In a couple of weeks, the biggest, gaudiest, gayest and easily the most-watched televised music event in the world will unfold, this year from Baku, Azerbaijan, and once again Americans will be almost completely oblivious to it.

We're talking, of course, about the Eurovision Song Contest, which started in 1956 and is something like a musical analog to soccer's World Cup: fanatically watched by the rest of the world, and mostly ignored here.

Well, mostly ignored except by those Europeans and other expatriates living here who still pay attention, which is how we've been drawn into the thing, by certain foreigners in our midst who just won't shut up about it. And once we made the mistake of actually paying attention, soon enough it began to take over our lives too. After the jump, we'll help other beginners learn the history of the thing before revealing what our panel of experts says are the 10 best songs from the contest ever.

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53. Phil Collins, "Another Day in Paradise" [1991]

52. The 5th Dimension, "Up, Up and Away" [1968]

51. Olivia Newton-John, "I Honestly Love You" [1975]

50. Celine Dion, "My Heart Will Go On" [1999]

49. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, "A Taste of Honey" [1966]

48. Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" [1989]

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