United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
Participating broadcaster	British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Country	United Kingdom
Selection process	A Song for Europe 1977
Selection date	9 March 1977
Competing entry
Song	"Rock Bottom"
Artist	Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran
Songwriters	Lynsey de Paul Michael Moran
Placement
Final result	2nd, 121 points
Participation chronology
◄1976 • 1977 • 1978►

The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 with the song "Rock Bottom", written and performed by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, the BBC was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, after winning the previous edition with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man.

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1977

On 9 March 1977, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) held at the New London Theatre the national final to select its entry, A Song for Europe 1977, 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 Eurovision Song Contest 1977 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 Eurovision final was postponed. On 30 March the strike was resolved and the contest was rescheduled for 7 May.

Final

A Song for Europe 1977 –25 February 1977 ^[1]

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Points	Place
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

Regional jury votes ^[1]

Draw	Song	Belfast	Bristol	Aberdeen	Leeds	Bangor	London	Birmingham	Cardiff	Glasgow	Manchester	Southampton	Norwich	Newcastle	Plymouth	Total
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
Regional jury spokespersons [1]
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.

At Eurovision

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 contest was seen by 9.1 million viewers. ^[3]

The BBC spokesperson to announce the British jury's votes was Colin Berry.^{[ citation needed ]}

Voting

Points awarded to the United Kingdom [4] Score Country 12 points   Austria   Belgium   France   Luxembourg   Monaco   Portugal 10 points   Germany 8 points   Israel   Sweden 7 points   Netherlands   Norway 6 points 5 points 4 points   Finland 3 points   Spain 2 points   Italy 1 point

Points awarded by the United Kingdom [4] Score Country 12 points   Ireland 10 points   Belgium 8 points   Germany 7 points   Monaco 6 points   France 5 points   Greece 4 points    Switzerland 3 points   Spain 2 points   Norway 1 point   Netherlands

References

1. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 244–266. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
2. "Final of London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
3. "Song contest top TV show". The Daily Telegraph . London, United Kingdom. 14 May 1977. p. 12. Retrieved 29 March 2025– via Newspapers.com.
4. "Results of the Final of London 1977". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.