• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 21 March 1964 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: Tivolis Koncertsal (Tivoli Concert Hall), Copenhagen, 🇩🇰 Denmark
• Presenter (s): Lotta Wæver
• Musical Director: Kai Mortensen
• Director: Poul Leth Sørensen
• Executive Producer: —
• Executive Supervisor: Miroslav Vilček
• Multicamera Director: Poul Leth Sørensen
• Host broadcaster: Danmarks Radio (DR)
• Opening Act: Tivoli Youth Guard
• Interval Act: Ballet-Harlequinade
• Participants – Number of entries: 16 [🇧🇪 Belgium (9ª), 🇫🇷 France (9ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (9ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (9ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (9ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (9ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (8ª), 🇩🇰 Denmark (8ª), 🇬🇧 United Kindom (7ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (6ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (8ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (5ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (4ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (4ª),  Yugoslavia (4ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (1ª)]
• Debuting countries: 🇵🇹 Portugal (1ª)
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: 🇸🇪 Sweden (6ª)
• Vote – Voting system: Ten-member juries awarded points to their three favourite songs. Each country’s jury awarded 5, 3 and 1 points.
• Nil Points: 🇩🇪 Germany (1ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (1ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (1ª),  Yugoslavia (1ª).
• Winning song: “Non ho l’età (per amarti)” – Gigliola Cinquetti – 🇮🇹 Italy (1ª)

About. The 1964 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Italy scored its first victory with a song performed by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti who had already won the Italian San Remo Festival with her entry “Non Ho l’Età”.

Protest on stage. The 1964 Eurovision Song Contest took place in the famous Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen. The event became highly politicised with demands that right-wing dictatorships in Spain and Portugal should be excluded from the contest. There was even some trouble during the contest as just before the Belgian entry, a man entered the stage holding a banner saying “Boycott Franco and Salazar”. He was quickly removed from the stage. As in the three previous contests, 16 countries participated in the competition. Portugal made its debut whilst Sweden chose not to enter. Germany, Portugal and Switzerland each scored zero points for the first time. In the case of Portugal, it was the first time in the history of the contest that a newcomer did not receive any points at all.

About the winner. Italy celebrated its first victory with the song “Non Ho l’Età”, performed by 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti. Gigliola would also take part in 1974 and would become the host of Eurovision Song Contest of 1991, together with Toto Cutugno.

Facts & figures. As with the first ever contest in 1956, there is no known recording of the show. This is said to be as a result of a fire at the studios of Danish broadcaster DR in the 1970s and the fact that none of the other broadcasters recorded the entire show. A short recording of the winning reprise survives as does the audio recording of the contest. 

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – translate –  language	Points	rank
01	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Hugues Aufray	Dès que le printemps revient (Once spring returns) French	014	04
02	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NTS	Anneke Grönloh	Jij bent mijn leven (You are my life) Dutch	002	010
03	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Arne Bendiksen	Spiral Norwegian	006	08
04	🇩🇰 Denmark  DR	Bjørn Tidmand	Sangen om dig (The song about you) Danish	004	09
05	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Lasse Mårtenson	Laiskotellen (Idling) Finnish	009	07
06	🇦🇹 Austria ÖRF	Udo Jürgens	Warum nur, warum? (Only why, why?) German	011	06
07	🇫🇷 France RTF	Rachel	Le chant de Mallory (Mallory’s song) French	014	04
08	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Matt Monro	I love the little things English	017	02
09	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Nora Nova	Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne (How quickly we get used to nice things) German	000	13
10	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Romuald	Où sont-elles passées? (Where have they gone?) French	015	03
11	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	António Calvario	Oração (Prayer) Portuguese	000	13
12	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Gigliola Cinquetti	Non ho l’eta (per amarti) [I’m not old enough (to love you)] Italian	049	01
13	Yugoslavia JRT	Sabahudin Kurt (Сабахудин Курт)	Život je sklopio krug (Живот је склопио круг, Life has come full circle) Serbo-Croatian	000	13
14	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Anita Traversi	I miei pensieri (My thoughts) Italian	000	13
15	🇧🇪 Belgium RTB	Robert Cogoi	Près de ma rivière (Nearby my river) French	002	10
16	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Nelly, Tim & Tony (Los TNT)	Caracola (Conch) Spanish	001	12

Participation map

Participating countries   Countries that participated in the past but not in 1964  

ESC 1964 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

 

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country’s victory at the 1963 contest with the song “Dansevise” by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), the contest was held at Tivolis Koncertsal on Saturday 21 March 1964, and was hosted by Danish TV speaker Lotte Wæver.

Sixteen countries participated in the contest. Portugal made its debut this year, while Sweden decided not to enter.

The winner of the contest was Italy with the song “Non ho l’età”, performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, written by Nicola Salerno and composed by Mario Panzeri. At the age of 16 years and 92 days, Gigliola Cinquetti became the youngest winner of the contest yet; a record she held until 1986. The entry had one of the widest margins of victory ever witnessed in the competition. It garnered almost three times as many points as the second-placed song.

