The Netherlands was represented by six-member group Teach-In, with the song "

Ding-a-dong "Ding-a-dong" (original Dutch title: "Ding dinge dong", as it was introduced in the titles when broadcast) was the title of the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975. It was sung by Teach-In, representing the , and was written by Di ...

", at the

1975 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song " Waterloo" by ABBA. Organised by the European Broadcasting Un ...

, which took place in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

on 22 March. Teach-In were chosen as the Dutch representatives at the national final on 26 February, and went on to win the 1975 contest for the Netherlands.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1975

The national final was held at the Jaarbeurs in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, hosted by Willem Duys. For the first time since 1970, the Dutch performer had not been preselected by broadcaster NOS, and the 1975 selection consisted of two stages. Firstly, each of the three participating acts performed a song and 5-member international jury voted for the best song; then the chosen song was performed by all three acts and a 100-member public jury voted for the act they wanted to perform it. Teach-In were chosen with over half of the public vote.

At Eurovision

The free-language rule applied in 1975, so prior to the contest the song was translated into English as "Ding-a-dong" and performed in English at the final. On the night of the final Teach-In performed first in the running order, preceding

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. 1975 saw the introduction of the current Eurovision scoring system, and "Ding-a-dong" received six maximum 12 points votes from

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. At the close of voting it had received 152 points in total (with points from every other participating country), winning the contest by a 14-point margin over runners-up the United Kingdom. This was the Netherlands' fourth Eurovision victory. The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

.ESC History - Netherlands 1975
/ref> The Dutch conductor at the contest was Harry van Hoof. This was the first time in Eurovision history that the contest was won by the song which had opened the show, although this would happen again with the United Kingdom the following year and Sweden in 1984. "Ding-a-dong" reached number 3 on the Dutch Singles chart and also became a hit in several other markets, including the United Kingdom where it peaked at number 13, and Sweden where it made number 2.

Voting

References

External links

Dutch Preselection 1975
{{Eurovision Song Contest 1975

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...