Shake It
Eurovision Song Contest 2004 entry
Country Greece
Artist(s) Sakis Rouvas
Language English
Composer(s) Nikos Terzis
Lyricist(s) Nektarios Tirakis
Place 3rd
Points 252
Place in Semifinal 3rd
Points in Semifinal 238
Lyrics from the Diggiloo Thrush

"Shake It" was the Greek entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, performed in English by Sakis Rouvas. The song is an up-tempo number, with Rouvas telling his lover that "I would trade my life for a night with you" and asking him or her to "shake it" for him. The music - by Nikos Terzis - also features some traditional Greek instrumentation as well as the heavy dance beats increasingly prominent at the Contest.

The performance was similarly sexualised, with Rouvas beginning by dancing with two girls wearing suits. As he sang the line "my world's on fire", he pulled red scarves from the trousers of his backing dancers. Later, he removed the suits from his dancers, revealing skimpy gold costumes. They later returned the favour by tearing his white jacket from him at the start of the final chorus, leaving him wearing a singlet and jeans. Live recordings of the performance feature loud cheers from the crowd as well as audible panting from Rouvas at the end of his athletic dance routine.

As Greece had not finished in the top 10 at the 2003 Contest, the song was first performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed tenth (following Monaco's Märyon with Notre Planète and preceding Ukraine's Ruslana with Wild Dances). At the close of voting, it had received 238 points, placing 3rd in the 22-strong field and qualifying for the final.

In the final, it was performed sixteenth (following Macedonia's Toše Proeski with Life and preceding Iceland's Jónsi with Heaven). At the close of voting, it had received 252 points, placing 3rd in a field of 24. It was succeeded as Greek representative at the 2005 Contest by Elena Paparizou with My Number One.

Two years later, Greece hosted the Contest, and Sakis was asked to co-present it. He made a slight reference to his performance when asked by co-host Maria Menounos how he had felt waiting for the results to be known. He told her that "I was shaking...brrrrrr...all over", prompting cheers from some of the audience. Sakis' popularity among the gay audience following his strip antics in 2004 was emphasized when the Dutch spokesman, Paul de Leeuw started making sexually-suggestive remarks to the presenter. Sakis raised some eyebrows by actually responding quite favorably to de Leeuw's request and engaging in a conversation not related to the topic of the contest.

References

2004 Greece. The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.

Eurovision Songcontest Dutch tele-votes. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.