Eurovision Song Contest 1974

The Brighton Dome, host venue of the 1974 contest

At the time, Brighton was a separate town; it is now the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove (formed from the previous towns of Brighton, Hove, Portslade and several other villages) on the south coast of Great Britain.

The venue which hosted the 1974 Contest was the Brighton Dome, an arts venue that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Pavilion Theatre. All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel to the Royal Pavilion in Pavilion Gardens and through shared corridors to Brighton Museum; the entire complex was built for the Prince Regent (later George IV) and completed in 1805.

A two-night preview programme, Auftakt für Brighton (Prelude for Brighton), was coordinated by the German national broadcaster ARD broadcast at the end of March and was hosted by the journalist Karin Tietze-Ludwig. It was the first "preview"-type programme to be broadcast in many European countries simultaneously (traditionally each national broadcaster puts together its own preview programme).[2] The UK did not broadcast the programmes, instead airing its own preview shows introduced by David Vine on BBC1 on 24 and 31 March.[3] The French entry was broadcast by all the nations showing the previews, even though the song was withdrawn from the Eurovision final itself. The programme was also notable in being the European television debut for the winners, ABBA, who were credited in previews as "The Abba".[1]

The United Kingdom was represented in the contest by the (British-born) Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, who finished in fourth place with the song "Long Live Love". As noted by author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, Newton-John disliked this song and preferred others from the UK heat, but "Long Live Love" was chosen as the UK's entry by a public postal vote.[4]

France had been drawn to sing at No. 14 (after Ireland and before Germany) with the song "La vie à vingt-cinq ans" ("Life At 25") by Dani, but as a mark of respect following the death of the French President Georges Pompidou, during Eurovision week, French broadcaster ORTF made the decision to withdraw the entry. Given that President Pompidou's memorial service (he was buried in a private ceremony on 4 April), which was attended by international dignitaries, was held the day of the contest, it was deemed inappropriate for the French to take part. Dani was seen by viewers in the audience at the point the French song should have been performed. For the same reason, the French singer Anne-Marie David, who had won the first place for Luxembourg in 1973, could not come to Brighton to hand the prize to the 1974 winner.[1][4] In her absence, the Director General of the BBC and President of the EBU, Sir Charles Curran, presented the Grand Prix.

Malta had selected Enzo Guzman with the song "Paċi Fid-Dinja" (Peace in the World) to represent it, but withdrew from the contest for unknown reasons. Malta returned to the competition in 1975.[1]

Italy refused to broadcast the televised contest on the state television channel RAI because the contest coincided with the intense political campaigning for the 1974 Italian referendum on divorce, which was held a month later in May. RAI felt that Gigliola Cinquetti's song, which was entitled "Sì", and repeatedly featured the word "si" (yes),[5] could be accused of being a subliminal message and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote "yes" in the referendum. The song was not played on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month.[4]

Portugal's entry "E depois do adeus" was used as the first of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime. Played on a Portuguese radio station late in the evening of 24 April 1974, the broadcasting of the song alerted the rebel, largely left-wing captains and soldiers to prepare to begin the successful military coup. The second song to be broadcast, marking the actual start of military operations of the coup, was "Grândola, Vila Morena" by Zeca Afonso (but with no Eurovision Song Contest connection). John Kennedy O'Connor described "E depois do adeus" as "the only Eurovision entry to have actually started a revolution" (which is quite ironic, for the song finished last in the Contest), while Des Mangan suggests that other Portuguese entries – he mentions "Se Eu Te Pudesse Abraçar" (1998) – would not be likely to inspire coups.[4]

In 1974, during the dictatorship in Greece, rock band Nostradamos won the first Eurovision participation contest ran by the state broadcaster ERT to represent Greece at Eurovision.[6] However, due to a scandal, the band was not allowed to compete at Eurovision, and Greek laiko singer Marinella was sent instead.[6]

Seventeen nations took part in this year's contest. Greece made their début, while France withdrew during the week of the contest after the sudden death of French President Georges Pompidou.[1]

Draw	Country	Artist	Song	Language[10][11]	Place	Points
01	Finland	Carita	"Keep Me Warm"	English	13	4
02	United Kingdom	Olivia Newton-John	"Long Live Love"	English	4	14
03	Spain	Peret	"Canta y sé feliz"	Spanish	9	10
04	Norway	Anne-Karine Strøm feat. Bendik Singers	"The First Day of Love"	English	14	3
05	Greece	Marinella	"Krasi, thalassa ke t' agori mou" (Κρασί, θάλασσα και τ' αγόρι μου)	Greek	11	7
06	Israel	Kaveret	"Natati La Khayay" (נתתי לה חיי)	Hebrew	7	11
07	Yugoslavia	Korni Grupa	"Generacija '42" (Генерација '42)	Serbo-Croatian	12	6
08	Sweden	ABBA	"Waterloo"	English	1	24
09	Luxembourg	Ireen Sheer	"Bye Bye I Love You"	Frencha	4	14
10	Monaco	Romuald	"Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va"	French	4	14
11	Belgium	Jacques Hustin	"Fleur de liberté"	French	9	10
12	Netherlands	Mouth & MacNeal	"I See a Star"	English	3	15
13	Ireland	Tina Reynolds	"Cross Your Heart"	English	7	11
14	Germany	Cindy & Bert	"Die Sommermelodie"	German	14	3
15	Switzerland	Piera Martell	"Mein Ruf nach dir"	German	14	3
16	Portugal	Paulo de Carvalho	"E depois do adeus"	Portuguese	14	3
17	Italy	Gigliola Cinquetti	"Sì"	Italian	2	18

Notes:

a. ^ Contains some words in English.

1.^ Dutch commentator Willem Duys stated during the broadcast that the jury spokesman was Harry Hagedoorn.

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