1.Location. The host venue for the contest was Tivolis Koncertsal (Tivoli Concert Hall) in Denmark’s capital city Copenhagen, which lies within Denmark’s famous amusement park and pleasure gardenTivoli Gardens. The park, alluding by its name to the Jardin de Tivoli that existed in Paris, was opened on 15 August 1843, and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg.

2.Format. Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs. The points were totaled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5, 3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points. If only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order.

The contest this year was highly politicised with demands that right-wing dictatorships in Spain and Portugal should be excluded from the contest. This controversy became apparent during the contest as just before the Belgian entry, a man entered the stage holding a banner saying “Boycott Franco and Salazar”. He was quickly removed from the stage. This alarmed the audience, to where the camera footage cut to the scoreboard, however, photographs were taken and released after the event. This would be the very first stage invasion in the contest’s history.

The immediate response of the Koncertsal audience to the Italian entry was markedly enthusiastic and prolonged and, most unusually for a contest performance, after leaving the stage Gigliola Cinquetti was allowed to return to take a second bow. Her performance was given an unscheduled repeat on British television the following afternoon. In the event, she won the most crushing victory in the history of the contest, with a score almost three times that of her nearest rival, a feat extremely unlikely ever to be beaten under the post-1974 scoring system.

2.1.Lost recordings. As with the 1956 contest, no complete video recording of the actual contest is known to have survived; however, unlike the 1956 contest (where the interval act is mostly missing), a complete audio recording does exist in the form of the DR radio broadcast. Some clips of the contest have survived, including part of the opening ceremonies, including some of presenter Lotte Wæver’s welcoming remarks, as well as the majority of the repeat performance of “Non ho l’età” from the end of the broadcast. For some time, there was a rumour that a copy of the entire contest existed in the French television archives. In 2021, INA confirmed to Wiwibloggs that the French television archives do not possess a copy of the contest.

A persistent myth, even repeated on the official Eurovision site, is that the tape was destroyed in a fire in the 1970s. More recent interviews with DR, however, state that the broadcast was never recorded in the first place, allegedly due to no tape machines being available at the studio at the time. The audio of the entire show, however, is still available online, and fan reconstructions using available clips, press photos and other sources have been made.

YouTube channel ESCstuff released their full reconstruction of the contest in December 2020, using footage recovered from Germany. It is the second reconstruction using the German footage uploaded on YouTube, as an earlier reconstruction uploaded by the channel ESCplus from 2013 was taken down.

In October 2021, YouTube user wieke qwieke reuploaded a low quality 3-minute rehearsal clip by Flemish broadcaster BRT, which featured a 7-second clip of Robert Cogoi performing his entry. The original video was uploaded by YouTube user qqtwee on 25 March 2011.

In December 2021, after purchasing it from the Finnish broadcaster Yle’s archives, Reddit user DYLCWS uploaded a 3-minute clip of the televised broadcast of the contest, including Gigliola Cinquetti being presented as the winner, the presenter Lotte Wæver introducing the award presenter Svend Pedersen, a shot of the medal, a shot of the audience, and a portion of the winning reprise of “Non ho l’età” at a front facing angle unlike most of the preexisting footage.

3.Participating countries. Sweden did not participate this year because of a boycott by singers. They did however broadcast it. Portugal competed in the contest for the first time, however they became the first country to score nul points on their début entry. Germany, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia also scored nul points for the first time. The Netherlands became the first country to send a singer of non-European ancestry, Anneke Grönloh who was of Indonesian descent. Spain decided to send the Spanish group Los TNT who were the first group of three or more participants in the history of the contest.

3.1.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Anita Traversi	🇨🇭 Switzerland	1956 (backing vocals), 1960

3.2.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who conducted the orchestra.

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1964: 

• National Selections in 1964:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇩🇰 Denmark	Melodi Grand Prix 1964	Bjørn Tidmand – “Sangen om dig“
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1964)	Lasse Mårtenson – “Laiskotellen“
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Kopenhagen	Nora Nova – “Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne“
🇮🇹 Italy	Sanremo 1964	Gigliola Cinquetti – “Non ho l’età“
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1964 (song selection) [a]	Anneke Grönloh – “Jij bent mijn leven“
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1964	Arne Bendiksen – “Spiral“
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1964	António Calvário – “Oração“
🇪🇸 Spain	(Spanish Selection 1964) (song selection) [b]	Los TNT / Tim, Nelly and Tony – “Caracola“
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1964	Anita Traversi – “I miei pensieri“
🇬🇧 United Kindom	A Song for Europe 1964 (song selection) [c]	Matt Monro – I Love the Little Things”
Yugoslavia	Jugovizija 1964	Sabahudin Kurt – “Život je sklopio krug” (Живот је склопио круг)

• Internal Selections in 1964: 

3.5.Connections:

