Baby, Baby (Nicole & Hugo song)



"Baby, Baby" was the Belgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, performed in Dutch (with some lines in English, Spanish and French) by Nicole & Hugo.

In 1971, Nicole & Hugo had entered into the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and won the final with "Goeiemorgen, morgen". Prior to their departure to Dublin for the contest, Nicole fell ill and the duo were unable to attend. They were replaced in their absence by Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel, but returned to the Contest with "Baby, Baby" in 1973.

The song was performed second on the night, following Finland's Marion Rung with "Tom Tom Tom" and preceding Portugal's Fernando Tordo with "Tourada". At the close of voting, it had received 58 points, placing 17th (last) in a field of 17. The backing singers include Belgium's 1968 Eurovision representative, Claude Lombard.

The song itself is a rather straightforward love duet, with the duo pledging their love to each other in a variety of languages (and making the somewhat unusual comment that "the divorce doesn't hurt at all"), however it has achieved something of a cult status among Contest fans.

Much of this is due to the purple jumpsuits worn by both performers and the unusual dance moves they performed during the song. There is also a level of appreciation for what in recent times often has been described as "a relatively tacky song", "a Eurovision turkey" and the duo itself as if "suffering from sort of curse".

The notoriety of the song and its performance resulted in an excerpt of its video appearing in each one of the video montages at the Congratulations special in late 2005. Nicole & Hugo then appeared onstage, dressed in their jumpsuits, and performed their dance as Renars Kaupers' "Eurovision wish", further confirming their cult fame.

Nicole & Hugo recorded the song in Dutch, English, French and German, and in the 2000s it was given the dance remix treatment.

It was succeeded as Belgian representative in the 1974 Contest by Jacques Hustin performing "Fleur de liberté".

Sources and external links

 * Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1973.
 * Official Eurovision Song Contest site, Congratulations, 2005
 * Detailed info and lyrics, Diggiloo Thrush, "Baby, Baby".
 * Eurosong.be, Congratulations, Nicole & Hugo.
 * Discogs.com, Nicole & Hugo.