Eurovision Song Contest 1973

Eurovision Song Contest 1973
Dates
Final date 7 April 1973
Host
Venue Grand Théâtre
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Presenter(s) Helga Guitton
Conductor Pierre Cao
Executive supervisor Clifford Brown
Host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT)
Interval act Charlie Rivel
Participants
Number of entries 17
Debuting countries  Israel
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries
Vote
Voting system Two jury members from each country, with each of them awarding between 1 and 5 points for each song.
Nul points None
Winning song  Luxembourg
"Tu te reconnaîtras"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1972 1973 1974►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Luxembourg. It was won by the Luxembourg entry, "Tu te reconnaîtras", this being Luxembourg's fourth win. The voting was a very close one, with Spain finishing only 4 points behind and Cliff Richard of the United Kingdom (who came second in 1968) another 2 points after. According to The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History by John Kennedy O'Connor, the winning song scored the highest score ever achieved in Eurovision under any voting format, recording 129 points out of a possible 160; scoring just under 81% of the possible maximum, but partly due to a scoring system which guaranteed all countries at least two points from each other country.[1]

Location

For more details on the host city, see Luxembourg (city).
Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Host venue of the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest.

The city of Luxembourg, also known as Luxembourg City, is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, around which a settlement developed.

The Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg, became the venue for the 1973 contest. It is the city's major venue for drama, opera and ballet.[2][3]

Format

The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their national languages was dropped, so performers from some countries sang in English. The event was marked by controversy when the Spanish song, "Eres tú" (by Mocedades), was accused of plagiarism due to reasonable similarities in the melody with the Yugoslav entry from the 1966 contest ("Brez besed" sung by Berta Ambrož); however, "Eres tú" was not disqualified. After finishing second in the contest, the song went on to become a huge international hit.

The somewhat elliptical lyrics to Portugal's entry "Tourada" provided sufficient cover for a song that was clearly understood as a blistering assault on the country's decaying dictatorship. Also, the word "breasts" was used during Sweden's song entry. However, no action was taken by the EBU. An argument broke out between the singer Maxi and her Irish delegation over how the song should be performed. During rehearsals she repeatedly stopped performing in frustration. When it began to appear possible that Maxi might withdraw from the contest, RTÉ immediately sent over another singer, Tina Reynolds, to take her place just in case. In the end Miss Reynolds wasn't needed as Maxi did perform, with her entry earning 10th place on the scoreboard. (Reynolds would perform the following year.)

This contest holds the record for the most watched Eurovision Song Contest in the United Kingdom, and is also the 18th most watched television show in the same country, with an estimated 21.54 million tuning in on the night. Cliff Richard represented the UK with the song Power to All Our Friends. He came 3rd with 123 points. The winner though was Ann-Marie David with "Tu Te Reconnaitras". In the UK it was released in English under the title "Wonderful Dream" and released on Epic. It made number 13.

In the light of events at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, there were fears of a terrorist threat, particularly directed against Israel's first-ever entrant, leading to unusually tight security for the contest. This gave rise to one of the best-known Eurovision anecdotes, frequently recounted by the UK's long-serving commentator Terry Wogan. He recalled that the floor manager strongly advised the audience to remain seated while applauding the performances, otherwise they risked being shot by security forces.[4]

Voting

Each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song (other than the song from their own country) immediately after it was performed and the votes were collected and counted as soon as they were cast. The juries watched the show on TV from the Ville du Louvigny TV Studios of CLT and appeared on screen to confirm their scores.

Participating countries

Seventeen nations took part in this year's contest. Malta was drawn to perform in 6th place between Norway and Monaco, but the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry.[5] The 1973 contest marked the first time that women conducted the ESC orchestra. Monica Dominique conducted the Swedish entry and Nurit Hirsh conducted the Israeli entry.

Conductors

Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra.[6]

Returning artists

Three artists returned to the 1973 contest, Finland's Marion Rung, who last represented the nation in 1962; 1971 entrant Massimo Ranieri from Italy; and Cliff Richard, who last performed "Congratulations" for the United Kingdom in 1968.

