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Eurovision Song Contest 1977 | ||||
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Country | United Kingdom | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | A Song for Europe 1977 | |||
Selection date(s) | 9 March 1977 | |||
Selected entrant | Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran | |||
Selected song | "Rock Bottom" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
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Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 2nd, 121 points | |||
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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The United Kingdom held a national preselection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, which was held in Wembley, London following the United Kingdom's victory in the previous year's contest.
The national final to select the entry, A Song for Europe 1977, was held on 9 March 1977 at the New London Theatre and presented by Terry Wogan. Minutes before the show went live, a strike by BBC cameramen was called, preventing the televised broadcast of the show. The contest went ahead and a few hours later, the audio was aired on BBC Radio 2.
Fourteen regional juries voted on the songs: Bristol, Bangor, Leeds, Norwich, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, Southampton and London. The juries voted internally and then ranked the songs from 1–12, awarding 12 points to the song that received the highest number of votes, 11 points to the second, 10 to the third and so on down to 1 point for their least preferred song. The winning song was "Rock Bottom", written, composed and performed by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. The song says that when people are in a bad situation they should work to solve problems and not be pessimistic about tragedies.
The 1977 Eurovision Song Contest was due to take place in Wembley on 2 April. Due to the cameramen's industrial action that spread throughout the BBC, many live broadcasts were affected in the coming weeks and the 1977 Eurovision final was postponed. On 30 March the strike was resolved and the contest was rescheduled for 7 May.
Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Points | Place |
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1 | Mary Mason | "What Do You Say to Love?" | Nick Ryan & Robin Slater | 132 | 2 |
2 | The Foundations | "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love?" | John Macleod & David Myers | 125 | 3 |
3 | Tony Monopoly | "Leave a Little Love" | Alan Hawkshaw & Ray Cameron | 66 | 9 |
4 | Lyn Paul | "If Everybody Loved the Same as You" | Geoff Stephens & Don Black | 74 | 6 |
5 | High Society | "Just for You" | Ron Roker, Gerry Shury & Biddu | 74 | 6 |
6 | Carl Wayne | "A Little Give, a Little Take" | Roger Greenaway & Tony Macaulay | 62 | 10 |
7 | Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran | "Rock Bottom" | Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran | 143 | 1 |
8 | Sweet Sensation | "You're My Sweet Sensation" | Melvyn Taggart & Raymond Roberts | 73 | 8 |
9 | Val Stokes | "Swings and Roundabouts" | Richard Crowe & Nicholas Portlock | 57 | 12 |
10 | Beano | "Everybody Knows" | Freddie Phillips | 60 | 11 |
11 | Wesley, Park and Smith | "After All This Time" | David Mindel & Gary Benson | 106 | 5 |
12 | Rags | "Promises, Promises" | Richard Gillinson & David Hayes | 120 | 4 |
Detailed Jury Votes [1] | ||||||||||||||||
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Draw | Song | |||||||||||||||
1 | "What Do You Say to Love?" | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 132 |
2 | "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love?" | 10 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 125 |
3 | "Leave a Little Love" | 1 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 66 |
4 | "If Everybody Loved the Same as You" | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 74 |
5 | "Just for You" | 11 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 74 |
6 | "A Little Give, a Little Take" | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 62 |
7 | "Rock Bottom" | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 143 |
8 | "You're My Sweet Sensation" | 2 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 73 |
9 | "Swings and Roundabouts" | 8 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 57 |
10 | "Everybody Knows" | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 60 |
11 | "After All This Time" | 6 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 106 |
12 | "Promises, Promises" | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 120 |
Jury Spokespersons [1] | |
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Jury | Spokesperson |
Belfast | Michael Baguley |
Bristol | Chris Denham |
Aberdeen | Gerry Davis |
Leeds | Brian Baines |
Bangor | Emrys Jones |
London | Ray Moore |
Birmingham | David Shoot |
Cardiff | Frank Lincoln |
Glasgow | David Findlay |
Manchester | Mike Riddoch |
Southampton | Paul Harris |
Norwich | Ian Masters |
Newcastle | Mike Neville |
Plymouth | Kevin Crooks |
Lyn Paul had previously been a member of The New Seekers when they represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 1972, finishing in 2nd place. The band 'Beano' would return to the competition in A Song for Europe 1980 with a change in name to 'Scramble'. Nichola Martin and Ann Shirley were the two female members of the trio 'Rags'. Both women became instrumental in the success of the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 winners Bucks Fizz. Martin herself returned in A Song for Europe 1981 with the group 'Gem' (aka Paris); ironically going up against Bucks Fizz in the competition.
Only the winning song reached the UK singles chart.
At the Eurovision final, the UK entry was performed ninth in the running order and finished in 2nd place, a record 10th British entry to finish 2nd. [2] The winning song reached No.19 in the UK singles chart, the last chart hit for de Paul, her first in two years. A German version of the song was released as "Für immer". De Paul and Moran did release one further single together, but it failed to chart.
Pete Murray provided the television commentary on BBC 1 and Terry Wogan provided the radio commentary on BBC Radio 2; this would be Wogan's final time he provided the contests commentary for radio, as the following year he began regularly presenting the television coverage. The UK spokesperson was Colin Berry, who would present the UK results for a further 25 editions.
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"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink; and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for A Song For Europe by the publishers; when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her. On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the A Song for Europe 1977 event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan.