"What's Another Year" was Irish singer and composer Johnny Logan's first Eurovision Song Contest winning song, achieving success in the 1980 edition of the contest, as well as 's second Eurovision victory. Composed by Shay Healy (who also wrote "The Ultimate Country and Western Song" performed by Billy Connolly), the song reached number one in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for two weeks in May. When showband frontman Glen Curtin, the original choice of singer, turned down "What's Another Year", the song was rearranged by

Bill Whelan Bill Whelan (born 22 May 1950 in Limerick, Ireland) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, ''Riverdance'', was a seven-minute display of tradi ...

to suit Johnny Logan's singing style.''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', "Golden boy, forgotten man", 8 August 2009 Whelan later composed "

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions Je ...

" for the interval entertainment slot at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Musically, the song is easily identifiable by its

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

introduction played by Scottish musician Colin Tully, who now lives and teaches in Wales. The success of "What's Another Year" launched Logan's Eurovision career (he would go on to achieve success in with " Hold Me Now", and he would have another win as songwriter for Linda Martin's " Why Me?" in ). In addition, the song was selected as one of the 14 greatest Eurovision entries in a special to mark the 50th anniversary of the contest. It was covered by Shane MacGowan of The Pogues in the ''Song for Eurotrash'' cover album of 1998. Famously, after being announced as the winner of the Contest, Logan was overcome with emotion and could not achieve the high notes near the end of the song in his reprise. Instead, he called out "I love you Ireland", a phrase he would repeat seven years later. The song was performed seventeenth on the night, following 's

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with " Hé, hé M'sieurs dames" and preceding 's Trigo Limpio with " Quédate esta noche". At the close of voting, it had received 143 points, placing 1st in a field of 19. The song was succeeded as Eurovision winner at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 by British band Bucks Fizz and the song "

Making Your Mind Up "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz. It was the winner of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, representing the , and was composed by Andy Hill and John Danter. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut sing ...

". It was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1981 contest by Sheeba with "

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". Johnny Logan released German-language and Spanish-language versions of "What's Another Year". During the 2020 special '' Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light'', Logan performed the song live in a studio in Dublin. He was backed by the special's presenters Edsilia Rombley,

Chantal Janzen Chantal Janzen (; born 15 February 1979) is a Dutch actress, singer and TV presenter. She had parts in '' The Preacher'', ''Full Moon Party'' and '' Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'' and presented '' Idols''. She also played Belle in the Dutch mu ...

and Jan Smit from their studio in Hilversum, and a chorus of Eurovision Song Contest fans from around the world. A short video highlighting Logan's three Eurovision wins (1980 and 1987 as main performer, 1992 as composer) was shown during the instrumental bridge of the song.

Track listing

* European single 7" / 45 RPM single (RL 1005)/(EPC 8572) :A. "What's Another Year" :B. "One Night Stand" * Spanish single 7" single (EPC 8572) :A. "Por un Año Más" - 3:08 :B. "One Night Stand" - 3:52 * West German single 7" single (EPC 8732) :A. "Was Ist Schon Ein Jahr" - 3:08 :B. "One Night Stand" - 3:52

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1980 singles Johnny Logan (singer) songs Eurovision songs of 1980 Congratulations Eurovision songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Israel Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Sweden Eurovision songs of Ireland Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Eurovision Song Contest winning songs Pop ballads 1980 songs Epic Records singles