"Cross Your Heart" was the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, performed in English by Tina Reynolds.
Reynolds performed all eight songs in the Irish national heats on RTE's Saturday evening entertainment series The Likes of Mike, where she sang four songs in English and four in Irish. The result was decided, for the first time since 1967, by a public postal vote in which "Cross Your Heart" won by a landslide with 16,686 votes, 11,000 clear of the runner-up "Is Liom É".
The song is moderately up-tempo, with Reynolds using a number of childhood rhymes ("cross your heart and hope to die" and "sticks and stones wouldn't break my bones") to communicate to a would-be lover how serious she is about a potential relationship, with the contrast between the serious intention and the playful nature of the rhymes being drawn out throughout the lyrics. She sings that, although her heart has been broken before, she has no intention of giving up on love now. She also reminds her lover that "so many hearts are broken by one little lie".
The song was performed thirteenth on the night (following the Netherlands' Mouth & MacNeal with "I See A Star" and preceding Germany's Cindy & Bert with "Die Sommermelodie"). At the close of voting, it had received 11 points, placing 7th in a field of 17.
It was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1975 Contest by The Swarbriggs with "That's What Friends Are For".
Famous quotes containing the words cross and/or heart:
“In ancient times—’twas no great loss—
They hung the thief upon the cross:
But now, alas!—I say’t with grief—
They hang the cross upon the thief.”
—Anonymous. “On a Nomination to the Legion of Honour,” from Aubrey Stewart’s English Epigrams and Epitaphs (1897)
“swerving
perfectly,
the fierce, brilliant faith
that pierces the heart all summer
and sips bitter insects steeped in nectar ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)