• Dates – Grand Final: Saturday, 07 April 1973 – 20:00 CET
• Host – Venue & Location: Nouveau Théâtre (Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg), Luxembourg, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
• Presenter (s): Helga Guitton
• Musical Director: Pierre Cao
• Director: René Steichen
• Executive Producer: Paul Ulveling
• Executive Supervisor: Clifford Brown
• Multicamera Director: Pierre Cao
• Host broadcaster:  Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) / RTL
• Opening Act: Pierre Cao and the orchestra performing “Après toi” to a montage of views of Luxembourg and behind the scenes.
• Interval Act: Charlie Rivel
• Participants – Number of entries: 17 [🇧🇪 Belgium (18ª), 🇫🇷 France (18ª), 🇩🇪 Germany (18ª), 🇮🇹 Italy (18ª), 🇳🇱 The Netherlands (18ª), 🇨🇭 Switzerland (18ª), 🇬🇧 United Kingdom (16ª), 🇲🇨 Monaco (15ª), 🇪🇸 Spain (13ª),  Yugoslavia (13ª), 🇮🇪 Ireland (9ª), 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (17ª), 🇫🇮 Finland (12ª), 🇳🇴 Norway (13ª), 🇵🇹 Portugal (9ª), 🇸🇪 Sweden (14ª), 🇮🇱 Israel (1ª)]
• Debuting countries: 🇮🇱 Israel (1ª)
• Return: —
• Non-returning countries: 🇲🇹 Malta (2ª), 🇦🇹 Austria (15ª)
• Nil Points: —
• Vote – Voting system: Two-member juries (one aged 16 to 25 and the other 25 to 55) rated songs between one and five points.
• Winning song:  “Tu te reconnaîtras” – Anne-Marie David – 🇱🇺 Luxembourg (4ª)

About. After hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1966, it was Luxembourg’s third occasion to show the best of Europe’s music to millions of viewers. The big favourite to win was yet again Cliff Richard representing the United Kingdom, but the host nation Luxembourg took the trophy.

Israel joins the family. For the third time in the 18-year-old history of the Eurovision Song Contest, Luxembourg had the honour of hosting the event with 17 nations present. After ending up in last position two years in a row, Malta decided to withdraw from the contest. Austria decided not to participate either. Instead, a new country joined the song contest, Israel. It was the first non-European country to enter the contest. Israel was allowed to do so because the country was already a member of the European Broadcasting Union. With the Israelis participating, the security control was unusually tight and special security measures were put in place for the Israeli delegation. Another important rule change for the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest was that the participants could choose the language in which they wanted to sing their songs. This rule remained in place until 1976 before being re-introduced in 1999.

Luxembourg does the double. The Spanish, entry “Eres Tú” performed by Mocedades was accused of plagiarism. It was suggested by critics that the song was merely a copy of the Yugoslav entry of 1966, “Brez Besed” performed by Berta Ambroz. No action was taken though and the Spanish entry became a huge international hit, even outselling the winner “Tu Te Reconnaitras” by Anne-Marie David. Luxembourg became the first country in the history of the competition to win the contest twice in a row. The winning performer, Anne-Marie David, tried her luck again in 1979 when she competed for France and came third. She is one of the few artists who ended up in the top-3 with all appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Facts & figures. Cliff Richard sang for the United Kingdom for the second time and came in third, one place worse than in 1968; Sweden’s Monique Dominique became the first woman to conduct the orchestra. Nurit Hirsch, the female conductor for Israel, followed her a few minutes later.

