package
Wonder what’s inside, antibiotics maybe? Don’t think so, no, no
(Want to see it now)
It’s a… it’s a…
(Just can’t believe it)
Skagen watch

This intends to be a tribute to all the non-finalists. There is a reference to each one of the non-finalists. Some of the references are more subtle while others are more in your face. Well done everybody, some true gems and some serious robberies there <3

Based on Italy 1983
Riccardo Fogli — Per Lucia

French Riviera bella, I’ve arrived
Too pricey, but expenses are paid by RAI
Observing the excessive reckless wealth dispersal
Then tomorrow it’s my first rehearsal

Where to be at? Need to find it
In Fontvieille, one place that
Can hold events like it
Léo Ferré Auditorium
The largest, seems likely
Locked down, entry prevented

Grand Casino? Worth a try
But no Bernadette there
Just gamblers and drunks
In Le Rocher, Prince’s Palace
A banquet of some sort
Could be opening party?

Asked Rainier if Miss Charell’s nearby
“The blonde girl, is she still here?” – He starts to cry
This banquet sucks, excused myself to leave the party
On the way home, by the port, a sign reads:

“Le Grand Prix”, ha! Think I’ve found it!
Spectators are crowding
Supporters of Stavros?
Gry, or Farré? Hell.. Remedios?!
It seems on the road, though
With cute shallow autos

Open-wheel cars
Like a go-kart
But where is Carola’s?
Guy’s tricolour bonnet?
Beautiful race, not much fun though
If that’s Eurovision
Shame on Monte Carlo

I’m not sure this is it, and left
Too silent is the voice Corinne Hermès
Enough with this ridiculous search, that’s not funny
Urgent matter, I perform domani

Fantasiaa? Did I dream it?
Are all a bit stupid, went to Indonesia?
And it’s today
I’ll just chance it
Watch opening credits
Then get there by taxi

A cathedral with two towers
Orchestral air footage
Of way too high mountains

La Baviera? Wait a second..
Got my Monacos mixed up
Non è il principato

Based on Slovenia 1997
Tanja Ribič — Zbudi se

Sound of sudden rumble
Somewhere out at sea
One night in November
Nineteen sixty three
Startled fish saw
Lava pluming from the deep
Once things cooled down
Then an island had appeared

Soon a host of lichens
Then came seals and moss
Poop from hoards of puffins
Fertilized the soil
Since that moment
Iceland gained another realm
Old norse giant
Kindly let it take his name

Brand new land has emerged
Desolate, but that could change
Who knows what the future holds?
With so many possibles

Brand new land, could it be?
A grand Eurofan Resort?
We could move there when we’re old
Spend our days in blissfulness

Brand new land, take your pick:
Pub Yaz Bitti, Hotel Mess
Swim the Sonia hot spring pool
Hike across Mount Coco-dance

Such great plans…

(Ah ah ah…)

Slow erosion
Takes back what the ocean gave
Surtsey withers
Soon sleeps far beneath the waves

Based on Georgia 2023
Iru — Echo

Wander around
In Tetritsqaro
The sun on my face
It’s time to lie down
Need to getaway
From stress of the day now
Worries can all forget

Laze low
Chill alone
Gentle breeze

🐝

Lying in this perfect weather
Nothing can disturb my pleasure

🐝

Is that bees?
Oh no!

Maybe I go
I’m thinking, yet no!
I gotta keep faith
Do not get me down
It will go away
If I only hold still
Iru just be patient

Hiding I go
Inside tree hollow
I think I’ve escaped
No critters around
Get on with my day
Laying in the hay now
There’s no time for regret

Head is tickled by the heather
But why is it black and yellow?

🐝🐝🐝
🐝🐝🐝

Bye bye leisure
Climb blood pressure

🐝🐝🐝🐝
🐝🐝🐝🐝
🐝🐝
🐝🐝
🐝🐝🐝🐝
🐝🐝🐝🐝

Tree’s bee home
I’m horribly mobbed
I better be braced
In bushes bed down
Can I breakaway
Beg the bees to buzz off
It’s become a barrage

Daisy, no
Bizikebi go
I’ll give each one a name
And ask of this horde
They might go away
Let me on with day now
Honeys, can’t you beat it?

🐝

The swarm looks diminished
I’m making progress
Bye to the excess
Now’s only one left

Gooooooooooooooooo!

My fight is over
Over

Day’s restored
For hard work reward
A smile is on face
My relax is found
Can return to lay
Will have happy day now
They have been extincted

 

🐝

Based on Serbia 2026
Lavina — Kraj mene

He has some good days, and some not so great.
Some days he runs the gamut: fear, shame, clarity, rage.

