Eurovision Song Contest in the '60s
The 5th Eurovision Song Contest was the first to be hosted by the BBC and the first to be hosted by Katie Boyle, who went on to host the contest 3 further times. In the largest contest ever, Norway became the latest country to join the contest. A respectable start for the Norwegians would show no sign of what would happen to them in the future. The winning song was sung by the daughter of Jacques Pils who had finished last the previous year representing Monaco.
RESULTS
1.(13) 32 points France - Tom Pillibi - Jacqueline Boyer
2.(1) 25 points United Kingdom - Looking High, High, High - Bryan Johnson
3.(8 ) 15 points Monaco - Ce Soir-là - François Deguelt
4.(6) 11 points Norway - Voi, Voi - Nora Brockstedt
(11) 11 points Germany - Bonne nuit, ma cherie - Wyn Hoop
6.(5) 09 points Belgium - Mon amour pour toi - Fud Leclerc
7.(7) 06 points Austria - Du hast mich so fasziniert - Harry Winter
8.(9) 05 points Switzerland - Cielo e terra - Anita Traversi
(12) 05 points Italy - Romantica - Renato Rascel
10.(2) 04 points Sweden - Alla andra får varann - Siw Malmqvist
(4) 04 points Denmark - Det var en yndig tid - Katy Bødtger
12.(10) 02 points Netherlands - Wat Een Geluk - Rudi Carrell
13.(3) 01 point Luxembourg - So laan we's du do bast - Camillo Felgen
With the venue and host the same as the 1959 contest there was an air of familiarity about the 1961 contest. However it was the largest contest to date with 3 new countries taking the total number of participants to 16. With world music embracing change and rock n' roll being prevalent, the Eurovision Song Contest was won by a typical French style ballad (allbeit for Luxembourg) more suited to the 40s and 50s than the blossoming decade.
RESULTS
1.(14) 31 points Luxembourg - Nous les amoureux - Jean-Claude Pascal
2.(15) 24 points United Kingdom - Are You Sure? - The Allisons
3.(10) 16 points Switzerland - Nous aurons demain - Franca di Rienzo
4.(9) 13 points France - Printemps, avril carillonne - Jean-Paul Mauric
5.(13) 12 points Denmark - Angelique - Dario Campeotto
(16) 12 points Italy - Al di là - Betty Curtis
7.(12) 10 points Norway - Sommer i Palma - Nora Brockstedt
8.(5) 9 points Yugoslavia - Neke davne zvezde - Ljiljana Petrovi?
9.(1) 8 points Spain - Estando Contigo - Conchita Bautista
10.(2) 6 points Monaco - Allons, les enfants - Colette Dereal
(4) 6 points Finland - Valoa ikkunassa - Laila Kinnunen
(6) 6 points Netherlands - Wat een dag - Greetje Kauffeld
13.(8 ) 3 points Germany - Einmal sehen wir uns wieder - Lale Anderson
14.(7) 2 points Sweden - April, April - Lil Babs
15.(3) 1 points Austria - Sehnsucht - Jimmy Makulis
(11) 1 point Belgium - September, gouden roos - Bob Benny
The 7th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the smallest venue to date following Luxembourg's win the previous year. For the first time since it's inception there were no new countries joining the contest so the number remained at 16. France continued to dominate the contest securing their third win in the last 5 contests. The voting was changed slightly with the juries awarding 3, 2 and 1 point to their favourite 3 songs. With so few points available it was perhaps inevitable that some songs would not receive any points at all. As it turned out 4 songs ended up with 0 points at all. For the record the first of those to perform was Belgium making them the first country to score 0 points at the ESC.
RESULTS
1.(9) 26 points France - Un premier amour - Isabelle Aubret
2.(16) 13 points Monaco - Dis rien - François Deguelt
3.(14) 11 points Luxembourg - Petit bonhomme - Camillo Felgen
4.(12) 10 points Yugoslavia - Ne pali svetla u sumrak - Lola Novakovic
(13) 10 points United Kingdom - Ring-A-Ding Girl - Ronnie Carroll
6.(7) 09 points Germany - Zwei kleiner Italiener - Conny Froboess
7.(1) 04 points Finland - Tipi-Tii - Marion Rung
(6) 04 points Sweden - Sol och vår - Inger Berggren
9.(15) 03 points Italy - Addio, Addio - Claudio Villa
10.(5) 02 points Denmark - Vuggevise - Ellen Winther
(10) 02 points Norway - Kom sol, kom regn - Inger Jacobsen
(11) 02 points Switzerland - Le retour - Jean Phillipe
13.(2) 00 points Belgium - Ton nom - Fud Leclerc
(3) 00 points Spain - Llámame - Victor Balaguer
(4) 00 points Austria - Nur in der Wiener Luft - Eleanore Schwarz
(8 ) 00 points Netherlands - Katinka - De Spelbrekers
France declined to host the contest again having hosted twice in recent years. The ever keen BBC took the reins and the contest returned to London with Katie Boyle once again presiding over matters. Again there were no new countries but the contest itself was the most controversial yet. The voting system changed again with a jury of 20 from each country giving 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point to their favourite entries. This was the easy part. During the voting procedure everything was going smoothly until the Norwegian votes. Everyone apart from Katie Boyle heard the Norwegian votes clearly. However Katie declared she had not heard them and would return to the Norwegian spokesperson at the end. When they returned the Norwegian votes had changed giving victory to their neighbours Denmark at the expense of Switzerland who would have won if Norway's original votes had stood. Who says neighbourly voting is a new thing.
