Waters' song to go to Eurovision

A song co-written by The Irish Times columnist John Waters has been chosen to represent Ireland at this year's Eurovision Song…

A song co-written by The Irish Timescolumnist John Waters has been chosen to represent Ireland at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Can't Stop The Spring, composed by Waters and his childhood friend Tommy Moran, was chosen by viewers of last night's Late Late Show.

It was one of four songs selected from almost 200 submitted by the public for this year's competition.

It was second time lucky for Waters who also wrote a song, Words That Never Wear Out, for last year's competition.

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Can't Stop The Springwill be sung by the traditional band Dervish in Helsinki on Saturday, May 12th.

The song title was inspired by the response of the Czech leader Alexander Dubcek to the failed Prague Spring of 1968: "They may crush the flowers but they can never stop the spring."

Mr Waters said: "That line kept coming back to me and with our Czechs, Poles and Latvians, it's about the new Ireland as well."

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times