Eurovision 1967 - Belgium - May 7th 2025

Hello all. In today's entry in the Eurovision Histories series, we are heading back 58 years to 1967. The last contest to be broadcast in black and white in fact and a time of McDonald's inventing big macs and lots of civil wars. We're looking at our first Belgian entry and the first to be sung in Flemish. 

The 12th Eurovision Song Contest took place on April 8th in Vienna, Austria. 17 countries competed this year after Denmark withdrew this year. It was hosted by Erica Vaal. 

Let's give the facts first before we look at the song in question (and a link to the performance if you haven't seen it or have forgotten it ) 

Song: Ik heb zorgen
Artist : Louis Neefs
Place : 7th 
Points : 8 


Belgium selected their song via a national final. It was a very odd selection involving 9 semi finals where 10 artists sent multiple songs to compete in these semi finals. These varied between 5-9 per artist. Different songs competed in each semi final and then 7 songs out of all of these went to a final, held on February 25th 1967. Louis was the clear winner with almost 4 times as many votes from a 15 member jury as the runner up received, sending him off to Vienna.

Belgium performed 10th on the night between the songs from Germany and the UK. The song was conducted by Francis Bay. The song which was sung in Flemish, translates into English as I Have Worries. The song is about someone who is worrying about someone they like, how it's worrying them after their first kiss. It's quite a jaunty tune which is a juxtaposition to the worry that is being sung about. 

This being the 60s, the performance involved Louis singing with his microphone, however during some of the choruses he did these nice sideways glances to the camera which added some intimacy to the song. Also there is a weird bit near the end where the music cuts so you think it's over but then there's one little chorus before the big note from the orchestra at the end. It gets some points for style there ! Louis himself knows how to play to the cameras and had great stage presence !

The voting in 1967 changed again with the system reverted back to each jury having 10 members and them giving 1 point to the song they liked most. Belgium received points from 6 countries, the highest was points from Finland. Belgium gave 3 points a piece to Ireland and the UK who had given Belgium 1 point each themselves. 

So to sum this one up in 3 words, we shall go for classy, interesting and charismatic ! It's a nice song, not winner material but nothing to scoff at either! 

Until the next time,  remember history is important especially if it's Eurovision History !!!

Ellie x 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eurovision 1999 - Croatia - 28th April 2025

Welcome to the start of a new project, where we will be looking at all of the eurovision entries from the first until the most recent. We will also look at national finals and all the rich tapestry that this amazing competition has given us over the 69 editions we've had.  A quick bit about me, my name is Ellie, I'm 30, British ( I live in London) and I've been a massive eurovision fan since I was 12 !! My first core memory was watching Lordi win in 2006 and being royally pissed that Belgium didn't qualify that year.My favourite Eurovision Song is Germany 1981 ( we will come to that one ...) and my favourite contest is 1994 ( ironically the year I was born) But I have a nerdy passion for all things Eurovision and was lucky enough to go to LEP for the first time this year!!!!  Today we will be going back 26 years to 1999, a simpler time where we had solar eclipses... worrying about Y2K and of course the 44th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Jerusalem, Isra...
Read more

Eurovision 1987 - Austria - May 4th 2025

Hello all ! In today's edition of Eurovision Histories,  we're going back to the 80s again to look at 1987. Again, it was the time for massive perms, crazy eyeshadow looks but in the wider world we also had big storms and the start of what would become the Internet!  The 32nd Eurovision Song Contest took place on May 9th, also known as Europe Day in Brussels, Belgium. Hosted by singer Viktor Lazlo, this contest saw the most participants to date at 22 entrants ! We'll be looking at the participation of Austria today and our first entry sung in German.  Here are the facts before I get too far into my thoughts and a performance link in case you don't know this one or have forgotten it !  Song: Nur noch Gefüh Artist: Gary Lux  Place : 20th  Points : 8  Austria 1987 I cannot find any information to indicate that Austria held a national final this year to select their song. However I do have info on our Artist at least. This was Gary's 4th time at Eurovision...
Read more