o/r	country	participant (s)	song – translate – Language	Points	rank
01	🇫🇮 Finland YLE	Marion Rung	Tom Tom Tom English	093	06
02	🇧🇪 Belgium BRT	Nicole & Hugo	Baby, baby Dutch[a]	058	17
03	🇵🇹 Portugal RTP	Fernando Tordo	Tourada (Bullfight) Portuguese	080	10
04	🇩🇪 Germany ARD	Gitte	Junger tag (Young day) German	085	08
05	🇳🇴 Norway NRK	Bendik Singers	It’s just a game (Å for et spill) English, French[b]	089	07
06	🇲🇨 Monaco TMC	Marie	Un train qui part (A train that leaves) French	085	08
07	🇪🇸 Spain TVE	Mocedades	Eres tú (It’s you) Spanish	125	02
08	🇨🇭 Switzerland SSR SRG	Patrick Juvet	Je vais me marier, Marie (I’m getting married, Marie) French	079	12
09	Yugoslavia JRT	Zdravko Čolić (Здравко Чолић)	Gori vatra (Гори ватра, The fire is burning) Serbo-Croatian	065	15
10	🇮🇹 Italy RAI	Massimo Ranieri	Chi sarà con te (Who will be with you) Italian	074	13
11	🇱🇺 Luxembourg CLT	Anne-Marie David	Tu te reconnaîtras (You will recognise yourself) French	129	01
12	🇸🇪 Sweden SR	The Nova and The Dolls	You’re summer [Sommar’n som aldrig säger nej (Your Summer (You Never Tell Me No)] English	094	05
13	🇳🇱 The Netherlands NOS	Ben Cramer	De oude muzikant (The old musician) Dutch	069	14
14	🇮🇪 Ireland RTÉ	Maxi	Do I dream? English	080	10
15	🇬🇧 United Kindom BBC	Cliff Richard	Power to all our friends English	123	03
16	🇫🇷 France ORTF	Martine Clémenceau	Sans toi (Without you) French	065	15
17	🇮🇱 Israel IBA	Ilanit (חנה)	Ey sham (אי שם, Somewhere) Hebrew	097	04

Partecipazione mancate

• 🇲🇹 Malta: “?” () – ?. Malta was drawn to perform in 6th place between Norway and Monaco, but the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry.

Participation map

Participating countries  Countries that participated in the past but not in 1973

ESC 1973 Scoreboard Ι Detailed voting results:

The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country’s victory at the 1972 contest with the song “Après toi” by Vicky Leandros. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), the contest was held at the Grand Théâtre on 7 April 1973 and was hosted by German television presenter Helga Guitton.

Seventeen countries took part in the contest this year, with Austria and Malta deciding not to participate, and Israel competing for the first time.

In a back-to-back victory, Luxembourg won the contest again with the song “Tu te reconnaîtras” by Anne-Marie David. The voting was a very close one, with Spain with “Eres tú” by Mocedades finishing only 4 points behind and the United Kingdom with “Power to All Our Friends” by Cliff Richard (who had come second in 1968 just behind Spain) another 2 points further back. The winning song scored the highest score ever achieved in Eurovision under any voting format until 1975, recording 129 points out of a possible 160, which represented almost 81% of the possible maximum. This was partly due to a scoring system which guaranteed all countries at least two points from each country.

1.Location. Luxembourg City is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, around which a settlement developed.

The Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg, became the venue for the 1973 contest. It is the city’s major venue for drama, opera and ballet.

2.Format. The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their national languages was dropped this year, so performers from some countries sang in English.

The orchestra was positioned on stage, behind and to the stage right of the singers, in a stacked gallery on three tiers. Giant clear tubes containing multi-coloured flowers were set on the stage left. No introductions were made for each individual entry, with the commentators providing the details of the songs and singers, speaking over a still photograph of the artists taken during the dress rehearsal shown on screen.

In light of the events that had happened during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, there were fears of a terrorist threat, particularly directed against Israel’s first-ever entrant, leading to unusually tight security for the contest. This gave rise to one of the best-known Eurovision anecdotes, frequently recounted by the UK’s long-serving commentator Terry Wogan. He recalled that the floor manager strongly advised the audience to remain seated while applauding the performances, otherwise they risked being shot by security forces.

