After having won in London in 1977, French Television organised the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest in Paris on the 22nd of April.

Live in Dubai!

For the third time in Eurovision Song Contesthistory, the event was held in France. After having hosted the two previous contests in Cannes, French Television decided to host it in the capital Paris. A record of 20 countries participated this year. Denmark returned to the contest after 11 years of absence. Turkey also participated, and no country withdrew from the previous year. For the first time, the show was presented by two persons, Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone. It was the first time contest was broadcast live in Dubai.

About the winner

Israel won the song contest for the first time with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta. The country received five consecutive 12 point votes, which is still a Eurovision Song Contest record. Israel’s Head of Delegation, Rivka Michaeli, admitted though that they hadn’t been satisfied with Cohen’s song. Michaeli said it was only because all the other entries were „so absolutely awful“ that Cohen had won the national heats. When it was obvious that Israel would win, the broadcasting company of Jordan stopped the live broadcast claiming they had technical difficulties. A day later they presented the song from Belgium – which came second – as the winning song.

Facts & figures

Norway did not get a single vote, which was unique for the new voting system, but that fact would be repeated several times in the future. Big European stars participated in the contest this year, despite all achieving only moderate success. Italy’s Ricchi & Poveri, only ending up 12th, went on to have a major success in Europe as part of the later wave of Italo-Pop. The popular singer for Germany, Ireen Sheer, also took part for the second time and came 6th beating Spain’s disco queens Baccara who sang for Luxembourg into 7th position.

The Participants

01	IrelandRTÉ	Colm T. Wilkinson	Born To Sing	086	05
02	NorwayNRK	Jahn Teigen	Mil Etter Mil	000	20
03	ItalyRAI	Ricchi e Poveri	Questo Amore	053	12
04	FinlandYLE	Seija Simola	Anna Rakkaudelle Tilaisuus	002	18
05	PortugalRTP	Gemini	Dai-li-dou	005	17
06	FranceTF1	Joël Prévost	Il Y Aura Toujours Des Violons	119	03
07	SpainTVE	José Vélez	Bailemos Un Vals	065	09
08	United KingdomBBC	Co-Co	The Bad Old Days	061	11
09	SwitzerlandSSR SRG	Carole Vinci	Vivre	065	09
10	BelgiumRTBF	Jean Vallée	L’amour ça Fait Chanter La Vie	125	02
11	The NetherlandsNOS	Harmony	‚t Is Ok	037	13
12	TurkeyTRT	Nazar	Sevinçe	002	18
13	GermanyARD	Ireen Sheer	Feuer	084	06
14	MonacoTMC	Caline and Olivier Toussaint	Les Jardins De Monaco	107	04
15	GreeceERT	Tania Tsanaklidou	Charlie Chaplin	066	08
16	DenmarkDR	Mabel	Boom Boom	013	16
17	LuxembourgCLT	Baccara	Parlez-vous Français?	073	07
18	IsraelIBA	Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta	Abanibi	157	01
19	AustriaORF	Springtime	Mrs. Caroline Robinson	014	15
20	SwedenSR	Björn Skifs	Det Blir Alltid Värre Framåt Natten	026	14

Scoreboard

Participant																					Points	Place
Ireland	6	10		3	5	5	10				10		12			8	7		10		86	5
Norway																					–	20
Italy		1			4	2	2	10			3	8	6	1	8		1		1	6	53	12
Finland													2								2	18
Portugal										4					1						5	17
France	12	8	8	2		10	8	6	5	10	1	5	3	2	5	10	6	6	4	8	119	3
Spain	7	2	12	7			6		6		2	4					8	4	7		65	9
United Kingdom	5	4			2	8	3	3	2		5	7		6	3	3	2	2	6		61	11
Switzerland	10	7	3	1	7	6			1	1	8	2	5		4			8		2	65	9
Belgium	4			6	12	3	12	12	7	6	7	12	7	4	2	4	10	5		12	125	2
The Netherlands			5			4			12	5	6	1				1				3	37	13
Turkey													1							1	2	18
Germany		5	1	12			7	1	3	3		10		7	10	7	3	7	8		84	6
Monaco	1	6	10	8	1	7	4	4	8	7			4	5		12	5	10	5	10	107	4
Greece	3		4	5	10			7	10	2	4			8	7	2	4				66	8
Denmark	2				6				4									1			13	16
Luxembourg		3	7				1	2		12		6		12	12	6		3	2	7	73	7
Israel	8	12	6	10	8	12	5	8		8	12	3	8	10	6		12	12	12	5	157	1
Austria			2			1								3		5			3		14	15
Sweden				4	3			5					10							4	26	14

Participants