🔴 1973 Eurovision Song Contest Full Show From Luxembourg (No Commentary) - Host: Helga Guitton

Date: 7 April 1973 - Host Venue: Grand Théâtre Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Presenter: Helga Guitton - Conductor: Pierre Cao
Executive supervisor: Clifford Brown
Host broadcaster: Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT)
Opening act: Pierre Cao and the orchestra performing "Aprés toi" to a montage of views of Luxembourg and behind the scenes.
Interval act: Clown Charlie Rivel

The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was held in Luxembourg. In a back-to-back victory, the country won the contest with the song "Tu te reconnaîtras", this being Luxembourg's fourth win. The voting was a very close one, with Spain finishing only 4 points behind and Cliff Richard of the United Kingdom (who had come second in 1968) 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 other country.

The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their national languages was dropped, so performers from some countries sang in English. The event was marked by controversy when the Spanish song, "Eres tú" (by Mocedades), was accused of plagiarism due to reasonable similarities in the melody with the Yugoslav entry from the 1966 contest ("Brez besed" sung by Berta Ambrož); however, "Eres tú" was not disqualified. After finishing second in the contest, the song went on to become a huge international hit.

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. 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.)

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.

In the light of events at 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.

Results
Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points
01 Finland Marion Rung "Tom Tom Tom" English 6 93
02 Belgium Nicole & Hugo "Baby, Baby" Dutch1 17 58
03 Portugal Fernando Tordo "Tourada" Portuguese 10 80
04 Germany Gitte "Junger Tag" German 8 85
05 Norway Bendik Singers "It's Just A Game" English, French2 7 89
06 Monaco Marie "Un train qui part" French 8 85
07 Spain Mocedades "Eres tú" Spanish 2 125
08 Switzerland Patrick Juvet "Je vais me marier, Marie" French 12 79
09 Yugoslavia Zdravko Čolić "Gori vatra" Serbo-Croatian 15 65
10 Italy Massimo Ranieri "Chi sarà con te" Italian 13 74
11 Luxembourg Anne-Marie David "Tu te reconnaîtras" French 1 129
12 Sweden The Novas & The Dolls "You're Summer" English 5 94
13 Netherlands Ben Cramer "De oude muzikant" Dutch 14 69
14 Ireland Maxi "Do I Dream" English 10 80
15 United Kingdom Cliff Richard "Power to All Our Friends" English 3 123
16 France Martine Clémenceau "Sans toi" French 15 65
17 Israel Ilanit "Ey Sham" (אי שם) Hebrew 4 97