| Eurovision Song Contest 1977 | |
|---|---|
| Dates | |
| Final | Saturday 7 May 1977 |
| Venue |  Wembley Conference Centre, London, United Kingdom |
| Presenter(s) | Angela Rippon |
| Musical director | Ronnie Hazlehurst |
| Directed by | Stewart Morris |
| Executive supervisor | Clifford Brown |
| Executive producer | Bill Cotton |
| Host broadcaster | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Opening act | An aerial tour of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom |
| Interval act | Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Men |
| Winner |  Marie Myriam from France |
| Participants | |
| Number of entries | 18 |
| Debuting countries | None |
| Returning countries |  Sweden |
| Non-returning countries |  Yugoslavia |
The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the first contest which was troubled by a strike and was only organised five weeks after the planned date.
Technicians on strike!
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest took place at the Wembley Conference Centre in London. The event was postponed for five weeks because of the fact that the cameramen and technicians were on strike. The song contest was supposed to take place on the 2nd of April, but it did not take place before the 7th of May. 18 countries took part this year. Sweden returned, and Yugoslavia withdrew from the contest. Tunisia was supposed to take part as well, performing in 4th position, but the country withdrew its entry.
The rule of performing in one’s national language was brought back to the song contest as since 1973, countries could sing in a language they wanted. However, Germany and Belgium were allowed to perform in English because their entries had already been chosen before the rule was brought back. The German group Silver Convention had been hugely popular all over the world in the mid 70s with songs like Fly Robin Fly and Get Up And Boogie. Even if there were high hopes that their 1977 entry Telegram would mark the first victory for Germany, the song only ended up in 8th position. Anita Skorgan sang her first entry Casanova for Norway this year. She would return in 1979 and also try several more times to represent her home country, but always lost out in the Norwegian national heats. Austria gave a innovative performance as Boom Boom Boomerang by the group Schmetterlinge was performed with the artists wearing masks on the back of their heads.
About the winner
France won its fifth victory – and last to date – with the song L’Oiseau Et L’Enfant performed by Marie Myriam. France’s victory was a record in Eurovision Song Contest history. The record was equalled by Luxembourg in 1983, and beaten by Ireland in 1994. The United Kingdom entry Rock Bottom by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran came second. It was the 11th consecutive time that a British entry came top 4.
The Participants
| 01 | Ireland RTÉ | The Swarbriggs Plus Two | It’s Nice To Be In Love Again | 119 | 03 |
| 02 | Monaco TMC | Michèle Torr | Une Petite Française | 096 | 04 |
| 03 | The Netherlands NOS | Heddy Lester | De Mallemolen | 035 | 12 |
| 04 | Austria ORF | Schmetterlinge | Boom Boom Boomerang | 011 | 17 |
| 05 | Norway NRK | Anita Skorgan | Casanova | 018 | 14 |
| 06 | Germany ARD | Silver Convention | Telegram | 055 | 08 |
| 07 | Luxembourg CLT | Anne Marie B. | Frère Jacques | 017 | 16 |
| 08 | Portugal RTP | Os Amigos | Portugal No Coração | 018 | 14 |
| 09 | United Kingdom BBC | Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran | Rock Bottom | 121 | 02 |
| 10 | Greece ERT | Pascalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy | Mathema Solfege | 092 | 05 |
| 11 | Israel IBA | Ilanit | Ah-haa-vah Hee Shir Lish-naa-yim | 049 | 11 |
| 12 | Switzerland SSR SRG | Pepe Lienhard Band | Swiss Lady | 071 | 06 |
| 13 | Sweden SR | Forbes | Beatles | 002 | 18 |
| 14 | Spain TVE | Micky | Enseñame A Cantar | 052 | 09 |
| 15 | Italy RAI | Mia Martini | Liberà | 033 | 13 |
| 16 | Finland YLE | Monica Aspelund | Lapponia | 050 | 10 |
| 17 | Belgium BRT | Dream Express | A Million In One, Two, Three | 069 | 07 |
| 18 | France TF1 | Marie Myriam | L’oiseau Et L’enfant | 136 | 01 |
Scoreboard
| Participant | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 5 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 119 | 3 | ||
| Monaco | 8 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 96 | 4 | ||
| The Netherlands | 10 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 35 | 12 | |||||||||
| Austria | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 17 | ||||||||||||||
| Norway | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 14 | ||||||||||||
| Germany | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 55 | 8 | |||||
| Luxembourg | 8 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 16 | |||||||||||||||
| Portugal | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 14 | ||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | 12 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 121 | 2 | ||||
| Greece | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 92 | 5 | ||
| Israel | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 49 | 11 | ||||||||
| Switzerland | 10 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 71 | 6 | |||||||
| Sweden | 2 | 2 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||
| Spain | 1 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 52 | 9 | ||||||||
| Italy | 2 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 13 | ||||||||||
| Finland | 6 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 50 | 10 | |||||||||
| Belgium | 3 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 69 | 7 | |||||||
| France | 7 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 136 | 1 |