France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978

  • Gérard Stern
  • Didier Barbelivien
Finals performanceFinal result3rd, 119 pointsFrance in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1977 • 1978 • 1979►

France was represented by Joël Prévost, with the song "Il y aura toujours des violons", at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 22 April in Paris following Marie Myriam's victory for France the previous year.

Before Eurovision

National final

Broadcaster TF1 again opted for a public selection, with two semi-finals followed by the final on 26 March 1976.

Semi-finals

Each semi-final contained seven songs, with the top three in each going forward to the final. The qualifiers were chosen by public televoting. One of the successful participants in the first semi-final was 1967 French representative Noëlle Cordier.[1]

Semi-final 1 – 12 March 1978
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Marie Azaro "Sans lui" 4,725 4
2 Jean-François Doll "T'as l'air" 4,325 5
3 Joël Prévost "Il y aura toujours des violons" 6,511 2
4 Alphabet "Pour un train qui part" 3,986 6
5 Noëlle Cordier "Tombe l'eau" 4,932 3
6 Patrick Lemaître "Seul" 3,646 7
7 Jean-Paul Cara "Alors prends le soleil" 7,528 1
Semi-final 2 – 19 March 1978
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Christian Villers "Joue ta musique" 5,158 4
2 Jean-Pierre Savelli "C'était pour toi" 4,579 5
3 Violette Vial "Je te promets de revenir" 6,346 2
4 Malvina "Au revoir et peut-être à bientôt" 5,589 3
5 Irvin and Indira "Laisse pleurer les rivières" 8,445 1
6 Caroline Grant "Ne m'oublie pas" 4,173 6
7 Lilyane Davis "Dessine pour moi" 3,881 7

Final

The final took place on 26 March 1978, hosted by Evelyn Leclercq. The winner was chosen by public televoting. It was later rumoured that "Laisse pleurer les rivières" was the preferred option of TF1, who had given it the advantageous first performance slot, and were taken aback when it was decisively beaten into second place by a song which had not even won its semi-final.[2]

Final – 26 March 1978
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Irvin and Indira "Laisse pleurer les rivières" 8,915 2
2 Malvina "Au revoir et peut-être à bientôt" 2,000 6
3 Violette Vial "Je te promets de revenir" 2,621 5
4 Jean-Paul Cara "Alors prends le soleil" 4,896 3
5 Joël Prévost "Il y aura toujours des violons" 13,791 1
6 Noëlle Cordier "Tombe l'eau" 2,870 4

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Prévost performed 6th in the running order, following Portugal and preceding Spain. "Il y aura toujours des violons" was a very traditional old-style Eurovision ballad with little relevance to contemporary music. However it had a memorable melody, and at the close of voting had picked up 119 points, placing France third of the 20 entries.[3] It achieved the distinction of becoming only the second non-winning Eurovision song – following Catherine Ferry's "Un, deux, trois" in 1976, also for France – ever to receive votes from every other national jury, completing a hat-trick of consecutive contests in which every other national jury had voted for the French song, a record which still stands. The French jury awarded its 12 points to Belgium.[4]

Voting

Points awarded to France[5]
Score Country
12 points  Austria
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points  Turkey
3 points  Norway
2 points
1 point  Luxembourg
Points awarded by France[5]
Score Country
12 points  Belgium
10 points  Greece
8 points  Israel
7 points   Switzerland
6 points  Denmark
5 points  Ireland
4 points  Italy
3 points  Sweden
2 points  United Kingdom
1 point  Monaco

References

  1. ^ National Finals database 1978 Semis
  2. ^ ESC National Finals database 1978 Archived 9 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. ^ "ESC History - France 1978". Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  5. ^ a b "Results of the Final of Paris 1978". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  • v
  • t
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Participation
Artists
Songs
  • "À chaque pas"
  • "Allez Ola Olé"
  • "L'Amour à la française"
  • "Autant d'amoureux que d'étoiles"
  • "La Belle amour"
  • "C'est le dernier qui a parlé qui a raison"
  • "Chacun pense à soi"
  • "Le Chant de Mallory"
  • "Chanteur de charme"
  • "Chez nous"
  • "Comé-comédie"
  • "Divine"
  • "Diwanit bugale"
  • "Dors, mon amour"
  • "Echo (You and I)"
  • "Elle était si jolie"
  • "L'Enfer et moi"
  • "Et bonjour à toi l'artiste"
  • "Et s'il fallait le faire"
  • "Européennes"
  • "Évidemment"
  • "Femme dans ses rêves aussi"
  • "Fulenn"
  • "Hé, hé M'sieurs dames"
  • "Humanahum"
  • "Il doit faire beau là-bas"
  • "Il est là"
  • "Il était temps"
  • "Il faut du temps"
  • "Il me donne rendez-vous"
  • "Il y aura toujours des violons"
  • "J'ai cherché"
  • "J'ai volé la vie"
  • "Un jardin sur la terre"
  • "Je n'ai que mon âme"
  • "Je suis l'enfant soleil"
  • "Je suis un vrai garçon"
  • "Je veux donner ma voix"
  • "Un jour, un enfant"
  • "Mama Corsica"
  • "Marie-Blanche"
  • "Mercy"
  • "Mon alliée (The Best in Me)"
  • "Mon amour"
  • "Monté la riviè"
  • "Monts et merveilles"
  • "Les Mots d'amour n'ont pas de dimanche"
  • "Moustache"
  • "N'avoue jamais"
  • "N'oubliez pas"
  • "L'Oiseau et l'Enfant"
  • "On aura le ciel"
  • "Où aller"
  • "Oui, oui, oui, oui"
  • "Un premier amour"
  • "Printemps, avril carillonne"
  • "Requiem"
  • "Roi"
  • "Sans toi"
  • "Sentiments songes"
  • "Sognu"
  • "La Source"
  • "Le Temps perdu"
  • "Tom Pillibi"
  • "Un, deux, trois"
  • "La Vie à vingt-cinq ans"
  • "Vivre"
  • "Voilà"
  • "White and Black Blues"
  • Note: Entries scored out signify where France did not compete
  • v
  • t
  • e
Countries
Artists
Songs
  • "A-Ba-Ni-Bi"
  • "L'Amour ça fait chanter la vie"
  • "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus"
  • "The Bad Old Days"
  • "Bailemos un vals"
  • "Boom Boom"
  • "Born to Sing"
  • "Charlie Chaplin"
  • "Dai li dou"
  • "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten"
  • "Feuer"
  • "Il y aura toujours des violons"
  • "Les Jardins de Monaco"
  • "Mil etter mil"
  • "Mrs. Caroline Robinson"
  • "Parlez-vous français ?"
  • "Questo amore"
  • "Sevince"
  • "'t Is OK"
  • "Vivre"