Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Eurovision Song Contest 1978 | ||||
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Participating broadcaster | Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) | |||
Country | Luxembourg | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | National final | |||
Selected artist(s) | Baccara | |||
Selected song | "Parlez-vous français ?" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
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Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 7th, 73 points | |||
Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Luxembourg was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "Parlez-vous français ?", composed by Rolf Soja, with lyrics by Frank Dostal and Peter Zentner, and performed by Spanish duo Baccara. The Luxembourgish participating broadcaster, the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), organised a public national final – rather than their usual method of internal selection – to select its entry for the contest.
Baccara were one of the most internationally famous acts ever to appear at Eurovision, being already known throughout Europe from two recent hugely successful singles, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" (which had spent a week at the top of the UK Singles Chart in late 1977) and "Sorry, I'm a Lady". Frank Dostal, who wrote the lyrics for "Parlez-vous français ?", had also penned the duo's previous recordings. There was some degree of facetious comment that so similar was it to the two hits that it should have been called "Yes Sir, I'm a Lady". However Baccara were to find (as had Silver Convention the year before) that being a big-name act did not necessarily translate into Eurovision success.
Before Eurovision
[edit]Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1978
[edit]The Luxembourgish national final, Concours Eurovision de la Chanson 1978, was broadcast live on RTL at 20:00 CET on 21 March 1978.[1] No information on the venue, host(s), or voting system is known. Five acts took part, including Gitte Hænning who had represented Germany in 1973 and Liliane Saint-Pierre who would represent Belgium in 1987.[2]
Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
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1 | Jean-Paul Cara | "Un arbre dans la ville" | Joe Gracy, Jean-Paul Cara | 62 | 2 |
2 | Gitte Hænning | "Rien qu'une femme" | Hans-Georg Moslener, R. Frank | 56 | 3 |
3 | Jairo | "Dans les yeux d'un enfant" | Jairo, Michel Jourdan | 51 | 5 |
4 | Baccara | "Parlez-vous français ?" | Rolf Soja, Frank Dostal, Peter Zentner | 80 | 1 |
5 | Liliane Saint-Pierre | "Mélodie" | Claude Barzotti, Michel Detry | 52 | 4 |
At Eurovision
[edit]The contest was broadcast on RTL Télé-Luxembourg with Jacques Navadic and André Torrent as commentators.[3]
On the night of the final Baccara performed 17th in the running order, following Denmark and preceding eventual contest winners Israel. Although their commercial success made them among the favourites to win prior to the contest, ultimately, "Parlez-vous français ?" was never in contention for victory and finished the evening with 73 points. This placed Luxembourg 7th of the 20 entries.[4] The song had received maximum 12s from Italy, Portugal, and (unsurprisingly) Spain, but had been ignored completely by seven other national juries. The Luxembourgish jury awarded its 12 points to Israel.[5]
Voting
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References
[edit]- ^ "RTL Luxembourg". Revue. 18 March 1978. p. 106.
- ^ "LUXEMBOURG NATIONAL FINAL 1978". natfinals.50webs.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Samstag, 22. April 1978" [Saturday, 22 April 1978]. Revue Agenda (in French and German). No. 16. 22–28 April 1978. pp. 12–13. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ ESC History - Luxembourg 1978
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.