United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975

Eurovision Song Contest 1975
Country	United Kingdom
National selection
Selection process	Artist: Internal selection Song: A Song for Europe 1975
Selection date(s)	15 February 1975
Selected entrant	The Shadows
Selected song	"Let Me Be the One"
Selected songwriter(s)	Paul Curtis
Finals performance
Final result	2nd, 138 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1974 • 1975 • 1976►

The United Kingdom held a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1975.

Before Eurovision

Artist selection

The Shadows were selected by the BBC to represent the UK, after BBC executive Bill Cotton had stated that he specifically wanted a group to sing for Britain in 1975. His choice was met with a negative response by the UK media, the song writing community and the general public. The choice of The Shadows led to calls from the Music Publishers Association for the songwriters and composers to be allowed to select the artist of their choice to perform the songs in future UK selections for Eurovision and the low postal vote persuaded the BBC that a new format was indeed needed. This was inaugurated in 1976.

A Song for Europe 1975

Members of the group were responsible for two of the six shortlisted songs, causing a further outcry from the music publishers associations. The Shadows performed one song a week for six weeks on the BBC1 TV series Lulu , hosted by 1969 Eurovision joint winner Lulu. Uniquely, although the group were seen performing weekly, in fact they only recorded one performance of each of the six songs in December 1974, for a special edition of the series broadcast on 15 February 1975. These performances were then shown individually for the six week period, before being shown back-to-back in the final, followed by an immediate repeat of all six. Viewers cast votes via postcard for their favourite song and the winning entry announced on 22 February was "Let Me Be the One" which received 17,477 votes, the lowest published figure known for a winning song in the UK finals that used either voting by mail or telephone. The winning song was written by Paul Curtis, who won the Song for Europe contest another three times, making him the most successful writer in the history of the UK selection process. He also wrote a further 21 songs that reached the UK finals. "Let Me Be the One" became the record ninth British entry to place 2nd in the Eurovision Song Contest.

A Song for Europe 1975 –15 February 1975 ^[1]

Draw	Song	Songwriter(s)	Votes	Place
1	"No No Nina"	John Farrar, Peter Best	1,261	6
2	"This House Runs on Sunshine"	Brian Bennett, Mike Redway	10,451	3
3	"Don't Throw It All Away"	Gary Benson, David Mindel	3,099	4
4	"Cool Clear Air"	Guy Fletcher, Doug Flett	1,601	5
5	"Stand Up Like a Man"	Ben Findon, Michael Myers	14,294	2
6	"Let Me Be the One"	Paul Curtis	17,477	1

Chart success

The Shadows released all six songs from the A Song for Europe 1975 final shortly after the contest on the album Specs Appeal . The top two songs were released on single, peaking at No.12 in the UK singles chart, their first hit single since 1967. Gary Benson released his own recording of "Don't Throw It All Away", which had placed 4th in the final, reaching No. 20 in the UK singles chart later in 1975. Amongst others, Olivia Newton-John, Barrington Levy and The Delfonics all released versions of this song. Subsequently, all six songs by The Shadows were made available on CD compilations and re-issues, including an instrumental demo version of "No No Nina" which had placed last in the UK selection. The Dooleys recorded a version of the runner-up "Stand Up Like a Man" and French singer Keeley Hawes recorded a French version of the winner, "Laisse-moi danser tu l'été", whilst a Danish version, "Lad mig blive din" was recorded by Eurovision Song Contest 1963 co-winner Grethe Ingmann.

At Eurovision

"Let Me Be the One" won the national and went on to come 2nd in the contest. ^[2]

For the Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast on 22 March 1975, Pete Murray provided the BBC Television commentary, having previously presented the contest for BBC Radio in 1968 and 1969, 1972 and 1973. Terry Wogan once again provided the radio commentary on BBC Radio 2. British Forces Radio had been scheduled to broadcast the contest with commentary provided by Richard Astbury, but technical difficulties prevented the broadcast from going ahead. ^[3]

Voting

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

Points awarded by the United Kingdom [4] Score Country 12 points   Netherlands 10 points   Italy 8 points   France 7 points   Sweden 6 points   Ireland 5 points   Switzerland 4 points   Finland 3 points   Luxembourg 2 points   Monaco 1 point   Israel

References

1. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 169–179. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
2. "Final of Stockholm 1975". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
3. Roxburgh, Gordon (2014). Songs for Europe: The United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. Volume Two: The 1970s. Prestatyn: Telos Publishing. pp. 180–194. ISBN   978-1-84583-093-9.
4. "Results of the Final of Stockholm 1975". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.