Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978

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Eurovision Song Contest 1978
Country Luxembourg
National selection
Selection processNational final
Selected entrantBaccara
Selected song"Parlez-vous français ?"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result7th, 73 points
Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1977 1978 1979►

Luxembourg was represented by Spanish duo Baccara, with the song "Parlez-vous français ?", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris. For only the second time, broadcaster RTL organised a public national final rather than their usual method of internal selection.

Baccara were one of the most internationally famous acts ever to appear at Eurovision, being already known throughout Europe from two recent hugely successful singles, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" (which had spent a week at the top of the UK Singles Chart in late 1977) and "Sorry, I'm a Lady". "Parlez-vous français ?" was written by Frank Dostal, who had also penned the duo's previous recordings. There was some degree of facetious comment that so similar was it to the two hits that it should have been called "Yes Sir, I'm a Lady". However Baccara were to find (as had Silver Convention the year before) that being a big-name act did not necessarily translate into Eurovision success.

Before Eurovision[edit]

National final[edit]

No detail on date, location, host or scoring system is currently known about the national final. Five acts took part, including Gitte Hænning who had represented Germany in 1973 and Liliane Saint-Pierre who would sing for Belgium in 1987.[1]

Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Jean-Paul Cara "Un arbre dans la ville" 62 2
2 Gitte Hænning "Rien qu'une femme" 56 3
3 Jairo "Dans les yeux d'un enfant" 51 5
4 Baccara "Parlez-vous français ?" 80 1
5 Liliane Saint-Pierre "Mélodie" 52 4

At Eurovision[edit]

On the night of the final Baccara performed 17th in the running order, following Denmark and preceding eventual contest winners Israel. Although their commercial success made them among the favourites to win prior to the contest, ultimately, "Parlez-vous français ?" was never in contention for victory and finished the evening with 73 points. This placed Luxembourg 7th of the 20 entries.[2] The song had received maximum 12s from Italy, Portugal and (unsurprisingly) Spain, but had been ignored completely by seven other national juries. The Luxembourgish jury awarded its 12 points to Israel.[3]

Voting[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ ESC National Finals database - 1978
  2. ^ "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  3. ^ ESC History - Luxembourg 1978
  4. ^ a b "Results of the Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.