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 | |||
| Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
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 win the Eurovision Song Contest.
National Songfestival
 | |
| 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 had increased a lot: in 1956, a total of 6694 postcards were counted,[1] less than only the winning one 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, as her entries finished first and second. Marcel Thielemans finished third and fourth, but far 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 an 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 not an 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 awarded to the Netherlands
| Points awarded to the Netherlands | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 points | 9 points | 8 points | 7 points | 6 points |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
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Points awarded by the Netherlands
| 5 points |  Denmark |
| 2 points |  Italy |
| 1 point |  Austria France United Kingdom |