Results

Draw Country Language[7] Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Finland English Marion Rung "Tom Tom Tom" 6 93
02  Belgium Dutch1 Nicole & Hugo "Baby, Baby" 17 58
03  Portugal Portuguese Fernando Tordo "Tourada" Bullfight 10 80
04  Germany German Gitte "Junger Tag" Young day 8 85
05  Norway English, French2 Bendik Singers "It's Just A Game" 7 89
06  Monaco French Marie "Un train qui part" A train that leaves 8 85
07  Spain Spanish Mocedades "Eres tú" It's You 2 125
08   Switzerland French Patrick Juvet "Je vais me marier, Marie" I'm getting married, Marie 12 79
09  Yugoslavia Serbian Zdravko Čolić "Gori vatra" The fire is burning 15 65
10  Italy Italian Massimo Ranieri "Chi sarà con te" Who will be with you 13 74
11  Luxembourg French Anne-Marie David "Tu te reconnaîtras" You will recognise yourself 1 129
12  Sweden English Nova and The Dolls "You're Summer" 5 94
13  Netherlands Dutch Ben Cramer "De oude muzikant" The old musician 14 69
14  Ireland English Maxi "Do I Dream" 10 80
15  United Kingdom English Cliff Richard "Power to All Our Friends" 3 123
16  France French Martine Clémenceau "Sans toi" Without you 15 65
17  Israel Hebrew Ilanit "Ey Sham" (אי שם) Somewhere 4 97
1.^ Also contains lyrics in English, Spanish and French.
2.^ Also contains lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Hebrew, Serbo-Croatian, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian.

Scoreboard

Results
Finland 93 9 5 6 6 5 6 6 7 2 6 7 5 5 9 4 5
Belgium 58 4 3 4 3 6 6 4 4 2 4 2 3 4 5 2 2
Portugal 80 4 6 5 5 4 8 8 6 3 4 2 5 4 5 6 5
Germany 85 2 5 6 4 5 9 7 4 3 7 6 5 6 5 7 4
Norway 89 8 5 5 6 7 6 7 6 5 7 3 3 3 3 6 9
Monaco 85 6 3 2 4 3 6 5 9 8 6 4 5 6 9 5 4
Spain 125 3 8 9 9 4 9 8 9 10 8 7 10 10 4 9 8
Switzerland 79 4 3 3 4 7 5 7 6 4 6 3 8 7 7 2 3
Yugoslavia 65 5 3 3 4 2 5 8 6 2 4 2 4 5 4 4 4
Italy 74 2 5 3 5 5 5 5 7 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 4
Luxembourg 129 6 6 8 7 8 7 6 10 9 9 8 9 8 10 10 8
Sweden 94 8 4 4 5 8 5 7 9 6 5 6 6 5 7 4 5
Netherlands 69 4 4 2 5 5 4 5 5 5 4 7 3 5 3 6 2
Ireland 80 3 7 2 4 6 6 7 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 4 4
United Kingdom 123 9 6 6 7 7 8 4 8 8 5 10 9 10 9 8 9
France 65 4 3 2 4 4 5 5 4 7 2 3 5 5 5 5 2
Israel 97 6 6 5 7 5 7 4 6 7 7 8 6 6 7 5 5

10 points

Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.

N. Contestant Voting nation
3 Luxembourg France, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Spain Ireland, Italy, Netherlands
2 United Kingdom Netherlands, Luxembourg

International broadcasts and voting

The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1973 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the broadcasting station for which they represented are also included in the table below.

Television

Country Commentator Broadcaster
 Finland Erkki Pohjanheimo (YLE TV1)[8]
 Belgium Herman Verelst (BRT)
Paule Herreman (RTB)[9]
 Portugal Artur Agostinho (RTP1)[10]
 Germany Hanns Verres (ARD Deutsches Fernsehen)
 Norway John Andreassen (NRK)[11][12]
 Monaco Pierre Tchernia (Télé Monte Carlo)
 Spain Julio Rico (TVE1)[13]
  Switzerland Theodor Haller (TV DRS)
Georges Hardy (TSR)
Giovanni Bertini (TSI)
 Yugoslavia Milovan Ilić (TVB1)
Oliver Mlakar (TVZ 1)
Tomaž Terček (TVL1)
 Italy Renato Tagliani (Programma Nazionale)
 Luxembourg Jacques Navadic (RTL Télé Luxembourg)
 Sweden Alicia Lundberg (SR TV1)[14]
 Netherlands Pim Jacobs (Nederland 1)[15]
 Ireland Mike Murphy (RTÉ Television)
 United Kingdom Terry Wogan (BBC1)[16]
 France Pierre Tchernia (Première Chaîne ORTF)[9]
 Israel No commentator (Israeli Television)