RESULTS
1.(8 ) 42 points - Denmark - Dansevise - Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann
2.(10) 40 points - Switzerland - T'en va pas - Esther Ofarim
3.(6) 37 points - Italy - Uno per tutte - Emilio Pericoli
4.(1) 28 points - United Kingdom - Say Wonderful Things - Ronnie Carroll
5.(11) 25 points - France - Elle était si jolie - Alain Barrière
(15) 25 points - Monaco - L'amour s'en va - Françoise Hardy
7.(4) 16 points - Austria - Vielleicht geschiedt ein Wunder - Carmela Corren
8.(16) 13 points - Luxembourg - A force de prier - Nana Mouskouri
9.(3) 05 points - Germany - Marcel - Heidi Brühl
10.(14) 04 points - Belgium - Waarom - Jacques Raymond
11.(9) 03 points - Yugoslavia - Brodovi - Vice Vukov
12.(12) 02 points - Spain - Algo prodigioso - José Guardiola
13.(2) 00 points - Netherlands - Een speeldoos - Annie Palmen
(5) 00 points - Norway - Solhverv - Anita Thallaug
(7) 00 points - Finland - Muistojeni laulu - Laila Halme
(13) 00 points - Sweden - En gång i Stockholm - Monica Zetterlund
The 9th Eurovision song contest produced one of the hugest victories recorded. After years of producing big hits and not winning the contest Italy finally emerged victorious finishing an astonishing 32 points ahead of the runners up (United Kingdom). The voting changed again due to the controvesy of the previous year. This year the juries once again voted for their top 3 but this time giving 5, 3 and 1 points to those top 3. The margin of victory was so huge that it would not have made any difference what system was used the winner would have remained the same. Portugal made the most disastrous start to their Eurovision careers finishing with 0 points, a distinction they would hold alone for 30 years until Lithuania did the same.
RESULTS
1.(12) 49 points - Italy - No ho l'età - Gigliola Cinquetti
2.(8 ) 17 points - United Kingdom - I Love The Little Things - Matt Monro
3.(10) 15 points - Monaco - Où sont-elles passées - Romauld
4.(1) 14 points - Luxembourg - Dès que le printemps revient - Hughes Aufray
(7) 14 points - France - Le chant de Mallory - Rachel
6.(6) 11 points - Austria - Warum, nur warum - Udo Jürgens
7.(5) 09 points - Finland - Laiskotellen - Lasse Mårtenson
8.(3) 06 points - Norway - Spiral - Arne Bendiksen
9.(4) 04 points - Denmark - Sangen Om Dig - Bjørn Tidmand
10.(2) 02 points - Netherlands - Jij bent mijn leven - Anneke Grönloh
(15) 02 points - Belgium - Près de ma rivière - Robert Cogoi
12.(16) 01 point - Spain - Caracola - Los TNT
13.(9) 00 points - Germany - Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne - Nora Nova
(11) 00 points - Portugal - Oração - António Calvário
(13) 00 points - Yugoslavia - Život je sklopio krug - Sabahudin Kurt
(14) 00 points - Switzerland - I miei pensieri - Anita Traversi
The 10th Eurovision Song Contest took place in Naples and was the biggest contest to date with Ireland making their debut and Sweden returning after missing the 1964 contest. A total of 18 countries took part in the contest. For the 4th year running 4 countries ended the contest on 0 points. The voting system was changed slightly again. Juries were again asked to rank 3 songs with 5, 3 and 1 points but if they only wanted to vote for 1 song they would give it 9 points, if they wanted to vote for just 2 songs they would give them 6 and 3 points. Belgium were the only country not to vote for 3 songs giving 6 to the United Kingdom and 3 to Italy. The winning Luxembourg entry was written by the legendary Serge Gainsbourg - the first and most successful of his 3 entries
RESULTS
1.(15) 32 points Luxembourg - Poupée de cire, poupée de son - France Gall
2.(2) 26 points United Kingdom - I Belong - Kathy Kirby