This contest holds the record for the most watched Eurovision Song Contest in the United Kingdom, and is also the 18th most watched television show in the same country, with an estimated 21.54 million tuning in on the night. Cliff Richard represented the UK with the song “Power to All Our Friends”. He came 3rd with 123 points. The winner though was Anne-Marie David with “Tu te reconnaîtras”. In the UK it was released in English under the title “Wonderful Dream” and released on Epic. It made number 13.

2.1. Voting. Each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song (other than the song from their own country) immediately after it was performed and the votes were collected and counted as soon as they were cast. The juries watched the show on TV from the Ville du Louvigny TV Studios of CLT and appeared on screen to confirm their scores.

3.Participating countries. Seventeen nations took part in this year’s contest with Malta being drawn to perform in 6th place between Norway and Monaco, but the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry. Austria also decided not to participate either.

3.1.Conductors. Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra. The 1973 contest marked the first time that women conducted the orchestra. Monica Dominique conducted the Swedish entry and Nurit Hirsh conducted the Israeli entry.

3.2.Returning artists.

Artist	Country	Previous year(s)
Marion Rung	🇫🇮 Finland	1962
Cliff Richard	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	1968
Massimo Ranieri	🇮🇹 Italy	1971

3.3.Participants and results.

3.4.All the national selections for Eurovision Song Contest 1973: 

• National Selections in 1973:

COUNTRY	EVENT	WINNER
🇧🇪 Belgium	Eurosong 1973	Nicole & Hugo – Baby, baby
🇫🇮 Finland	(Finnish Selection 1973)	Marion Rung – Tom tom tom
🇫🇷 France	(French Selection 1973)	Martine Clemenceau – Sans toi
🇩🇪 Germany	Ein Lied für Luxemburg	Gitte – Junger Tag
🇮🇪 Ireland	(Irish Selection 1973)	Maxi – Do I dream?
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nationaal Songfestival 1973 (song selection) [f]	Ben Cramer – De oude muzikant
🇳🇴 Norway	Melodi Grand Prix 1973	Bendik Singers – Å for et spill
🇵🇹 Portugal	Grande Prémio TV da Canção 1973	Fernando Tordo – Tourada
🇸🇪 Sweden	Melodifestival 1973	Malta – Sommaren som aldrig säger nej
🇨🇭 Switzerland	Concours Eurovision 1973	Patrick Juvet – Je vais me marier, Marie
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	A Song for Europe 1973 (song selection) [g]	Cliff Richard – Power To All Our Friends
Yugoslavia	Opatija Festival 1973	Zdravko Čolić – Gori vatra

• Internal Selections in 1973: 

4.Voting.

Voting results

		Total score
C o n t e s t a n t s	🇫🇮 Finland	93		9	5	6	6	5	6	6	7	2	6	7	5	5	9	4	5
	🇧🇪 Belgium	58	4		3	4	3	6	6	4	4	2	4	2	3	4	5	2	2
	🇵🇹 Portugal	80	4	6		5	5	4	8	8	6	3	4	2	5	4	5	6	5
	🇩🇪 Germany	85	2	5	6		4	5	9	7	4	3	7	6	5	6	5	7	4
	🇳🇴 Norway	89	8	5	5	6		7	6	7	6	5	7	3	3	3	3	6	9
	🇲🇨 Monaco	85	6	3	2	4	3		6	5	9	8	6	4	5	6	9	5	4
	🇪🇸 Spain	125	3	8	9	9	4	9		8	9	10	8	7	10	10	4	9	8
	🇨🇭 Switzerland	79	4	3	3	4	7	5	7		6	4	6	3	8	7	7	2	3
	Yugoslavia	65	5	3	3	4	2	5	8	6		2	4	2	4	5	4	4	4
	🇮🇹 Italy	74	2	5	3	5	5	5	5	7	5		5	5	4	4	5	5	4
	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	129	6	6	8	7	8	7	6	10	9	9		8	9	8	10	10	8
	🇸🇪 Sweden	94	8	4	4	5	8	5	7	9	6	5	6		6	5	7	4	5
	🇳🇱 The Netherlands	69	4	4	2	5	5	4	5	5	5	4	7	3		5	3	6	2
	🇮🇪 Ireland	80	3	7	2	4	6	6	7	5	5	5	6	5	6		5	4	4
	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	123	9	6	6	7	7	8	4	8	8	5	10	9	10	9		8	9
	🇫🇷 France	65	4	3	2	4	4	5	5	4	7	2	3	5	5	5	5		2
	🇮🇱 Israel	97	6	6	5	7	5	7	4	6	7	7	8	6	6	7	5	5

4.1.10 points. Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting.