MORNING

When he wakes up in his bed
he hasn’t a clue where he is.
But he knows the sheets are wet.
Realising what he has done
shocks him right out of his funk.
Distressed, he waits for help to come.

Mortified, he lets a young nurse wash him down there,
wondering when he came to depend on other men.

Then, when they lead him to where breakfast waits,
he can’t remember what he ate the previous day.
And while he sits, the world just dissipates;
thoughts lost or lost in thought, he couldn’t say.

AFTERNOON

Standing in front of a mirror,
he fingers an old comb,
no idea who the man is before him
or when he can go home.

Led into the dayroom, he startles:
there’s music and colours and birthday cake.
Then he sees that at one of the tables
a woman is eating a paper plate.

He wants to laugh, but it’s too much to bear.
What is he doing in this madhouse full of old men
that smells of piss and shit and living death?
Cold fear and torment start to fill his head –

Then he forgets.

SUNDOWN

His anger blazes, but it knows no blame.
Who is this haggard woman who keeps calling him ‘dad’?
He doesn’t recognize her, know her name.
He’s only twenty-one. She must be mad.

Based on Serbia 2022
Konstrakta — In corpore sano

“Paris departing now from platform ten”

My reservation in the name of Madam Marchal
Quiet location
Organisation of work systems makes my life full
With no vacation
(She’s an organiser)

Smelly man
And he’s exuding tobacco, shouts “I need beer!”
So I cough
And ever so forcefully tapping sign which says:
“Please note kindly: QUIET ZONE so please keep all your noise down” but he carries on
So I call the guard as I’m keeping up my thin-lip glare
He says as he’s dragged away “Sorry madam, sorry grand-mère!”

The silence is restored, so let’s get working:

Gantt chart shading, spreadsheet making
Flow chart flowing, nev-nev-nev-never slowing
Task assigning
Audit tracking – someone gets a firing…

Then I’m distracted by a noise:
On speakerphone to his assistant
Is a man who’s very chatty so I gently pass him
A small card: “Please don’t use the speaker”
Quickly screwing up the card, he loudly carries on regardless so I deploy
All my force

Write down his boasting of how he conned employers doing all this false accounting into
His own accounts

“Oh don’t worry darling – on my way to tell her
I’m gonna leave her for you sexy lover
I’m gonna move us to Aruba”
So I set up:
My computer, onion router
Prosecutor of this looter
(Steal his future)
I’m untraceable

I’m hacking banking details (And he’s still talking)
So many texts too (And he’s still talking)
And downloading all the money files (And he’s still talking)
Treasure trove of all his data flows (And he’s still talking)

Let’s mine all this data, let’s get working

Audit scanning all his banking
Flow charts showing cryp-cryp-cryp crypto flowing
Lovers’ meetings
Wikileaking all the sordid details

(Adultery scandal and corporate scandal)
(Adultery scandal and corporate scandal)
He sees online scandal, it’s going so viral
Then he is sweating, and turns beetroot red
Boss on email informing she fired him
Wife on speaker declaring she left him
Cops are here, embarking, they see him
At his seat, they swiftly arrest him

I get back to work

Based on Russia 2021
Manizha — Russian Woman

Chickens cackle in their coop
Lay… ugh, ugh, ugh…
She clenches then sighs…

egg drops

Really quite appalling what they’ve done
Fully penned and prisoned, fuck my life
Staple on the menu, it’s not right
And my eggs were stolen yesterday at night

Chickens clench in unison
They’ve made it quite a routine stealing kids
Chickens clench in unison
And if we lay no more they fry our skin!
If we called the cops, they’d hear Double Cluck
Slaughtered all to cook up Parmiagiana or Coq au Vin
Squatting, rotting, hatching for a price?
Bid your kids goodbye and end up as…
Pie.
sighs

I choose death.
Hold it, what’s that smell?

Chickens run fanatically towards the grain
“Out! Out!”
“Grain! Grain!”
“Eat! Eat!”
“Hen! Hen!”

Every feather’s telling me to go
“Out! Out!”
Escape we won’t be casserole
“Grain! Grain!”
Maybe then our young can live and grow
“Eat! Eat!”
It’s wrong our kids are ending up egg roll
“Hen! Hen!”

Locked up like some horror show
No freedom in sight
Lust for the world outside
Oh, please hear our plight!

In grain I’ll admit it
We’re “hello” fully addicted
Yet can’t shake this feeling
It’s dark what they did
But my insides lost feeling, lamenting my offspring
I’m must get outside where it’s all fucking gorgeous
I WAS TOLD IT WAS GORGEOUS – WITH ORCHARDS!
(I’m calm now)
A solution must happen
It’s time to get harder
We all going to “shit”
Showtime finally here!