3.(11) 22 points France - N'avoue jamais - Guy Mardel
4.(6) 16 points Austria - Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen - Udo Jürgens
5.(13) 15 points Italy - Se piangi, se ridi - Bobby Solo
6.(4) 11 points Ireland - I'm Walking The Streets In The Rain - Butch Moore
7.(14) 10 points Denmark - For din skyld - Birgit Brüel
8.(18 ) 08 points Switzerland - Non - à jamais sans toi - Yovanna
9.(9) 07 points Monaco - Va dire à l'amour - Marjorie Noël
10.(10) 06 points Sweden - Absent Friends - Ingvar Wixell
11.(1) 05 points Netherlands - 'T is genoeg - Conny can den Bos
12.(17) 02 points Yugoslavia - ?ežnja - Vice Vukov
13.(7) 01 point Norway - Karusell - Kirsti Sparboe
(12) 01 point Portugal - Sol de inverno - Simone de Oliviera
15.(3) 00 points Spain - ¡Qué bueno, qué bueno! - Conchita Bautista
(5) 00 points Germany - Paradies, wo bist du? - Ulla Wiesner
(8 ) 00 points Belgium - Als het weer lente is - Lize Marke
(16) 00 points Finland - Aurinko laskee länteen - Viktor Klimenko
The 11th Eurovision Song Contest produced a number of firsts and lasts. All in all the results were plain weird. The top 5 (Austria, Sweden, Norway, Belgium & Ireland) all achieved their highest positions to date. The United Kingdom achieved their lowest position to date (9th). Portugal finished 13th for the 3rd consecutive year. Denmark finished outside the top 10 for the first time and didn't return for 13 years. France, who had never been out of the top 5 before this year, finished 16th. Monaco and Italy had been in the top 10 each year both finished with 0 points. Udo Jürgens was making his 3rd consecutive appearance. Raphael was making the first of 2 consecutive appearances for Spain. Michele Torr, the Luxembourg entrant, returned 11 years later for Monaco. Lill Lindfors and Ase Klevelund would return to present the show in 1985 and 1986 respectively. The Dutch entrant, Milly Scott, became the first black entrant. We would have to wait 35 years before the first black winner when Dave Benton won in 2001.
RESULTS
1.(9) 31 points Austria - Merci Cherie - Udo Jürgens
2.(10) 16 points Sweden - Nygammal Vals - Lill Lindfors & Svante Thuresson
3.(6) 15 points Norway - Intet er nytt under solen - Ase Klevelund
4.(3) 14 points Belgium - Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel - Tonia
(17) 14 points Ireland - Come Back To Stay - Dickie Rock
6.(12) 12 points Switzerland - Ne vois-tu pas? - Madeleine Pascal
7.(5) 09 points Yugoslavia - Brez Besed - Berta Ambroz
(11) 09 points Spain - Yo soy aquel - Raphael
9.(18 ) 08 points United Kingdom - A Man Without Love - Kenneth McKellar
10.(1) 07 points Germany - Die Zieger der Uhr - Margot Eskens
(4) 07 points Luxembourg - Ce soir je t'attendais - Michèle Torr
(7) 07 points Finland - Playboy - Ann Christine Nyström
13.(8 ) 06 points Portugal - Ele E Ela - Madalena Iglesias
14.(2) 04 points Denmark - Stop, Ja Stop, mens legen er go - Ulla Pia
15.(16) 02 points Netherlands - Fernando en Filipo - Milly Scott
16.(15) 01 point France - Chez nous - Dominique Walter
17.(13) 00 points Monaco - Bien plus fort - Tereza
(14) 00 points Italy - Dio, come te amo - Domenico Modugno
After being runners up 5 times in the previous 8 contests the United Kingdom finally struck lucky and walked away with the prize. Singing barefoot, and singing a song she has constantly claimed she detests, Sandie Shaw finished miles ahead of the opposition. Luxembourg's 4th place song went on to be a huge international hit in an instrumental version by Paul Mauriat. Serge Gainsbourg tried again to win the contest writing the entry for Monaco. It was the first time that the top 2 songs were sung in English.
