"Refrain" is a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

song co-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, ...

and

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 ...

, and performed by

Lys Assia Lys Assia (born Rosa Mina Schärer; 3 March 1924 – 24 March 2018) was a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Assia was born in Rupperswil, Aargau, and began her stage career as a dancer, but changed to singing in 1 ...

. The song represented Switzerland in the inaugural edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and became the first winner of the Contest. The song is in the classic ''

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic ...

'' 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 Song Contest

The

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

which organises the contest allowed two entries from each country for the only time. Lys Assia was one of only two performers, alongside Luxembourg, to represent her country for both entries. That followed the Swiss national final which chose both of her interpretations out of eleven songs interpreted by several singers in Switzerland's different official languages. The countries performed in the same order via two rounds and Assia had previously performed "

Das alte Karussell Switzerland held a national pre-selection to choose the two songs that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1956. It was held on 28 April 1956. Before Eurovision National final The final was held on 28 April 1956 in Lausanne, where "Das ...

" in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

as the second song of the evening. "Refrain" thus performed ninth, following the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 Netherland ...

with "

Voorgoed voorbij The Netherlands held a national final to select the two entrants that Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (NTS), the Dutch broadcaster, would send to the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano, Switzerland. The final was held on 24 April 1956. ...

" and preceding

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Mony Marc The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and (RSI). The contest, origi ...

with " Le plus beau jour de ma vie". 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 ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'', published the day after the contest, wrote that "Refrain" got in total 102 points, and which count of 72.8% of the theoretical votes available for each song. That 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 1957 contest by Assia again with "

L'enfant que j'étais After their win in 1956, Switzerland continued with their format of a national final to select their entry for the 1957 contest. Before Eurovision National final The final was held on 11 February 1957 in St. Moritz. Three artists competed to ...

", and "Refrain" was succeeded as Contest winner in 1957 by

representing the Netherlands with "

Net als toen "Net als toen" (; "Just like then") is a love song written in Dutch by Willy van Hemert, composed by Guus Jansen and performed by Corry Brokken in 1957 as the Netherlands' entry and runaway winner of the pan-European Eurovision Song Contest, whi ...

Other achievements

Assia revealed in 2011 that she dedicated all royalties she made from the song to charity. Assia performed the song in 2005 as part of the interval acts of " Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest", which was broadcast to dozens of countries with a public voting competition to crown the best Eurovision song in the contest's history. 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.

References

External links

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 {{Eurovision-stub