For the sixth year we hand out the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award – the award for the best song lyrics of the Eurovision year. Previous awards were won by Ukraine (2016), France (2017, 2018) and Italy (2019, 2021). This year six entries are nominated. They are revealed one by one, and Saskia Halfmouw gives us a unique visual interpretation of each song.

The fourth nominee for the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award 2022 is: United Kingdom.

Country: United Kingdom
Title: SPACE MAN
Artist: Sam Ryder
Lyricists: Sam Ryder, Amy Wadge & Max Wolfgang

Jury report
Did you think this song was about an astronaut? Sorry, but you’re wrong. Although it does make sense, because the lyricists have sort of tricked us by putting a inaudible comma between the two title words. So what they’re actually singing is ‘I’m up in space, man!’ and ‘Nothing but space, man!’ That special use of commas has turned SPACE MAN into one of the most humouristic songs for this year. That doesn’t mean it shies away from sadness completely; the first person narrator imagines himself in space because he believes that to be the one place where his broken heart won’t trouble him anymore. Unfortunately, it doesn’t pan out: ‘gravity keeps pulling me down as long as you’re on the ground’. In the final line the narrator chooses his real destination (‘I wanna go home’), a great way to end a nice tragicomical text.

Fragment from SPACE MAN:

‘If I was an astronaut
I’d be floating in mid-air
And a broken heart would just belong
To someone else down there
I would be the center
Of my lonely universe
But I’m only human
And I’m crashing down to Earth

If I was an astronaut
I’d have a bird’s eye view
I’d circle round the world
And keep on coming back to you
In my floating castle
I’d rub shoulders with the stars
But I’m only human
And I’m drifting in the dark

I’m up in space, man!
Up in space, man!
I’ve searched around the universe
Been down some black holes
There’s nothing but space, man!
And I wanna go home.’

The complete lyrics for this song can be found here.

How is the winner determined?
Like in previous years the winner of the Eurostory Best Lyrics Award will be partially determined by online voters, and mainly determined by an international professional jury consisting of writers, poets, journalists, editors, songwriters, translators and former Eurovision participants. When all nominees are revealed the poll for online voting will open. The winner will be announced during Eurovision week in May. Keep following our website for the latest news!