1968 Cliff Richard: Congratulations

Once so ubiquitous, Cliff (and his Shadows) have become strangers to these shores, rare visitors overtaken by trends and styles in both popular culture and popular music that they either could not or would not adapt to. Telling then that it took the everyman appeal of a Eurovision Song Contest entry to generate interest enough to take him back to the top; if there's one thing 'Congratulations' has in spades, it's broad appeal.

After a brief introduction build up with a hint of drama to come, 'Congratulations' soon and permanently settles into a gentle Johnny Cash in carpet slippers boom chicka boom rhythm that exerts just enough force to buoy the main melody with a twinkling eye wink. Cliff himself makes no concessions to his roots in his performance - this is Cliff as light entertainer pure and simple, content to let the song play him with its own faceless anonymity; there's no stamp of personality here, virtually any Brit singer from the class of 1959 could have sung it to no greater or lesser effect.

No harm in that - 'Congratulations' isn't something that lends itself to individualistic interpretation. Like hospital food, it's purely functional and serves its purpose by getting multi-cultural hands clapping at its predictability to the point that its own language is superfluous; does nobody think to question just what is being congratulated here and why? Is Cliff congratulating himself on finding such a lover, or are his mates slapping him on the back in a more polite version of a Sid James 'Phwoaar!!'? And aren't both just a teeny bit patronising? Ah who cares; just like hospital food, 'Congratulations' is too bland and tasteless to be worth the worry. Collect the points and move along.