Maria Christian's Weekend-Pop Lands Mid-Table

MAY 15 1985 · 12:05

Maria Christian · "Wait Until the Weekend Comes" · Ireland · 1985 Placement: 6 · Score: 91 · Language: English · Composers: Brendan Graham · Venue: Scandinavium · Host: Gothenburg, Sweden · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: color analog Maria Christian — real name Geraldine Branagan — takes the Scandinavium stage in a hot-pink blazer and delivers a buoyant mid-tempo pop song about Friday night release. Bobbysocks! win for Norway with 'La det swinge'. Ireland's 6th with 91 points is respectable, proof that Brendan Graham's composer pipeline is quietly working. Context Branagan was already a working Dublin television vocalist. Brendan Graham was on his third Irish Eurovision commission. The National Song Contest selection was uncontroversial — Graham's professional polish vs. the amateur-hour feel of earlier Irish entries. Legacy Graham's compositional dominance of Irish Eurovision would culminate in his two wins a decade later. Branagan became a successful vocal coach in Dublin. 'Wait Until the Weekend Comes' is now revived occasionally as a pure 1985 curio — big shoulders, bigger hair, clean pop-craft.