RESULTS
1.(11) 47 points - United Kingdom - Puppet On A String - Sandie Shaw
2.(17) 22 points - Ireland - If I Could Choose - Sean Dunphy
3.(4) 20 points - France - Il doit faire beau là-bas - Noëlle Cordier
4.(2) 17 points - Luxembourg - L'amour est bleu - Vicky Leandros
5.(14) 10 points - Monaco - Boum Badaboum - Minouche Barelli
6.(12) 09 points - Spain - Hablemos del amour - Raphael
7.(10) 08 points - Belgium - Ik heb zorgen - Louis Neefs
8. (7) 07 points - Sweden - Som en dröm - Östen Warnerbring
(9) 07 points - Germany - Anouschka - Inge Brück
(15) 07 points - Yugoslavia - Vse rože sveta - Lado Laskovar
11.(16) 04 points - Italy - Non andare più lontano - Claudio Villa
12.(5) 03 points - Portugal - O vendo muduo - Eduardo Nascimento
(8 ) 03 points - Finland - Varjoon-suojaan - Fredi
14.(1) 02 points - Netherlands - Ring-dinge-ding - Thérèze Steinmetz
(3) 02 points - Austria - Warum es 100.000 Sterne gibt - Peter Horten
(13) 02 points - Norway - Dukkeman - Kirsti Sparboe
17.(6) 00 points - Switzerland - Quel coeur vas-tu briser? - Géraldine
All the talk before the contest was about who would be runners-up. The home entry was a huge hit all over Europe before the contest. It was written by the same team that wrote the previous years winner. It was being performed by the biggest star in Europe. It couldn't fail surely. The juries begged to differ as Spain pulled of an unlikely victory by 1 point despite a last minute change to the performer as the original performer wanted to perform in Catalan and the Spanish delegation refused. Ironically, the Norwegian entry had to be changed as their original choice sounded very like "Summer Holiday" a hit for the UK's entrant. Eurovision's most prolific presenter, Katie Boyle, was presenting her 3rd contest.
RESULTS
1.(15) 29 points - Spain - La, La, La - Massiel
2.(12) 28 points - United Kingdom - Congratulations - Cliff Richard
3.(10) 20 points - France - La source - Isabelle Aubret
4.(14) 18 points - Ireland - Chance Of A Lifetime - Pat McGeegan
5.(8 ) 15 points - Sweden - Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej - Claes-Göran Hederström
6.(16) 11 points - Germany - Ein Hoch der Liebe - Wencke Myhre
7.(3) 08 points - Belgium - Quand tu reviendras - Claude Lombard
(7) 08 points - Monaco - A chacun sa chanson - Line & Willy
(17) 08 points - Yugoslavia - Jedan dan - Dubrovacki Trubaduri
10.(11) 07 points - Italy - Marianne - Sergio Endrigo
11.(1) 05 points - Portugal - Verão - Carlos Mendes
(5) 05 points - Luxembourg - Nous vivrons d'amour - Chris Baldo & Sophie Garel
13.(4) 02 points - Austria - Tausend Fenster - Karel Gott
(6) 02 points - Switzerland - Guardando il sole - Gianni Mascolo
(13) 02 points - Norway - Stress - Odd Børre
16.(2) 01 point - Netherlands - Morgen - Ronnie Tober
(9) 01 point - Finland - Kun kello käy - Kristina Hautala
The last contest of the 1960s decended into farce when four songs finished the contest on 18 points. With no precautions in place in case of a tied result, the scrutineer had no choice but to declare the contest a four way tie. The host was so incredulous she had to ask 3 times if that was the official decision. It was and the ridiculous result still stands. It was this result that caused the EBU to look at the voting system and to realise it was seriously flawed. It was another 6 years before a reliable system was found. Spain became the first country to successfully defend the title (albeit in a 4 way tie)
RESULTS
1.(3) 18 points - Spain - Vivo cantando - Salomé
(7) 18 points - United Kingdom - Boom-Bang-A-Bang - Lulu
(8 ) 18 points - Netherlands - De Troubadour - Lennie Kuhr
(14) 18 points - France - Un jour, un enfant - Frida Bocarra
5.(11) 13 points - Switzerland - Bounjour, bonjour - Paola del Medico
6.(4) 11 points - Monaco - Maman, maman - Jean Jacques
7.(5) 10 points - Ireland - Wages Of Love - Muriel Day & The Lindsays
(10) 10 points - Belgium - Jennifer Jennings - Louis Neefs
9.(9) 08 points - Sweden - Judy min vän - Tommy Körberg
(13) 08 points - Germany - Primaballerina - Siw Malmkvist
11.(2) 07 points - Luxembourg - Cathérine - Romuald
12.(16) 06 points - Finland - Kuin silloin ennen - Jarkko & Laura
13.(1) 05 points - Yugoslavia - Pozdrav svijetu - Ivan
(6) 05 points - Italy - Due grosse lachrime bianche - Iva Zanicchi
15.(15) 04 points - Portugal - Desfolhada Portuguesa - Simone de Oliveira
16.(12) 01 points - Norway - Oj, oj, oj, så glad jeg skal bli - Kirstie Sparboe