In 1958 the Eurovision Song Contest had begun to establish itself in the international television and music calendar. Following two successful contests, ten countries gathered in Hilversum, the centre of Dutch broadcasting, on Wednesday 12th March 1958. Despite the already growing popularity of the event, Eurovision had yet to produce a major international hit, as the first two contest winners made little commercial impact, but all that changed in 1958.

As in the previous two years, the Italian Eurovision entry in 1958 had won the famous San Remo Song Contest a few weeks earlier. "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" ("The Blue Sky Painted In Blue") to give it its full title, is now better known as "Volare" ("Flying") and was the first song performed in the contest. Unfortunately due to technical problems, it was also the second song performed, as the first version was not seen in full in several countries. Undeterred, the singer Domenico Modugno gave another dramatic performance of the song complete with impassioned arm waving as he sung a lyric about flying through the clouds and looking back at the earth below. The Italians had great hopes for their first Eurovision victory as the song was already on the way to becoming a massive hit at home and the performance was certainly memorable. Interestingly, under the rules that apply today (but which were only used as a guideline back in the early days) the song would have been disqualified for breaching the three minute limit. Indeed the performance lasts a few seconds short of four minutes, making it one of the longest Eurovision entries of all time. 

When it came to the voting it quickly became obvious that it was not going to be Italy's year. The Italian jury awarded six of its ten votes to France.  As the voting progressed, the Swiss entry ("Giorgio" performed by 1956 Eurovision winner Lys Assia) and the French song, (the now largely forgotten "Dors, Mon Amour") fought out a very close race, with France eventually gaining it's first Eurovision win. "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" was left in a distant 3rd place, gaining just 13 points, largely due to Belgium and Germany, who each awarded it four points.     

Within a few months it became obvious that (not for the last time) the taste of the Eurovision juries were out of step with the music buying public. While the French winner achieved little success outside the Francophone nations, "Volare" (as the song had them become known) went on to massive international hit single. The song spent sixteen weeks at number one in Italy and going on to become a hit in every European country. Unusually for a foreign language song, it became a Top 10 hit in the British charts, but it was on the other side of the Atlantic that the song achieved its most remarkable success.  

"Volare" became the big summer hit of 1958 in the USA, topping Billboard's Top 100 for five weeks and becoming the first foreign language number one of the rock'n'roll era. It went on to be the biggest selling record of the year in 1958 in the US and in the very first Grammy awards it was voted "Record of the Year" (awarded to the singer) and also "Song of the Year" (awarded to the songwriters). However Domenico Modugno's was not the only version of the song to become a hit in America. The song was also recorded by Dean Martin, with English lyrics written by Michael Parish,  reaching number 12. "Volare" returned to the American charts in 1960, reaching number 4 for Bobby Rydell and number 33 in 1975 for Al Martino. "Volare" is the most widely recorded Eurovision song of all time, with versions being released by everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to David Bowie and from Petula Clark to 1990 Eurovision winner Toto Cotungo. However the most successful version of the song in recent years has been by the popular flamenco group the Gipsy Kings which was a European hit in 1990 (you can sing-along karaoke style to their version  here). 

As well as singing "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu", Domenico Modugno also wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics with his collaborator Franco Migliacci. Domenico Modugno was born on January 9th 1958 in the town of Polignano a Mare south of Bari . Having completed his military service and worked briefly in a tire repairer in Turin he moved to Rome, where he went to acting school and went on to appear in several Italian films of the 1950's. He also composed the music for several of these films, many sung in a Sicilian dialect. Many of these songs became popular in their own right and helped establish Modugno's reputation as the father of modern Italian songwriters. In 1957 he won the second prize at the Festival of the Neapolitan Song with the song "Lazzarella" and the following year he started an unprecedented run of success at the San Remo festival. ”Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” won the festival in 1958 and in 1959 Modungno repeated his victory with "Piove" (better known as "Ciao Ciao Bambina"). This song also competed at Eurovision, finishing 6th. At the same time he was continuing his film career and in 1959 took the lead role in the film "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu", the cinematic version of his international hit.   

In 1960 Mudugno's song "Libero" finishing 2nd in San Remo. Later that year he was involved in a car accident which limited his career for almost a year. In 1961 he returned to the spotlight in the massively successful Italian musical 'Rinaldo In Camp', for which he also composed the original soundtrack. In 1962 he once again won  the first prize in the San Remo Festival with the song "Addio, Addio", but chose not to sing the song at Eurovision, where it was instead performed by Claudio Villa. However, having achieved an unprecedented fourth victory in San Remo  in 1966 with "Dio, Come Ti Amo" he chose to go perform at Eurovision one last time. However his persistence was not rewarded and Italy failed to gain a single point. Despite this, the song was translated into English and was recorded by Shirley Bassey . Always a fan of poetry, Modugno wrote the music for the poems 'Le Morte Chitarre' and 'Ora Che Sale Il Giorno' by Salvatore Quasimodo. He wrote the music and sung for Pier Paolo Pasolini's insert 'Cosa Sono Le Nuvole' to the 1968 compilation film "Capriccio all'Italiana".

By the 1970's he was mainly concentrating on television and recording the increasingly rare album His fame began to lessen and in 1984 he suffered a stroke while recording a television screen test, after which all but retired. In 1991 he suffered another heart attack but still managed to record his final album 'Delfini' in 1993. On August 6th 1994 Domenico Modugno suffered a fatal heart attack at his seaside home.

BEFORE THE SHOW I SAID : "Volare" is without doubt one of the greatest pop songs of all time. Today the song's familiarity means that many people don't know that it once competed in the Eurovision Song Contest. The fact that it didn't win in 1958 was a major injustice and for sentimental reasons it would be great to see the song finally get the Eurovision victory it richly deserves. Regrettably it's got very little chance of success in Copenhagen. The Italians are not taking part, and the performance of the song will probably appear quite dated to modern television audiences, however the fact that it qualified for the show, through the support of the public is final recognition that "Volare" is a true Eurovision classic.

AFTER THE SHOW I SAY : I was equally surprised and delighted to se this song finish as the second best Eurovision song of all time, although I suspect that the 50/50 voting system, where expert juries supplemented the public televote probably helped this "Volare" more than any other song. Even though Italian television didn't show the "Congratulations" show, the fact that "Volare" finished second gained press coverage and might even help one of Eurovision's greatest competitors make a long overdue return to the contest.