Radio

Country Commentator Broadcaster
 Finland Jertta Blomstedt (YLE Radio 1)
 Belgium Nand Baert and Jan Theys (BRT Radio 1)
André Hagon (RTB La Première)
 Portugal Amadeu Meireles (RDP Antena 1)
 Germany Wolf Mittler (Deutschlandfunk)
 Norway Erik Heyerdahl (NRK P1)
 Monaco TBC TBC
 Spain TBC TBC
  Switzerland TBC TBC
 Yugoslavia TBC TBC
 Italy TBC TBC
 Luxembourg Camillo Felgen (RTL Radio)
 Sweden Ursula Richter (SR P3)[14]
 Netherlands - N/A TBC TBC
 Ireland Liam Devally (Radio Éireann)[17]
 United Kingdom Pete Murray (BBC Radio 1)
Richard Astbury (British Forces Radio)[18]
 France - N/A TBC TBC
 Israel - N/A TBC TBC

Non-participating countries

National jury members

  •  Finland - Kristiina Kauhtio (under 25) and Heikki Sarmanto (over 25)[20]
  •  Portugal - José Calvário (under 25) and Teresa Silva Carvalho (over 25)
  •  Spain - Teresa González (under 25) and José Luis Balbín (over 25)[21]
  •  Sweden - Lena Andersson (under 25) and Lars Samuelson (over 25)[14]
  •  United Kingdom - Catherine Woodfield (under 25) and Pat Williams (over 25)[18]
  •  Yugoslavia - Dušan Lekić, student from Titograd(now Podgorica in Montenegro,under 25) and Ivan Antonov, presenter in TV Skopje (over 25)[22][23]

References

  1. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1 April 2010
  2. "The "Grand Théâtre" of Luxembourg City offers high quality cultural events", Luxembourg National Tourist Office, London. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  3. "Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg", Théâtre Info Luxembourg. (French) Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  4. O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  5. "No, No, Never!!! - Songs That Did Not Make It To Eurovision". eurovisionsongs.net. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  6. "Conductors 1973". 4Lyrics.com. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  7. "Eurovision Song Contest 1973". The Diggiloo Thrush. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  8. "Selostajat ja taustalaulajat läpi vuosien? • Viisukuppila". Viisukuppila.fi. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  9. 1 2 Christian Masson. "1973 - Luxembourg". Songcontest.free.fr. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  10. "Festival da Canção, mezinha do pinga amor", Mário Castrim, Diário de Lisboa, 9 April 1973
  11. "Hvem kommenterte før Jostein Pedersen? - Debattforum". Nrk.no. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  12. Dyrseth, Seppo (OGAE Norway)
  13. "FORO FESTIVAL DE EUROVISIÓN • Ver Tema - Uribarri comentarista Eurovision 2010". Eurosongcontest.phpbb3.es. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  14. 1 2 3 Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna ["Melodifestivalen through time"] (2006), p. 102. Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2
  15. "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival". Eurovision Artists (in Dutch).
  16. Eurovision Song Contest 1973 BBC Archives
  17. "RTÉ Archives". Stills Library. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  18. 1 2 Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs For Europe - The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest Volume Two: The 1970's. UK: Telos Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-84583-065-6.
  19. http://timarit.is/view_page_init.jsp?issId=264691&pageId=3732090&lang=is&q=Eurovision
  20. "Muistathan: Eurovision laulukilpailu 1973". Viisukuppila.fi. 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  21. "Eurovisión 1978 Jurado TVE (I)". YouTube. 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  22. Vladimir Pinzovski.
  23. "OGAE Macedonia". OGAE Macedonia. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
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