Ik Hou Van Jou

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Ik Hou Van Jou
Eurovision Song Contest 1984 entry
Country	Netherlands
Artist(s)	Maria Lidwina Kwakman
As	Maribelle
Language	Dutch
Composer(s)	Peter van Asten, Richard Debois
Lyricist(s)	Peter van Asten, Richard Debois
Place	13th
Points	34
Lyrics	from Diggiloo Thrush

Ik Hou Van Jou (English translation: "I Love You") was the Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed in Dutch by Maribelle.

The song is a simple love ballad. Maribelle sings that she simply cannot live without her lover, who appears from subsequent lyrics to have left her some time ago as she pleads with him to return and make her life meaningful again.

Musically, the song represented a move away from the up-tempo pop beginning to predominate. Maribelle performed solo and without any movement at all.

The song went into the Contest as a warm favourite. It was performed eleventh on the night (following Denmark's Hot Eyes with Det' Lige Det and preceding Yugoslavia's Izolda & Vlado with Ciao Amore). At the close of voting, it had received 34 points, placing 13th in a field of 19.

Despite the poor placing, the song has become a fan favourite, appearing as one of the non-winning "classics" on the double-CD and double-DVD sets produced to coincide with the Congratulations special of late 2005.

It has also achieved fame by being covered by other performers, Cilla Black among them.

The Netherlands opted out of the 1985 Contest, as the date coincided with the Remembrance of the Dead commemmoration. The country did, however, return to the fold at the next Contest. Thus, the song was succeeded as Dutch representative at the 1986 Contest by Frizzle Sizzle with Alles Heeft Ritme.