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The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition held on 22 April 1978 at the Palais de Congrès in Paris, France in part to Marie Myriam's win in London the previous year.  It was hosted by Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone, who were the first pair to present the contest. Zitrone was the first male to act as presenter since Lohengrin Filipello hosted the inaugural contest in 1956. Additionally, Zitrone is the oldest presenter in contest history, he was 63 years old at the time of the 1978 edition.

With the retirement of Clifford Brown, Frank Naef became the new Executive Supervisor in 1978. He would go on to oversee 15 more contests, making him the longest-serving executive supervisor, and is still a much-loved figure today among longtime fans of the contest.

Israel got their first win with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta, but Arabic television channels in the Middle East that were airing the contest were not too pleased with this. Some stations went to a commercial break during the performance, and when it was apparent Israel was going to win, many stations cut their transmission entirely during the voting - Jordanian TV ended their transmission with a still image of a bunch of daffodils.

A few other interesting things came out of this contest. Despite scoring "Nul Points" for the first time under the current scoring system, Jahn Teigen's song Mil Etter Mil was a hit on the Norwegian charts. Colm Wilkinson, who sang for Ireland and finished 5th, would go on to become a celebrated musical theatre star for his work in the shows Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera among others. More big European stars participated this year, despite all achieving moderate success. Italy's Ricchi e Poveri, 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, took part for the second time and came 6th beating Spain's disco queens Baccara who sang Luxembourg into 7th position.[1]

Participants[]

Draw Country Artist Song Language Translation Place Points
01 Flag of Ireland Ireland Colm Wilkinson Born to Sing English -- 5 86
02 Flag of Norway Norway Jahn Teigen Mil Etter Mil Norwegian Mile after mile 20 0
03 Flag of Italy Italy Ricchi e Poveri Questo amore Italian This love 12 53
04 Flag of Finland Finland Seija Simola Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus Finnish Give love a chance 18 2
05 Flag of Portugal Portugal Gemini Dai li dou Portuguese -- 17 5
06 Flag of France France Joël Prévost Il y aura toujours des violons French There will always be violins 3 119
07 Flag of Spain Spain José Vélez Bailamos un vals Spanish, French Let's dance a waltz 9 65
08 Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Co-Co Bad Old Days English -- 11 61
09 Flag of Switzerland Switzerland Carol Vinci Vivre French Living 9 65
10 Flag of Belgium Belgium Jean Vallée L'amour ça fait chanter la vie Love that makes life sing 2 125
11 Flag of The Netherlands The Netherlands Harmony 't Is OK Dutch It's OK 13 37
12 Flag of Turkey Türkiye Nilüfer & Nazar Sevince Turkish When someone loves 18 2
13 Flag of Germany Germany Ireen Sheer Feuer German Fire 6 84
14 Flag of Monaco Monaco Caline & Olivier Toussaint Les jardins de Monaco French The gardens of Monaco 4 107
15 Flag of Greece Greece Tania Tsanaklidou Charlie Chaplin Greek -- 8 66
16 Flag of Denmark Denmark Mabel Boom Boom Danish 16 13
17 Flag of Luxembourg Luxembourg Baccara Parlez-vous français? French Do you speak French? 7 73
18 Flag of Israel Israel Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta A-Ba-Ni-Bi Hebrew I love you 1 157
19 Flag of Austria Austria Springtime Mrs. Caroline Robinson German -- 15 14
20 Flag of Sweden Sweden Björn Skifs Det blir alltid värre framåt natten Swedish It always gets worse when the night comes 14 26
Eurovision Song Contest
Editions
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Countries
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Winning Songs
RefrainNet Als ToenDors, mon amourEen beetjeTom PillibiNous les amoureuxUn premier amourDanseviseNon ho l'etàPoupée de Cire, Poupée de SonMerci, ChériePuppet on a StringLa, La, LaBoom Bang-a-BangVivo CantandoUn jour, un enfantDe TroubadourAll Kinds of EverythingUn banc, un arbre, une rueAprès ToiTu Te ReconnaîtrasWaterlooDing-a-DongSave Your Kisses For MeL'Oiseau et l'enfantA-Ba-Ni-BiHallelujahWhat's Another YearMaking Your Mind UpEin bißchen FriedenSi la vie est cadeauDiggiloo DiggileyLa Det SwingeJ'aime La VieHold Me NowNe Partez Pas Sans MoiRock MeInsieme: 1992Fångad av en stormvindWhy Me?In Your EyesRock 'n' Roll KidsNocturneThe VoiceLove Shine a LightDivaTake Me To Your HeavenFly on the Wings of LoveEverybodyI WannaEveryway That I CanWild DancesMy Number OneHard Rock HallelujahMolitvaBelieveFairytaleSatelliteRunning ScaredEuphoriaOnly TeardropsRise Like a PhoenixHeroes1944Amar pelos doisToyArcadeZitti e buoniStefaniaTattoo
Specials
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision's Greatest HitsEurope Shine a Light
Aspects of Eurovision
CommentatorEuroClubEurovision VillageExecutive SupervisorFlag ParadeGrand PrixGreen RoomHead of DelegationInterval ActNational FinalNational JuryOfficial RulesOpening CeremonyPre-PartiesPre-Song PostcardsReference GroupRest of the World VoteRunning Order DrawSemi-FinalsScoreboardSpokespersonTelevotingVoting Systems
Miscellaneous
Big FiveCurse of 43Curse of Number TwoCurse of GreenDouze Points!ESCRadio AwardsESC Top 250Eurovision AgainEurovision National BroadcastersEurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaFounding SevenLGBT visibilityLynda WoodruffMarcel Bezençon AwardsNul PointsOGAERecordsStand-insThe Reorder BoardTie SituationTop Scoring SongsVoting DiasporaWinner's CurseWithdrawn SongsYou're a Vision Award

References[]

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