France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Eurovision Song Contest 1981
Country	France
National selection
Selection process	Concours de la Chanson française pour l'Eurovision 1981
Selection date(s)	Semi-finals; 22 February 1981; 1 March 1981; Final; 8 March 1981
Selected entrant	Jean Gabilou
Selected song	"Humanahum"
Selected songwriter(s)	Jean-Paul Cara; Joe Gracy;
Finals performance
Final result	3rd, 125 points
France in the Eurovision Song Contest

France was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981, held in Dublin, Ireland.

Before Eurovision[]

Concours de la Chanson Française pour l'Eurovision 1981[]

The final was held on 8 March 1981 at the TF1 Studios in Paris, and was hosted by television hostess Fabienne Égal. Six songs made it to the national final after two semi-final heats. The winner was decided by a random sampling of 1,086 television viewers who were contacted by TF1 and asked which song was their favorite.

The winning entry was "Humanahum", performed by Jean Gabilou and composed by Jean-Paul Cara with lyrics by Joe Gracy. Cara and Gracy also penned the 1977 Contest winner "L'oiseau et l'enfant". Gabilou, a Tahitian singer, was the first ever to represent France from one of its overseas territories.

The order of the songs presented on the night of the Contest vary from other published material.^[1]^[2]

Final – 8 March 1981
Draw	Artist	Song	Points	Place
1	Amour	"Un homme s'était levé"	116	6
2	Evelyne Geller	"Les yeux fermés"	165	3
3	Jean Gabilou	"Humanahum"	273	1
4	Frida Boccara	"Voilà comment je t'aime"	159	4
5	Jeff Barnel	"De visage en visage"	131	5
6	Jorge Rafael	"C'est un oiseau de papier"	242	2

At Eurovision[]

Jean Gabilou performed ninth on the night of the contest, following Finland and preceding Spain. At the close of the voting the song had received 125 points, placing 3rd in a field of 20 competing countries.^[3] Despite finishing in the top three, TF1's head of entertainment programming, Pierre Bouteiller, famously opted out of the 1982 Contest, referring to Eurovision as "a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as "drivel"]."^[4] France would return to the fold in 1983.

Voting[]

Points awarded to France^[5]
Score	Country
12 points	Austria Germany Luxembourg Switzerland
10 points	Finland Portugal Sweden
8 points	Greece
7 points	Cyprus Israel
6 points	Netherlands
5 points	Norway
4 points	Ireland Yugoslavia
3 points	Belgium
2 points	Denmark
1 point	United Kingdom

Points awarded by France^[5]
Score	Country
12 points	Sweden
10 points	Switzerland
8 points	Germany
7 points	United Kingdom
6 points	Ireland
5 points	Austria
4 points	Denmark
3 points	Luxembourg
2 points	Netherlands
1 point	Finland

References[]

^ French National Final 1981
^ Concours de la Chanson Française pour l'Eurovision 1981, pres. Fabienne Égal, 8 March 1981, TF1.
^ "Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ 1982 Eurovision source in French
^ ^a ^b "Results of the Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[final-1] French National Final 1981

[ordre-2] Concours de la Chanson Française pour l'Eurovision 1981, pres. Fabienne Égal, 8 March 1981, TF1.

[3] "Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[eightytwo-4] 1982 Eurovision source in French

[1981detailed-5] "Results of the Final of Dublin 1981". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

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