"Congratulations" is a song recorded by British singer

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

. The song was written by Bill Martin and

Phil Coulter Philip Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009. Coulter ha ...

. It is best known as the British entry at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1968 The Eurovision Song Contest 1968 was the 13th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's first victory at the with the song " Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw. Despite ha ...

, held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

finishing in second place behind the Spanish entry. The song went on to reach number 1 in many countries including Spain.

Background

The song was arranged, conducted and produced by

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff ...

who was also musical director for the contest, which was held at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

. Phil Coulter originally wrote the song as "I Think I Love You", but was unsure of the lyrics and got together with Bill Martin (the same team that wrote " Puppet on a String"), who changed it to "Congratulations". The song was immediately popular in the UK and became a number one single. On the day of the contest, it was the favourite to win, so much so that the British press were posing the question: "What will come second to 'Congratulations'?". During the voting, "Congratulations" was leading for much of the way until the penultimate vote when Germany gave Spain six points, putting them one point ahead of the United Kingdom. It finished second losing to 's entry "

La, la, la "La, la, la" is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. It was the first time that Spain won the C ...

" by just one point. However, "Congratulations" went on to become a huge hit throughout Europe. In 2008, documentary film-maker Montse Fernandez Vila claimed that the loss was the result of rigging of the Spanish vote by state television on behalf of the

Francoist State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spa ...

. However José María Íñigo, the person that made such claims in the documentary, quickly said that his words were taken out of context and said that the channel that produced the documentary,

laSexta La Sexta (; "The Sixth"; stylized as laSexta) is a Spanish free-to-air television channel. It is privately owned and was originally founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV that began broadcasting on 1 April 2001, that same year. By 21 July 2003, the ...

, who was the promoter of the Spanish representative that year, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, had manipulated his words to help promote their candidate. He said: "if there had been such a manipulation, it would have been for a different artist who had been closer to the regime". In July 1968, the song was included on the six-track

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

EP ''Congratulations: Cliff Sings 6 Songs for Europe''. The song is still popular and was chosen to lead the show which celebrated 50 years of Eurovision and which was named after it: '' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest''. Richard also performed the song as part of the commemorations for the 50th anniversary of

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

in 1995, despite it having been written long after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. George Harrison's song "It's Johnny's Birthday" from his 1970 album ''

All Things Must Pass ''All Things Must Pass'' is the third studio album by English rock musician George Harrison. Released as a triple album in November 1970, it was Harrison's first solo work after Break-up of the Beatles, the break-up of the Beatles in April that ...

'' is based on this song. The writers Martin and Coulter filed a claim in December 1970 against Harrison for royalties, and subsequent pressings of the album credit their contribution.

Chart performance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Congratulations (Song) Cliff Richard songs Pinky and Perky songs Eurovision songs of 1968 Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom Congratulations Eurovision songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Norway Irish Singles Chart number-one singles 1968 singles Songs written by Bill Martin (songwriter) Songs written by Phil Coulter 1968 songs Schlager songs Columbia Graphophone Company singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor

Background

Chart performance

See also

References