4.Voting.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	14		3					3		5			3
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	2				1				1
	🇳🇴 Norway	6				5	1
	🇩🇰 Denmark	4			1													3
	🇫🇮 Finland	9			3	3				3
	🇦🇹 Austria	11												5			1	5
	🇫🇷 France	14	1					3				5	3		1			1
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	17		1	5		3	1	1		1					5
	🇩🇪 Germany	0
	🇲🇨 Monaco	15	3						5						3	1	3
	🇵🇹 Portugal	0
	🇮🇹 Italy	49	5	5			5	5		5	3	3	5		5	3	5
	Yugoslavia	0
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	0
	🇧🇪 Belgium	2										1	1
	🇪🇸 Spain	1												1

4.1.5 points. Below is a summary of all 5 points in the final:

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 5 points
8	🇮🇹 Italy	🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇬🇧 United Kindom,  Yugoslavia
2	🇦🇹 Austria	🇮🇹 Italy, 🇪🇸 Spain
	🇬🇧 United Kindom	🇳🇴 Norway, 🇨🇭 Switzerland
1	🇫🇷 France	🇲🇨 Monaco
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	🇩🇪 Germany
	🇲🇨 Monaco	🇫🇷 France
	🇳🇴 Norway	🇩🇰 Denmark

4.2.Spokespersons. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1964 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country.

5.Broadcasts. Each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language.

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	ORF	Willy Kralik
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Paule Herreman	–
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
🇩🇰 Denmark	DR TV	No commentator
🇫🇮 Finland	Suomen Televisio	Aarno Walli
	Yleisohjelma	Erkki Melakoski
🇫🇷 France	Première Chaîne RTF	Robert Beauvais	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hermann Rockmann
🇮🇹 Italy	Programma Nazionale	Renato Tagliani
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Télé-Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	Robert Beauvais
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	NTS	Ageeth Scherphuis	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK, NRK P1	Odd Grythe
🇵🇹 Portugal	RTP	A. Gomes Ferreira
🇪🇸 Spain	TVE	Federico Gallo
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller
	TSR	French: Robert Burnier	–
	TSI	Italian: Renato Tagliani
🇬🇧 United Kindom	BBC TV	David Jacobs	–
	BBC Light Programme	Tom Sloan
Yugoslavia	Televizija Beograd	Serbo-Croatian: Miloje Orlović
	Televizija Zagreb	Serbo-Croatian: Gordana Bonetti
	Televizija Ljubljana	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	Sveriges TV, SR P1	Sven Lindahl	–

6.Incidents.

6.1.Stage invasion. A political protest occurred after the Swiss entry: a man trespassed onto the stage holding a banner that read “Boycott Franco & Salazar”. Whilst this was going on, television viewers were shown a shot of the scoreboard; once the man was removed the contest went on.

7.Notes.

• [a] Anneke Grönloh was internally selected to represent The Netherlands at Eurovision 1964. The song “Jij bent mijn leven” that Grönloh performed at Eurovision was selected through Nationaal Songfestival 1964 with three songs.
• [b] The song “Caracola” for Eurovision 1964 was selected through a national final with 10 songs performed by different artists. The song “Caracola” was selected as the winning song. After the song selection, the group Los TNT (Tim, Nelly and Tony) was internally selected to represent Spain at Eurovision 1964 with “Caracola”.
• [c] Matt Monro was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1964. The song that Monro performed at Eurovision was selected through A Song for Europe 1964 with six songs.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Again, 16 countries participated in the competition. Portugal made its debut, Sweden chose not to enter the contest.
• Germany, Portugal and Switzerland each scored zero points for the first time.
• Portugal was the first newcomer in history not to receive any points at all.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1963 • Eurovision Song Contest 1964 • Eurovision Song Contest 1965 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Luxembourg ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Norway ⦁ Denmark ⦁ Finland ⦁ Austria ⦁ France ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ Germany • Monaco ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Italy (winner) ⦁ Yugoslavia⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Belgium • Spain
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Hugues Aufray ⦁ Anneke Grönloh ⦁ Arne Bendiksen ⦁ Bjørn Tidmand ⦁ Lasse Mårtenson ⦁ Udo Jürgens ⦁ Rachel ⦁ Matt Monro ⦁ Nora Nova • Romuald ⦁ António Calvário ⦁ Gigliola Cinquetti (winner) ⦁ Sabahudin Kurt ⦁ Anita Traversi ⦁ Robert Cogoi • Tim, Nelly and Tony
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Dès que le printemps revient” ⦁ “Jij bent mijn leven” ⦁ “Spiral” ⦁ “Sangen om dig” ⦁ “Laiskotellen” ⦁ “Warum nur, warum?” ⦁ “Le Chant de Mallory” ⦁ “I Love the Little Things” ⦁ “Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne” ⦁ “Où sont-elles passées” • “Oração” ⦁ “Non ho l’età” (winner) ⦁ “Život je sklopio krug” (Живот је склопио круг) ⦁ “I miei pensieri” ⦁ “Près de ma rivière” • “Caracola“