Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Country  Netherlands
National selection
Selection process National Final
Selection date(s) 3 February 1957
Selected entrant Corry Brokken
Selected song "Net Als Toen"
Finals performance
Final result 1st, 31 points

The Netherlands were represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 by Corry Brokken with the song "Net als toen" written by Guus Jansen and Willy van Hemert. The Dutch entry was chosen during a national final called Nationaal Songfestival and the country would go on to the win the Eurovision Song Contest.

Contents

National Songfestival

Nationaal Song Festival 1957
Final: February 3
Presenter: Karin Kraaykamp
Venue AVRO Studios, Hilversum
Number of contestants 4 (8 songs)
Voting The winner was decided by the audience, who could vote for their favourite by sending a postcard.

Like in the previous year, a national final titled National Songfestival was held with eight songs competing. Four singers took part in the selection, each of them presenting two songs. Corry Brokken was the only singer from the 1956 national final who tried again. The winner was again chosen by postcard voting, however, this time, only the top four entries were announced. However, it can be seen that the interest in the contest has increased a lot: in 1956, a total of 6694 postcards were counted[1], less than only the winning received in 1957, which got 6927; the top four received a total of postcards of 14858 postcards[2]. Again, the show was hosted by Karin Kraaykamp. Corry Brokken, who was already one of the two Dutch representatives in the 1956 Eurovision Song Contest, was the clear winner of the national final, her entries finished first and second. Marcel Thielemans finished third and fourth, but way behind her. The winning song was “Net als toen” and would be the third Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Participants

# Singer Song
(Music/lyrics)
Translation Votes Place
1 Hea Sury "De bromtol"
(Melle Wiersma/Willy van Hemert)
The spinning toy 532 7th
2 Hea Sury "Een liedje van niets"
(Jelle de Vries)
A song about nothing 140 8th
3 John de Mol "Havannah is zo ver"
(Jan Mol)
Havannah is so far away 814 6th
4 John de Mol "Hiep hiep hiep hoera"
(Jan Mol)
Hip hip hip hurray 819 5th
5 Marcel Thielemans "Ik weet nog goed"
(Pi Scheffer/Alexander Pola)
I still know it very well 965 4th
6 Corry Brokken "Iwan"
(Pi Scheffer/Alexander Pola)
- 4692 2nd
7 Corry Brokken "Net als toen"
(Guus Jansen/Willy van Hemert)
Just like then 6927 1st
8 Marcel Thielemans "Simpe sampe sompe"
(Joh Steggerda)
- 2544 3rd

Releases

“Net als toen” was released on a EP by Corry Brokken with the title “Grand Prix 1957 Eurovision”[3]. The entry itself did not reach the Dutch single charts and was also no international hit although it would win the Eurovision Song Contest. Brokken has also recorded a German version (“Damals war alles so schön”) and a French version (“Tout comma avant”) of the song. None of the other songs in the national final made any commercial impact.

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest in Frankfurt, the Dutch entry was performed sixth on the night following Austria with “Wohin, kleines Pony?” and preceding Germany with “Telefon, Telefon”. Corry Brokken was backed by violinist Sem Nijveen, who had a remarkable long solo part. The Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest. At the close of voting, the Dutch entry had received 31 points and at least one point from every other country. It would be the clearest victory ever in this voting system as they got 31% of all votes and 34.4% of the votes possible to be received (as no country can vote for itself). Furthermore, in the voting system of that year, it would be the only entry ever to receive points from every other country and one of only two to lead on the scoreboard from the first until the last vote. The Netherlands would be the only country to win the contest on its second attempt until Ukraine did so in 2004.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Points given

Points received

See also

Sources

References