N.	Contestant	Nation(s) giving 10 points
3	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	🇫🇷 France, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
	🇪🇸 Spain	🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇳🇱 The Netherlands
2	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	🇳🇱 The Netherlands, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg

4.2.Jury members. Listed below is the order in which votes were cast during the 1973 contest along with the names of the two jury members who voted for their respective country. Each country announced their results in groups of three, with the final two countries voting in a group of two.

5.Broadcasts and commentators. 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)	–
🇧🇪 Belgium	RTB	French: Paule Herreman	–
	BRT	Dutch: Herman Verelst
	RTB La Première	French: André Hagon
	BRT Radio 1	Dutch: Nand Baert and Jan Theys
🇫🇮 Finland	YLE TV1	Erkki Pohjanheimo	–
	Yleisohjelma	Erkki Melakoski
🇫🇷 france	Première Chaîne ORTF	Pierre Tchernia	–
🇩🇪 Germany	Deutsches Fernsehen	Hanns Verres
	Deutschlandfunk	Wolf Mittler
🇮🇪 Ireland	RTÉ	Frank Hall
	RTÉ Radio	Liam Devally	–
🇮🇱 Israel	Israeli Television	No commentary
🇮🇹 Italy	Programma Nazionale	Renato Tagliani
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	RTL Télé Luxembourg	Jacques Navadic	–
	RTL	Camillo Felgen
🇲🇨 Monaco	Télé Monte Carlo	Hélène Vida
🇳🇱 The Netherlands	Nederland 1	Pim Jacobs	–
🇳🇴 Norway	NRK, NRK P1	John Andreassen	–
🇵🇹 Portugal	I Programa	Artur Agostinho	–
	Emissora Nacional Programa 1	Amadeu Meireles
🇪🇸 Spain	Primera Cadena	Julio Rico	–
🇸🇪 Sweden	SR TV1	Alicia Lundberg	–
	SR P3	Ursula Richter	–
🇨🇭 Switzerland	TV DRS	German: Theodor Haller
	TSR	French: Georges Hardy	–
	TSI	Italian: Giovanni Bertini
	1e Programme	French: Robert Burnier	–
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	BBC1	Terry Wogan	–
	BBC Radio 2	Pete Murray	–
	BFBS Radio	Richard Astbury	–
Yugoslavia	TVB 1	Serbo-Croatian: Milovan Ilić
	TVZ 1	Serbo-Croatian: Oliver Mlakar
	TVL 1	Slovene: Tomaž Terček

Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries

Country	Broadcaster(s)	Commentator(s)	–
🇦🇹 Austria	FS2	Ernst Grissemann	–
🇧🇬 Bulgaria	BT	Unknown	–
🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia	ČST	Unknown	–
East Germany	Deutscher Fernsehfunk	Unknown	–
🇬🇷Greece	EIRT	Mako Georgiadou	–
🇭🇺 Hungary	Magyar Televízió	Unknown	–
🇮🇸 Iceland	Sjónvarpið	Jón O. Edwald	–
Japan	TBC	Unknown	–
🇲🇹 Malta	MTV	Charles Saliba	–
🇵🇱 Poland	TVP	Unknown	–
🇷🇴 Romania	TVR	Unknown	–
🇹🇷 Turkey	Ankara Television	Bülend Özveren	–
Soviet Union	Soviet Central Television	Info themed programme presented by Alexander Kavyerznyev, only shown are performances of songs (excluding the performance of Israel, voting procedure and winning performance)	–

6.Incidents.

