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To nie ja!

Poland "To nie ja"
Eurovision Song Contest 1994 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Language
Composer(s)
Stanisław Syrewicz
Lyricist(s)
Jacek Cygan
Conductor
Finals performance
Final result
2nd
Final points
166
Appearance chronology
"Sama" (1995) ►
"Once in a Lifetime"
Single by Edyta
from the album Dotyk
A-side Once in a Lifetime
B-side To nie ja
Released 1994
Genre Pop
Length 3:00
Label ORCA, Edel
Writer(s) Graham Sacher, Jacek Cygan, Stanisław Syrewicz
Producer(s) Graham Sacher
Edyta Górniak singles chronology
"'Once in a Lifetime"
(1994)
"Love Is on the Line"
(1995)

"To nie ja" (It wasn't me) was the Polish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, performed in Polish by Edyta Górniak. This was Poland's debut at the contest, and consequently the first time that the Polish language had been used in a contest entry. The song achieved second place in the Eurovision final - at the time the highest ever placing attained by a debut song (even in the very first Contest, Switzerland won with their second song of the night). It was released as a single in English as "Once in a Lifetime".

The song is a dramatic ballad, with Górniak describing herself as having an "easy world" - seemingly one of easy distinctions between good and bad. She sings that she is not Eve, referring to the Biblical character, and asking for her listener not to blame her for the sins of that figure.

Górniak's voice was compared to that of Mariah Carey in its range (a comparison made easier by the fact that she performed in a short white dress, reminiscent of some of Carey's outfits), and many contest fans have argued that if she had been allowed to sing in English (contest rules at the time stipulating that songs had to be in the national languages of the competing countries), she could have achieved victory. The result has stood as the most successful first-time entry in contest history until the ballad "Molitva" performed by Serbian Marija Šerifović went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2007; Serbia's first entry as an independent state. Serbia and Montenegro's entry in the 2004 contest also placed second. At the same contest, Hungarian entrant Friderika, making her country's début with "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?" placed fourth, presaging the domination of the contest by Eastern and Central European performers in subsequent years.


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Wikipedia

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