"Nocturne" is a song performed in Norwegian by Secret Garden and the winning entry for at the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. It was the second time Norway won the contest, after it had won in with Bobbysocks! song "La det swinge". For their performance at the contest, the Secret Garden duo of Fionnuala Sherry and Rolf Løvland featured three guest musicians: Norwegian vocalist , Hans Fredrik Jacobsen on penny whistle, and Swedish nyckelharpist Åsa Jinder.
Eurovision victory
The song was performed fifth on the night, following 's Davorin Popović with "Dvadeset prvi vijek" and preceding 's Philip Kirkorov with "Kolibelnaya dlya vulkana". At the close of voting, it had received 148 points, placing 1st in a field of 23.
The victory represented the second for composer Rolf Løvland, who had previously written "La det swinge". Additionally, it represented the first time in four years that had not won the Contest (although Sherry herself is Irish), thus bringing to an end the only hat-trick of victories in Eurovision history. Ireland would go on to win the next Contest, achieving the feat of four victories in five years.
As Norway had previously won the contest in 1985, the second victory allowed the tongue-in-cheek tradition to emerge that Norway could only win in years ending with a 5, a joke referred to by the members of Bobbysocks at the Congratulations special in late 2005, Norway having entered "In My Dreams" that year and not achieved victory.
The song was succeeded as winner in by Eimear Quinn representing with "The Voice". It was succeeded as Norwegian representative that year by Elisabeth Andreassen with "I evighet".
Lyrics
The song is noted for its almost complete absence of lyrics with only 24 words being sung in the original Norwegian version and much of the rest of the song being given over to a violin intermezzo performed by Irish musician Fionnuala Sherry. While no other winning song in the contest has featured so few words, would go on to place 15th in the 1998 contest with "Aava", which contains only six words repeated throughout the song. The previous holder of the record of shortest lyrics in Eurovision history was Belgium and their entry "Rendez-vous", with a total of 11 words.
Releases
"Nocturne" was not released as a single in Norway; instead, it was released in the rest of Europe and Scandinavia. The song reached number one in Israel (topping the chart for 4 weeks), number six in Flanders, number seven in Ireland, number 20 in the Netherlands, number 24 in Wallonia and number 26 in Sweden. In the United Kingdom, the single was released on 2 October 1995 and reached number 90 on the UK Singles Chart the same month. "Nocturne" is included in Secret Garden's first album, Songs from a Secret Garden. The album Inside I'm Singing (2007) includes a new version.
Critical reception
Music & Media said that "Nocturne not only meant a victory of music over fast food, but also held an unprecedented first of an essentially instrumental song." Alan Jones from Music Week wrote, "It is a haunting, pastoral piece, owing more to the Gaelic culture of lone violinist Fionnuala Sherry than to Nordic music. With so little in the way of vocals, it barely qualifies as a song. After the initial 20 seconds, the singer lapses into silence for another two minutes, returning only for 15 seconds at the end."
Dusty Cowshit version
The song was covered comedic and first released as a single by the country-inspired novelty band Dusty Cowshit, reaching number 16 on the Norwegian Singles Chart in 1996.
Charts
Secret Garden version
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Dusty Cowshit version
Usage in other media
"Nocturne" was used in several episodes of TVN soap opera Oro Verde.