6.1.Spanish song plagiarism allegation. The event was marked by controversy when the Spanish song, “Eres tú” sung by Mocedades, was accused of plagiarism due to reasonable similarities in the melody with “Brez besed” sung by Berta Ambrož, the Yugoslav entry from the 1966 contest; however, “Eres tú” was not disqualified. After finishing second in the contest, it went on to become a huge international hit.

6.2.Concerns with lyrics. The somewhat elliptical lyrics to Portugal’s entry “Tourada” provided sufficient cover for a song that was clearly understood as a blistering assault on the country’s decaying dictatorship. Also, the word “breasts” was used during Sweden’s song entry. However, no action was taken by the EBU.

6.3.Disagreements within the Irish delegation. An argument broke out between the singer Maxi and her Irish delegation over how the song should be performed. During rehearsals she repeatedly stopped performing in frustration. When it began to appear possible that Maxi might withdraw from the contest, RTÉ immediately sent over another singer, Tina Reynolds, to take her place just in case. In the end Miss Reynolds wasn’t needed as Maxi did perform, with her entry earning 10th place on the scoreboard. Reynolds would perform the following year.

7.Notes.

• [a] Also contains some lyrics in English, Spanish and French
• [b] Also contains some lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Hebrew, Serbo-Croatian, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian
• [c] Composer of the 1972 Portuguese entry; later conductor of the 1974, 1977, 1985, and 1988 Portuguese entries
• [d] Swiss representative at the 1969 and 1980 contests
• [e] Conductor of the 1969, 1975, and 1979 Swedish entries
• [f] Ben Cramer was internally selected to represent Netherlands at Eurovision 1973. The song “De Oude Muzikant” that Cramer performed at Eurovision was selected through Nationaal Songfestival 1973 with four songs.
• [g] Cliff Richard was internally selected to represent United Kingdom at Eurovision 1973. Cliff performed one song a week for six weeks, where the public could vote on the songs via postcards. The winning song for Eurovision “Power To All Our Friends” was revealed at the show A Song for Europe 1973, where Cliff performed all six songs.

8.Trivial / Fun facts.

• Sweden’s Monique Dominique became the first woman to conduct the orchestra.
• Nurit Hirsch, the female conductor for Israel, followed her a few minutes later.

← Eurovision Song Contest 1972 • Eurovision Song Contest 1973 • Eurovision Song Contest 1974 →
Countries (in order of appearance)
Final	Finland ⦁ Belgium ⦁ Portugal ⦁ Germany ⦁ Norway ⦁ Monaco ⦁ Spain ⦁ Switzerland ⦁ Yugoslavia ⦁ Italy • Luxembourg (winner) ⦁ Sweden ⦁ The Netherlands ⦁ Ireland ⦁ United Kingdom ⦁ France ⦁ Israel
Artists (in order of appearance)
Final	Marion Rung ⦁ Nicole and Hugo ⦁ Fernando Tordo ⦁ Gitte ⦁ Bendik Singers ⦁ Marie ⦁ Mocedades ⦁ Patrick Juvet ⦁ Zdravko Čolić • Massimo Ranieri ⦁ Anne-Marie David (winner) • The Nova and the Dolls ⦁ Ben Cramer ⦁ Maxi ⦁ Cliff Richard ⦁ Martine Clémenceau ⦁ Ilanit
Songs (in order of appearance)
Final	“Tom Tom Tom” ⦁ “Baby, Baby” ⦁ “Tourada” ⦁ “Junger Tag” ⦁ “It’s Just a Game” ⦁ “Un train qui part” ⦁ “Eres tú” • “Je vais me marier, Marie” ⦁ “Gori vatra” (Гори ватра) ⦁ “Chi sarà con te” ⦁ “Tu te reconnaîtras” (winner) ⦁ “You’re Summer” ⦁ “De oude muzikant” • “Do I Dream” ⦁ “Power to All Our Friends” ⦁ “Sans toi” ⦁ “Ey Sham” (אי שם)