Eurovision Song Contest 1958

Eurovision Song Contest 1958
Dates
Final date Wednesday, 12 March 1958
Host
Venue AVRO Studios
Hilversum, Netherlands
Presenter(s) Hannie Lips
Conductor Dolf van der Linden
Host broadcaster NTS
Interval act Metropole Orkest
Participants
Number of entries 10
Debuting countries  Sweden
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries  United Kingdom
Vote
Voting system Each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song.
Nul points None
Winning song  France
"Dors, mon amour"
Eurovision Song Contest
◄1957 1959►

The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third Eurovision Song Contest. The convention that the winning country from a year hosted the following year's contest was introduced in this year. France's win was their first. It was the last time to date that the United Kingdom did not enter the contest. Unlike the competition in 1956, 1957 limited one song per country, they were still limited to entering a single song in 1958, which has remained the policy to date. Together with 1956, it is the only contest that has not featured a single song in the English language.

Sweden, a country that would later be one of the most successful in the contest, debuted this year.

The juries were not in the studio as in 1956. As in 1957, this year they stayed in their own countries, listening to the event. Once the songs had all been sung, juries sent their results via telephone. The Italian entry was not picked up properly in some of the other countries, which meant that after all the other songs had been presented, Domenico Modugno had to sing it again. Later on, it became very successful in the United States, where it has become commonly known as Volare, and got two Grammy Awards. It is one of few Eurovision songs that has reached #1 in the US singles charts. At the 50th anniversary show "Congratulations" in 2005, it was elected the 2nd best Eurovision entry ever.

The interval acts was music by the Metropole Orkest, under the lead of conductor Dolf van der Linden. This year, there were two interval acts; one in the middle, one after all the songs were played.

It was also the only year that the host country came last place, and the first time more than one country came last.

Contents

Individual Entries

Results

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Italy Italian Domenico Modugno "Nel blu dipinto di blu" In the blue painted in blue 3 13
02  Netherlands Dutch Corry Brokken "Heel de wereld" The whole world 9 1
03  France French André Claveau "Dors, mon amour" Sleep, my love 1 27
04  Luxembourg French Solange Berry "Un grand amour" A big love 9 1
05  Sweden Swedish Alice Babs "Lilla stjärna" Little star 4 10
06  Denmark Danish Raquel Rastenni "Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog" I tore a letter out of my diary 8 3
07  Belgium French Fud Leclerc "Ma petite chatte" My little sweetie 5 8
08  Germany German Margot Hielscher "Für zwei Groschen Musik" Music for two pennies 7 5
09  Austria German Liane Augustin "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" The whole world needs love 5 8
10  Switzerland German, Italian Lys Assia "Giorgio" 2 24

Score sheet

Each country had 10 jury members who each decided the best song and each awarded 1 point.

Results
Italy 13 1 1 1 4 4 1 1
Netherlands 1 1
France 27 6 1 1 9 1 1 7 1
Luxembourg 1 1
Sweden 10 2 3 1 1 3
Denmark 3 1 1 1
Belgium 8 1 1 5 1
Germany 5 2 1 1 1
Austria 8 3 1 1 1 2
Switzerland 24 4 6 3 5 4 2

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous year(s)
Fud Leclerc  Belgium 1956
Margot Hielscher  Germany 1957
Corry Brokken  Netherlands 1956, 1957 (winner)
Lys Assia  Switzerland 1956 (winner), 1957

Commentators

Spokespersons

References

  1. ^ "Nederlandse televisiecommentatoren bij het Eurovisie Songfestival" (in Dutch). Eurovision Artists. http://www.eurovisionartists.nl/index.htm?content/esf480.asp. 
  2. ^ http://songcontest.free.fr/bdd/cec1958.htm
  3. ^ Leif Thorsson. Melodifestivalen genom tiderna ["Melodifestivalen through time"] (2006), p. 14. Stockholm: Premium Publishing AB. ISBN 91-89136-29-2
  4. ^ Rau, Oliver (OGAE Germany)
  5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313345/
  6. ^ http://www.infosajten.com/esc/esc/swedishspokesmen.html