Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956
Eurovision Song Contest 1956 | ||||
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Country | ![]() | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | National final | |||
Selection date(s) | 1 May 1956 | |||
Selected entrant | Walter Andreas Schwarz and Freddy Quinn | |||
Selected song | "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" and "So geht das jede Nacht" | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | N/A | |||
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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Germany was one of seven countries to enter the Eurovision Song Contest 1956, the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held. The German broadcaster ARD held a national final to select two entries to represent the country: Walter Andreas Schwarz with "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" and Freddy Quinn with "So geht das jede Nacht". Neither song won the 1956 Contest, held in Lugano, Switzerland.
Before Eurovision[]
National final[]
The German national final was held on 1 May 1956 and was presented by . Two songs were selected for the Eurovision Song Contest 1956.
Draw | Artist | Song |
---|---|---|
1 | Lys Assia | Unknown |
2 | Rolf Baro | Unknown |
3 | Eva Busch | Unknown |
4 | Angèle Durand | Unknown |
5 | Margot Eskens | Unknown |
6 | Friedel Hensch und die Cyprys | Unknown |
7 | Margot Hielscher | Unknown |
8 | Bibi Johns | Unknown |
9 | Freddy Quinn | "So geht das jede Nacht" |
10 | Walter Andreas Schwarz | "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" |
11 | Hans Arno Simon | Unknown |
12 | Gerhard Wendland | Unknown |
There was a rumour that Lys Assia performed the song "Ein kleiner gold'ner Ring" in the national final. However, this turned out to be incorrect, as she remembered only that she took part with a song of that title in a German music festival - it turned out that she competed with this song in the German Schlager Festival of 1961.[1]
The one song to be selected for Eurovision, "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" (German pronunciation: [ɪm ˈvaʁtəˌzaːl tsʊm ɡʁoːsn̩ ˈɡlʏk]), also written and composed by Walter Andreas Schwarz, is a ballad with the title meaning "In the waiting room for great happiness", about the tragedy of people being lost in the past and waiting for happiness which has already passed them by. The song was released as a single but commercially, it was not very successful.
The other song, "So geht das jede Nacht" (German pronunciation: [ˈzoː ɡeːt das jeːdə ˈnaxt]) with music by Lotar Olias and lyrics by , is an up-tempo number in the style of early rock and roll hits like "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. With the title meaning "That's how it is every night", Quinn explains to the object of his affections his dismay that she sees a different man every night. He declares "I've loved you since you were a baby" and details how he does things for her and thus feels he deserves better treatment, but despite his abilities at dancing the boogie and cha-cha-cha, she ignores his entreaties. The song ends with his own confession "But if you were thinking I've been sitting at home/I've been going out with someone else every day". Honours are thus even. The song achieved moderate fame in Japan, where it was rerecorded in Japanese as "Kimi Wa Maiban No".
At Eurovision[]
The rules of the 1956 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest allowed two songs per country for the only time in Eurovision history, with the two songs from each of seven countries performing via two rounds at the same order of countries. Both entries were conducted by host Switzerland's Fernando Paggi. "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" was performed fourth and "So geht das jede Nacht" eleventh, both following Belgium and preceding France's two songs. The scoreboard of the 1956 Contest has never been made public, making any statements about placing and points impossible. However, there is considerable speculation that "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" placed second, after Switzerland.[2] The two entries were succeeded as German representative at the 1957 contest by Margot Hielscher with "Telefon, Telefon".
References[]
- ^ Jan Feddersen: Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein, Hoffmann und Campe 2002.
- ^ OGAE Germany – Der Fanclub zum Eurovision Song Contest
External links[]
- Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
- Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956
- 1956 in German television