Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969

Germany competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 1969, held in Madrid, Spain. ARD, the German broadcaster, used a national final to select their entry.

Eurovision Song Contest 1969
Country Germany
National selection
Selection processEin Lied für Madrid
Selection date(s)22 February 1969
Selected entrantSiw Malmkvist
Selected song"Primaballerina"
Finals performance
Final result9th, 8 points
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1968 • 1969 • 1970►

Ein Lied für Madrid (A Song for Madrid) was held on 22 February at the HR studios in Frankfurt, hosted by Marie-Louise Steibauer. Three artists competing to represent Germany at Eurovision: Peggy March, Rex Gildo and Siw Malmkvist.

The winner of the contest was Swedish artist Siw Malmkvist, with the song "Primaballerina".

Ein Lied für Madrid
Ein Lied für Madrid
Dates
Grand final22 February 1969
VenueHR studios, Frankfurt
Presenter(s)Marie-Louise Steinbauer
Interval actRudolf and Mechthild Trautz
Participants
Vote
Voting system11-person jury
Winning song"Primaballerina" performed by Siw Malmkvist

The national final took place on 22 February 1969.

Before the show
Peggy March, Rex Gildo and Siw Malmkvist introduced in the show.

The GEMA has chosen 30 popular composers and lyricists. These were invited by broadcaster HR to submit one or two songs each. Nine of these songs would participate in the national final. Three singers were chosen to participate in the national final: Siw Malmkvist, who had already represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960, Rex Gildo and Peggy March. All of them were well-known artists in Germany. It is rumoured that actually twelve songs were supposed to be presented and that Alexandra would have been the fourth representative but that she has withdrawn from the competition because Udo Jürgens advised her to do so. However, this has never been confirmed.[1] She later died in July 1969 in a car accident.

The national final
Marie-Louise Steibauer, the host.

The national final was held at Frankfurt in the HR studios hosted by Marie-Louise Steinbauer. The nine songs were presented in three rounds, with each of three singer performing one song in every round. After every round, the stage was re-decorated. During the show, that host has highlighted various times that the national final is supposed to be a song contest and that it is not the artists who is voted for.[2]

The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting by a jury of eleven people including composed of deputies of the ARD and an association of composers and lyricist as well as a conductor. In the first round of voting, the best song of each artist was chosen; every jury member could give one point to his favourite song out of the three. The three chosen songs were sung again before the jury members could give one point to their favourite. Siw Malkvist one with seven points, Peggy March got four and Rex Gildo got no points at all.

The interval act was performed by Rudolf and Mechthild Trautz, European Champions in Latin dancing between 1966 and 1977, who performed a medley of all five international Latin dances (rhumba, samba, cha cha cha, paso doble and jive).

28% of the Germans watched the show making it the second most popular program of the evening. However, an evaluation after the show revealed that many people turned off the program during the live broadcast.

Participants
Draw Artist Song English translation Music (m) / Lyrics (l) Votes Place
1st round 2nd round
1 Siw Malmkvist "Dein Comeback zu mir" Your comeback to me Heinz Dietz (m), Kurt Feltz (l) 2 — —
2 Rex Gildo "Lady Julia" — Werner Scharfenberger (m), Kurt Feltz (l) 4 — —
3 Peggy March "Karussell meiner Liebe" Merry-go-round of my love Werner Scharfenberger (m), Kurt Feltz (l) 1 — —
4 Siw Malmkvist "Melodie" Melody Heinz Korn (m/l) 4 — —
5 Rex Gildo "Die beste Idee meines lebens" The best idea of my life Erich Heinz (m), Kurt Hertha (l) 7 0 3
6 Peggy March "Aber die Liebe bleibt bestehn" But love remains Günther Sonneborn (m), Heinz Korn (l) 4 — —
7 Siw Malmkvist "Primaballerina" Prima ballerina Hans Blum (m/) 5 7 1
8 Rex Gildo "Festival der jungen Liebe" Festival of young love Gerhard Jossenhofen (m), Horst-Heinz Henning (l) 0 — —
9 Peggy March "Hey" — Heinz Korn (m/l) 6 4 2

Chart successes

Only two of the songs in the national final were recorded - the winning song, of course and the song Hey by Peggy March. Both were released as singles and reached the German single charts.

Song
Primaballerina 13 - -
Hey 29 - -

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest, "Primaballerina" would be the third German entry composed by Hans Blum (he had previously written "Paradies, wo bist du?" in 1965 and "Anouschka" in 1967). Malkvist was the first female singer for Germany who wore trousers on stage rather than a dress.

Voting

Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.

Siw Malkvist received eight points in total and she finished ninth among the 16 contestants. The highest mark came from the Yugoslav jury, which was the first one to vote and gave three points to Germany putting the country in the lead.[3] Surprisingly, she received no points from her home country Sweden. The German jury gave points to three of the four winners (Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands and France), only the Dutch entry got no points.[3] It was the second of only four times, Germany gave no points to a winner (the other times being in 1966,[4] 1979[5] and 2011). For the second year in a row, the highest vote went to Spain.[3][6]

References
  1. 1969: Deutscher Vorentscheid in Frankfurt am Main - Eurovision.de: Die offizielle Website zum Eurovision Song Contest Archived 2008-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. aufrechtgehn.de - Deutsche Vorentscheidung 1969
  3. Diggiloo Thrush - scoreboard 1969
  4. Diggiloo Thrush - scoreboard 1966
  5. Diggiloo Thrush - scoreboard 1979
  6. Diggiloo Thrush - scoreboard 1968
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