"Congratulations" is a song recorded by British singer

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 ...

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 in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

placing second behind the Spanish entry, " La, la, la". The song went on to reach number 1 in many countries including Spain. He released the song in English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Background

Conception

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".

Eurovision

On 5 March 1968, "Congratulations " performed by

–who had already been internally selected– competed in the organized by the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC) to select the song he would perform in 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 ...

. The song won the competition so it became the for the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, to be held in London. In addition to the English language version, he released the song in French, German, Spanish, and Italian. 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'?". On 6 April 1968, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London hosted by the BBC, and broadcast live throughout the continent. Cliff Richard performed "Congratulations" twelfth on the night following 's "

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...

" by

Sergio Endrigo Sergio Endrigo (; 15 June 1933 – 7 September 2005) was an Italian singer-songwriter. Born in Pola, Istria in Italy (now Pula, Croatia), he has been often compared—for style and nature—to authors of the so-called "Genoa school" like Gino ...

and preceding 's "Stress" by Odd Børre. The song was arranged, conducted and produced by

Norrie Paramor Norman William "Norrie" Paramor (15 May 1913 – 9 September 1979) was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, both togethe ...

who was also musical director for the event. 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 just behind 's entry " La, la, la" by Massiel by just one point.

Aftermath

"Congratulations" went on to become a huge hit throughout Europe. In July 1968, the song was included on the six-track Columbia 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; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

'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 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 year. It includes th ...

'' 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

Sales

References

External links

* {{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