Strazdas

"Strazdas" ("The song thrush") was the Lithuanian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999, performed in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian by Aistė Smilgevičiūtė.

"Strazdas"
Eurovision Song Contest 1999 entry
Country	Lithuania
Artist(s)	Aistė Smilgevičiūtė
As	Aistė
Language	Samogitian
Composer(s)	Linas Rimša
Lyricist(s)	Sigitas Geda
Finals performance
Final result	20th
Final points	13
Entry chronology
◄ "Lopšinė mylimai" (1994)
"You Got Style" (2001) ►

The song is significant for being performed in Samogitian, particularly as the so-called "Free Language Rule" had been introduced prior to this Contest, allowing entries to be performed in any language at all – with most countries opting from this point onwards to perform in English. Lithuania's earlier entry, "Lopšinė mylimai", had been performed in Standard Lithuanian at the 1994 contest and had failed to record any points.

The song itself is also in a different style to the up-tempo dance music-influenced style rising to prominence at the contest at the time, being something of a cross between a ballad and a folk song. Aistė describes the song of the titular song-thrush, saying that it was complaining about having cold feet, which were responsible for its song.

The song was performed first on the night, preceding Belgium's Vanessa Chinitor with "Like the Wind". At the close of voting, it had received 13 points, placing 20th in a field of 23 – Lithuania's first points in Eurovision history.

Despite the poor result, the song has achieved a level of fame by being referenced in half of the name of a leading ESC-related website, Diggiloo Thrush. This was after a merger of two Eurovision lyrics websites, one called Diggiloo (named after the Swedish song in 1984) and the other called The Songthrush, after this entry; hence the name of the newer site.[1] Furthermore, the song has been cited as a favourite of many other Eurovision participants, including 2021 winners Måneskin.

Due to the poor result, Lithuania was not invited to return for the 2000 contest, but took part as a "passive participant" by broadcasting the Contest while not entering. Thus, it was invited to return the next year. The song was therefore succeeded as Lithuanian representative at the 2001 contest by Skamp with "You Got Style".