Eurovision’s Greatest Hits takes place in London on 31 March. The one-off concert will see a host of past Eurovision stars take to the stage to mark 60 years of the contest. While the show itself will be purely celebratory, we’ve decided to add a little competition to proceedings by ranking and reviewing all 18 Eurovision entries sung by the 14 confirmed acts. Today the Wiwi Jury— our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — travel to Jerusalem 1979 to check out Anne-Marie David’s Eurovision return with “Je Suis L’Enfant Soleil”. The singer switched allegiances from Luxembourg to France, but did she deserve to come third? Read on to find out…

http://youtu.be/8uo2jWB7SEw

Robyn: The translated lyrics reveal this to be a tragic tale of lost love. And while it is in French, the emotional weight of the performance carries a lot of the meaning. I love the heartbreaking drama, and Anne-Marie gives a stellar performance. Another highlight: realising that because it was 1979, the conductor’s comedy afro wig was actually his real hair.

Score: 7/10

Anthony: One of the contest’s star performers in the 70s, Anne-Marie made her comeback with her native France. The song is reminiscent of a classic haunting vintage movie soundtrack.

Score: 7.5/10

http://youtu.be/Anj32mZ8AD8

Kristín: I prefer her winning song from 1973, but this is also OK. French is such a powerful language, and Anne-Marie is a charismatic singer and pours her heart out á la France. Also, she seems to have broken a nail before going on stage, and is like” It ain’t no thing!” So cudos for not giving a f***. All in all, a respectful entry from the former power nation.

Score: 7.5/10

Sopon: Almost everyone will agree with the popular opinion that Anne-Marie’s 1973 entry was better. I agree too. However, it is a pleasure to listen to this and I wish it had become a Eurovision classic. Shame that it didn’t and probably never will.

Score: 7/10

Denise: Sorry, I don’t like it. I prefer the songs from 2000 till now, but that doesn’t mean that an older song can’t win me over. This song is just missing something, it’s a too boring for my taste. I do think that Anne-Marie looks amazing on stage, really powerful.

Score: 4/10 

Liam: As everyone says, her winning song from 1973 was much better, but I won’t deny that this song is a pleasure to listen to.

Score: 7.5/10

anne marie david luxembourg eurovision

Ramadan: A brilliant, classy piece of music. It’s definitely my favourite ever French entry. Musically, it’s more modern, beautiful and powerful than her other entry. It’s a real shame that this didn’t win Eurovision. Lovely, powerful and dramatic. The completes package.

Score: 10/10

Patrick: What a wonderful chanson from France. Anne-Marie has a beautiful voice, filled with strength. The song itself is a big big song, lovely vocals and a touching message. For me it’s just a bit too slow but that’s the only negative. It’s lovely!

Score: 8/10

Chris: It’s near impossible to fault Anne-Marie David as a singer. Her voice is crystal clear and commands such power and emotion that she’s able to carry “Je Suis l’Enfant Soleil” much further than the song’s limitations should allow it. No, it is not “Tu Te Reconnaitras” – but if you were to take her 1973 winner out of the equation, then this does stand up enough to be considered a good – if not great – Eurovision entry.

Score: 7.5/10

James: Oh. Such a shame that I’m reviewing her second go at Eurovision. “Tu Te Reconnaitras” is simply an anthem to me. But “Je Suis l’Enfant Soleil” is still a song with its pluses – it’s dramatic and seems to be one of those songs you can recall now and then. But like many songs in the 70s, they just get lost. A shame – such a bad comeback. A simply wonderful singer, though.

Score: 5/10

All 18 members of our jury rate each song. However, we only have room to share 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining eight scores.

Angus: 8.5/10

Inaki: 7.5/10

Josh: 7.5/10

Judit: 6/10

Mikhail: 6.5/10

Padraig: 5/10

Sami: 3/10

William: 7.5/10

The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of  3 and a high of 10.

THE WIWI JURY VERDICT: 6.84/10

SEE THE LATEST EUROVISION’S GREATEST HITS REVIEWS AND RANKINGS

YOU CAN READ ALL OF OUR 60TH ANNIVERSARY NEWS HERE.

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Tom
Tom
9 years ago

I wholeheartedly second everything that JonathanUK has said. I can’t believe how the Wiwi Jury can so easily disregard one of Eurovision’s greatest ballads (to say nothing of the stunning performance).

Erin
Erin
9 years ago

It’s a very demanding song with a crescendo of passion building up. However, the live orchestration failed the song’s climax. It was much less nuanced and powerful as in the French preview clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aD2QTpTXJY You can see that Anne-Marie David originally made grimaces and hand gestures which came across as too fierce and uneasy on the preview clip. She was probably advised to tone them down for the Eurovision performance and rightfully so. The song tells a complete story in less than 3 minutes and that’s an amazing achievement, just like Isabelle Aubrey’s ‘La Source’ in 1968 (which was about… Read more »

JonathanUK
JonathanUK
9 years ago

I cannot understand why the juries on here don’t like, or appreciate the best Ballads that the competition has ever produced, as much as they should!! Anne Marie David is THE Eurovision performer, better than ABBA and 99.5% of all Eurovision winners and she often does not get the credit she deserves as a singer! Je Suis L’Enfant Soleil is perhaps the greatest 70’s ESC Song! It should have won with a huge lead! It had a great melody, very French sounding, it had great lyrics that are reflected brilliantly in the French language, it had amazing staging(no faffing on… Read more »