The past few decades have not been very satisfactory for Ireland in terms of the Eurovision Song Contest. They achieved one of their best results in that era in 2006 with Brian Kennedy and his heartfelt ballad ‘Every Song Is A Cry For Love’.
In 2006, Irish broadcaster RTÉ selected the 40-year-old Irish singer Brian Kennedy to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens. The song that would be performed by Kennedy was selected through a semi-final on the 17th of February 2006. Out of 4 finalist entries, Strong Enough composed by Barry Walsh was disqualified because it did not meet EBU’s criteria. The jury panel consisted of Shay Healy (composer of Ireland 1980), Brendan Graham (composer of Ireland 1985, 1994 and 1996) and singer and songwriter Paul Brady. Eventually, Brian Kennedy’s own composition Every Song Is A Cry For Love won the right to represent Ireland.
In Athens, in the semi-final, Brian Kennedy took the stage as 8th in line. He received 79 points for his country and finished 9th. As such, he qualified for the final. In the grand final, this time he sang his heartfelt ballad 21st in line, received 93 points and finished in 10th place.
Every Song Is A Cry For Love – opinions from fans
In order to find out what Eurovision fans today think of this Irish entry from 2006, we asked our Eurovision Fan Panel. It includes team members as well as fans from all over the world.
🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – Damn, I am mixed when it comes to this one. He is extremely handsome, a real joy to look at ♥️. He performs well too, and the song isn’t bad either… It just becomes a bit boring. I am almost tempted to say that it doesn’t matter when you look like that, but no, the song is a bit boring in my opinion. It did rightfully reach the final, and a 10th place is quite fine too, but I would have liked a bit more power in it.
🇹🇷 Gunec G. – This peaceful ballad is in my opinion one of the best Irish entries. Some may find it boring but I think it’s a classic.
🇮🇪 Paul K. – If it wasn’t for Jedward in 2011, this would be the last time Ireland entered the top 10, and it’s a deserved top 10. It’s such a gorgeous song, really nice and melodic, and he has such a nice voice as well. I think this is the year that I could see as our final year of sending qualify songs, and although we have had some good songs now, we never get any good results any more! I want to see us get back to this sort of quality, and then maybe, we could get top 10 again.
🇫🇮 🇨🇴 Alvaro S. – I love the peaceful feeling this song bring me, the slow pace and how it grows as the song progresses. It looks calm, intimate and it did not need to be overdramatic to convey its message.
🇬🇧 Michael O. – This is a nice enough pleasant entry from Ireland, which I guess by 2006 they’d done to death. Nothing too bad or great about it, and the unexpected note twist at the end just gave it enough to push it to the finals.
🇨🇿 Josef S. – Even though Ireland had a lot of bad songs since 2000, it is not the case with 2006. Brian Kennedy’s Every Song Is A Cry For Love is very pleasant 00s pop ballad, which unfortunately we heard many times at Eurovision already. The staging is very static, but what would you expect from a ballad? Still, it belongs to the better half of rent Irish Eurovision entries in my eyes.
🇦🇺 Michael R. – A typical Irish ballad but a good one, Beautiful lyrics, nicely performed by the charming Brian Kennedy and lovely staging. I think if there had been juries this would’ve been in the top 5.
🇩🇪 Pascal W. – I kinda like the simplicity of the song. But some parts sound like they were written by a child. Great live performance though.
🇳🇴 Robert I. – His voice is good, but the song is nothing special. Quite boring, actually.
🇷🇸 Milosav T. – Being the 1000th song to be performed in the Eurovision Song Contest is about the only thing worth mentioning concerning this song. In one word ‘meh’. The song is just too boring for my taste, even though I love a good ballad. I miss the days when Ireland sent good songs to Eurovision, I hope they will do it again soon.
Enjoy Brian Kennedy’s performance from the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in the embedded video. Below the video, you can read more about him.
Brian Kennedy – a mini biography
Brian Edward Patrick Kennedy was born on the 12th of October 1966 in Falls Road Belfast. He began his career as a backing singer of the legendary artist Van Morrison.
In 1990, His debut album The Great War Of Words was released and became a major hit in the UK. He represented Ireland in 2006 in the Eurovision Song Contest with his composition Every Song Is A Cry For Love and eventually finished 10th.
Throughout his career, he has released many albums and singles. Privately, he came out as gay in 2009. And recently, he won his battle with rectal cancer.