She hacks at the wooden panel with her beak
This bird is breaking free, slavery may be a good enough fate for you
I’d rather be spared…
KFC menu

She pierces a small hole in the wall
There’s outside! God answered!
Sunlight on my feathered skin
Not a soul in sight
Safe and secure, Lots of space here
Be free to roam, finally
Help me smash this gap, AGH!

More chickens hack at the wooden walls
“Out! Out!”
“Peck! Peck!”
Nirvana!
“Out! Out!”
I wanna see the world! Agh!

Facing death like sitting ducks, no more
“Out! Out!”
We’ve chickened out for long enough, let’s go!
“Peck! Peck!”
Seeing our brethren grow wise and old
“Out! Out!”
This summer will be memorable for all
“Peck! Peck!”

Hey wait a moment…
“Wait! Wait!”
Don’t eat the grain, girls
“Grain! Grain!”
You there, don’t fight!
“Fight! Fight!”
You’re wrong, I’m right!
“Oh?”

Dumb chicken brains
“Dumb chicken brains!”
You’ll dig your grave
“We’ll dig our grave!”
Stop repeating
“Stop repeating!”
The stuff I said
(all) “The stuff you said!”

No outside (wails)
Hens aren’t bright
If there could be unison, we’d be out alright

Some of them fight (wails)
Or sit in fright
The rest of them too lazy, eating day and night. Argh!

Chickens calmly go back to their beds
(all) “Cot! Cot!”
(all) “Grain! Grain!”
(all) “Brain rot!”

All of them lay an egg at the same time

Based on Serbia 2022
Konstrakta — In corpore sano

Aharp ánboduhc ej avalsitarb | Eugarp s’nam roop a si avalsitarb

If asked to name a famous Slovak place or person
Would you be left stumped?
If asked to name one that’s not from the Czech Republic
Could you produce one? (Could you think of *any*?)
Try to draw the Slovensko flag – no, not that, it’s Slovenija (nuh-uh)
Fair enough. But maybe at least you know the capital (uh-huh)
Oh, you do! But the airport never gets used
Cause of Flughafen Wien. So name some
great writer, or some statesman (Václav Havel wasn’t ours) (nuh-uh),
or sights in the capital (uh-huh) – not the Danube, not the Old Town (nuh-uh)

Bet you can’t name a thing in Bratislava

Bratislava, Bratislava, Bratislava (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)
Brat-Brat-Brat-Bratislava, Bratislava, Bratislava (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)
Cos it’s “very boring” (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)

Please do go and search on Trip Advisor
For our top-ranked shopping centre
Cos it’s ranked as high as eighth, see, not at all like Prague’s one
(Scroll down further, past the number sixty)
Their top sight is good old Charlie
That’s a bridge across a river
But it’s on the *Vltava*
Which we know goes nowhere, stays in Czechia
But from here on our blue Danube, you can
Float all the way to Budapest
(Huh) Who needs a rotating (uh-huh) metal head of Kafka
(Uh-huh) We’ve a statue of a (uh-huh) guy called Schöner Náci
(Er) It’s worth pointing out though (uh-huh) – not a Nazi, (nuh-uh) not that handsome,
(Nuh-uh) Not a German, not a German, not a German

(Not a German) Slovak through and through

We have a flying saucer (a viewing platform)
Then there’s cheeky Čumil (guy in a sewer)
If you manage, er, a thing or two (your expectations)
It can turn out not that bad at all (might just surprise you)

It’s not fair that they call Bratislava:

Poor man’s Praha, poor man’s Praha, poor man’s Praha (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)
Poor-poor-poor-poor man’s Praha, poor man’s Praha, poor man’s Praha (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)
Bugger, bugger, bugger! (nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh…)

(-slav-slav-slav-slav-slav-)
Sme rovnako dobrí, sme rovnako dobrí (-slav-slav-slav-) | We’re just as good, we’re just as good
Sme rovnako dobrí, sme rovnako dobrí (-slav-slav-slav-) | We’re just as good, we’re just as good
Sme rovnako dobrí, sme rovnako dobrí | We’re just as good, we’re just as good
Nudné and mesto I think were your words | ‘Boring’ + ‘city’
(Akou frázou ste nás opísali?) | (What turn of phrase did you use to describe us?)
(Chudobný príbuzný?) Boli sme druhým | (Poor cousin?) We were the second
(Chudobný príbuzný!) najväčším mestom | (Poor cousin!) biggest city
(Chudobný príbuzný?!) Československa! | (Poor cousin?!) in Czechoslovakia!
We’re twice Brno’s size