"Refrain" is a song recorded by Swiss singer

Lys Assia Rosa Mina Schärer (3 March 1924 – 24 March 2018), known by her stage name Lys Assia, was a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in . Assia was born in Rupperswil, Aargau, and began her stage career as a dancer, but changed ...

with music composed by

Géo Voumard Géo Voumard (2 December 1920 – 3 September 2008) was a Swiss jazz pianist and composer. He was a co-founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival and composer of the song "''Refrain''" which won the first Eurovision Song Contest. Life and career V ...

and lyrics written by

Émile Gardaz Émile Gardaz (29 August 1931, Échallens, Vaud - 19 December 2007) was a Swiss radio moderator and author, working for Radio suisse romande since 1955. He was the father of comedian Sophie Gardaz. Ten years before his death, in 1997, he was, ...

. It in the 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 ...

and became the first ever winner of the contest.

Background

Conception

"Refrain" was composed by

with French lyrics by

, and recorded by

. She also recorded the song in German as "Refrain, du gold'ner Traum aus meiner Jugendzeit", and in English as "Last night". The song is in the classic ''

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

'' mode and laments the lost loves of the singer's "adolescence". The French original reads "vingt ans", which can also be rendered "twenties" in English.

Eurovision

On 28 April 1956, "Refrains" was one of the five songs with which

competed in the ', the eleven-song national final organized by the

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (; ; ; ; SRG SSR) is the Swiss public broadcasting association, founded in 1931, the holding company of 24 radio and television channels. Headquartered in Bern, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is a non-pro ...

(SRG SSR) to select its two songs and performers for the of the

. As in this first edition two entries from each country were allowed, two songs won the national final, "Refrains" and "Das alte Karussell", both performed by Assia, becoming the for Eurovision. On 24 May 1956, the first Eurovision Song Contest was held at in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

hosted by (RSI) on behalf of the SRG SSR, and broadcast live throughout the continent. The countries performed in the same order via two rounds and Assia had previously performed "Das alte Karussell" in German as the second song of the evening. "Refrain" thus performed ninth, following the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

' "

Voorgoed voorbij The Netherlands was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1956 with two songs: "", composed by Cor Lemaire, with lyrics by Annie M. G. Schmidt, and performed by Jetty Paerl; and "", written by Jelle de Vries, and performed by Corry Brokken ...

" by

Corry Brokken Cornelia Maria "Corry" Brokken (3 December 1932 – 31 May 2016) was a Dutch singer, television presenter and jurist. In 1957, she won the second edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Net als toen", representing the Netherlands ...

and preceding

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

's "

Le plus beau jour de ma vie The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RSI) on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). The contest, origi ...

" by Mony Marc. Assia was one of only two performers, alongside , to represent their country with both entries. Fernando Paggi conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the Swiss entries. No video recording of the performances is known to have survived, only footage of the winning reprise exists in addition to the audio of the full radio broadcast. After the interval act, "Refrain" was declared the winner without revealing the other song's ranks nor the number of points to the winner as well. Claims were raised that it won as a result of procedures which included a secret voting with an option for juries to vote for their own country's songs, alongside allowing the Swiss jury to vote on behalf of Luxembourg which couldn't send juries.Jan Feddersen: Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein. 1. Auflage. Hoffmann und Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2002, . S. 374. The 25 May 1956 issue of the Italian newspaper ''

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

'', published the day after the contest, wrote that "Refrain" received 102 points, which represented 72.8% of potential the theoretical total available for each song. This is based on a claim that each jury member ranked each song between 1 and 10 points, meaning each song could have obtained a maximum of 120 to 140 points; depending on whether jury members also voted for their own country. The two songs were succeeded as Swiss representative at the by Assia again with " L'enfant que j'étais", and "Refrain" was succeeded as Contest winner in 1957 by "

Net als toen "Net als toen" (; "Just like then") is a love song recorded by Dutch singer Corry Brokken with music composed by Guus Jansen and Dutch lyrics written by Willy van Hemert. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 held in Frankfurt, resulting in th ...

" by

representing .

Aftermath

Assia performed her song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show '' Songs of Europe'' held on 22 August 1981 in

Mysen Mysen is the administrative center of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Eidsberg in the counties of Norway, county of Østfold in Norway. The town is named after the old farm of Mysen (Old Norse, Norse ''Mysin'', from ''*Mosvin''), si ...

. In the Eurovision fiftieth anniversary competition '' Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'', held on 22 October 2005 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, she performed the song as part of the interval acts. Assia revealed in 2011 that she dedicated all royalties she made from the song to charity. According to the data calculated at "Hit Parade Italia", which presents weekly and top 100 yearly positions for a mix of both Italian and international songs, "Refrain" is ranked the 50th most successful song in Italy in 1956.

Legacy

A cover version of "Refrain" sung by Mathé Altéry, one of the French representatives in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956, was published in autumn 1956. Other cover versions were recorded by Cora Vaucaire, and Jula De Palma.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Eurovision songs of Switzerland Eurovision songs of 1956 French-language Swiss songs Eurovision Song Contest-winning songs Songs with music by Géo Voumard Songs with lyrics by Émile Gardaz Decca Records singles 1956 songs