Bond-Era Crooner Takes Second for Britain

MAY 15 1964 · 12:05

Matt Monro · "I Love the Little Things" · United Kingdom · 1964 Placement: 2 · Score: 17 · Language: English · Composers: Tony Hatch · Venue: Tivolis Koncertsal · Host: Copenhagen, Denmark · Type: upset · Broadcast: pre color Monro, 31, had sung 'From Russia With Love' over the Bond title sequence the previous year. He arrives in Copenhagen in an immaculate dinner jacket and delivers Tony Hatch's polite ballad with professional smoothness. 17 points for 2nd. Gigliola Cinquetti's 'Non ho l'età' wins for Italy. The Tivolis Koncertsal is the smallest venue Eurovision has ever used. Context Tony Hatch would soon write 'Downtown' for Petula Clark. The BBC picked Monro as a deliberate international-caliber signal after the UK's 1961-1963 mid-table run. Monro's Bond association made him the most globally recognizable Eurovision performer to that point. Legacy Monro's Eurovision near-miss is largely overshadowed by his broader pop legacy — 'Born Free', 'Walk Away', 'Softly As I Leave You' — and his cancer death in 1985 aged 54. Cinquetti's winning song became the biggest-selling Eurovision single of the decade. Hatch would return as composer 28 years later for Scott Fitzgerald's 1988 runner-up entry.