The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. It took place in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "

Après toi "Après toi" (; "After you") is a song recorded by Greek singer Vicky Leandros, with music composed by her father Leo Leandros under his pseudonym Mario Panas, and German composer , with French lyrics by . It in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 ...

" by

Vicky Leandros Vasiliki Papathanasiou (, ; born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Vicky Leandros (, ), is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou (also known as Leo Leandros as well ...

. Organised by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU) and host broadcaster (CLT), the contest was held at the on 7 April 1973 and was hosted by German television presenter

Helga Guitton Helga Guitton (born 18 December 1942) is a German radio and television presenter. She was a disc jockey and interviewer for RTL and was presenter of the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest. Biography Guitton worked for RTL from 1964 to 1994. On Radio ...

. Seventeen countries took part in the contest this year, with and deciding not to participate, and competing for the first time. In a back-to-back victory, won the contest again with the song "" by

Anne-Marie David Anne-Marie David (born 23 May 1952) is a French singer. She has represented both Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest, Luxembourg and France in the Eurovision Song Contest, France at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning in Eurovision Song ...

. The voting was a very close one, with with "

Eres tú "Eres tú" (; "It's You") is a song recorded by Spanish band Mocedades, written by Juan Carlos Calderón. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973 held in Luxembourg placing second which was followed by a global success. It is one of the few ...

" by

Mocedades Mocedades () is a Spanish singing group from the Basque Country, who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 with the hit song "Eres tú". Since June 2014, ''Mocedades'' has been the name of two bands: one with Izaskun Uran ...

finishing only 4 votes behind and the with "

Power to All Our Friends "Power to All Our Friends" is a song by Cliff Richard which was chosen as the entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, by a postal vote which was decided by BBC viewers after Richard performed six contending songs on ''A Song For Europe'', f ...

" by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

(who had come second in just behind Spain) another 2 votes further back. The winning song scored the highest score ever achieved in Eurovision under any voting format until 1975, recording 129 votes out of a possible 160, which represented almost 81% of the possible maximum. This was partly due to a scoring system which guaranteed all countries at least two votes from each country.

Location

is a commune with

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a monarch, national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, ci ...

, and the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of the

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembourg ...

. It is located at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Alzette The Alzette (; ; ) is a river with a length of in France and Luxembourg. It is a right tributary of the Sauer (a tributary to the Moselle), and ultimately to the Rhine. It rises in Thil near the town Villerupt in the Meurthe-et-Moselle '' ...

and

Pétrusse The Pétrusse (; , ) is a river flowing through Luxembourg, joining the Alzette at Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's ...

Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic

Luxembourg Castle The Bock () is a promontory in the north-eastern corner of Luxembourg City's old historical district. It was here that Siegfried of Luxembourg, Count Siegfried built his Castle of ''Lucilinburhuc'' in 963, providing a basis for the development of ...

, established by the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

in the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

, around which a settlement developed. The , inaugurated in 1964 as the , became the venue for the 1973 contest. It is the city's major venue for drama, opera and ballet."Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg"
, ''Théâtre Info Luxembourg''. Retrieved 27 December 2010.

Participants

Seventeen nations took part in this year's contest. participated for the first time, while and decided against participating. Malta had originally being drawn to perform in sixth position between Norway and Monaco, however the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry. Several of the performing artists had previously competed as lead artists representing the same country in past editions:

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945) is a Finland, Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring Finland's se ...

had represented ,

had represented the , and

Massimo Ranieri Giovanni Calone (born 3 May 1951), known professionally as Massimo Ranieri, is an Italian singer, actor, television presenter and theatre director. Biography Early life Ranieri was born in Borgo Santa Lucia, Naples, the fifth of eight children ...

had represented . The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their national languages was dropped this year, so performers from some countries sang in English.

Contest overview

In light of the events that had happened during the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

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 BBC's long-serving commentator

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

. 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. 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 there, with an estimated 21.54 million tuning in on the evening. The song "

" performed by

represented the , finising 3rd with 123 votes. The winner though was "" performed by

Detailed voting results

Each participating broadcaster appointed two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55, with at least 10 years between their ages. They each scored each song between 1 to 5 (other than the song from their own country) immediately after it was performed and the scores were collected and counted as soon as they were cast. All jury members were located at

Villa Louvigny Villa Louvigny is a building in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg, that served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion, the forerunner of RTL Group. It is located in the Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute qu ...

CLT studios, watched the show on television from there, and appeared on screen to confirm their scores after all songs were performed.

10 votes

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

Broadcasts

Each participating broadcaster was required to relay the contest via its networks. Non-participating EBU member broadcasters were also able to relay the contest as "passive participants". Broadcasters were able to send commentators to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language and to relay information about the artists and songs to their television viewers. In addition to the participating countries, the contest was also reportedly broadcast in Algeria, Austria, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey; in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union via Intervision; and the Middle Eastern countries and Japan, with an estimated global audience of 400 million. The contest was reportedly broadcast via radio in countries including Ireland, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Music

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

Music festivals in Luxembourg 1973 in Luxembourg 1973 in music 20th century in Luxembourg City April 1973 in Europe Events in Luxembourg City Music in Luxembourg City