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Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song "La det swinge", written by Rolf Løvland, and performed by Bobbysocks!. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1985 in order to select its entry for the contest. Both Bobbysocks! members –Elisabeth Andreassen and Hanne Krogh–, had previous Eurovision experience – Krogh as a 15-year-old for Norway at the 1971 contest and Andreassen for Sweden at the 1982 contest as part of Chips. Both would make further appearances for Norway, Krogh in 1991 and Andreassen in 1994 and 1996.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1985 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participating broadcaster | Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) | |||
| Country |  Norway | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Melodi Grand Prix 1985 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 30 March 1985 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | Bobbysocks! | |||
| Selected song | "La det swinge" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | Rolf Løvland | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 1st, 123 points | |||
| Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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"La det swinge" was chosen as the Norwegian entry on 30 March, and went on to bring Norway its first Eurovision victory after decades of being the butt of jokes about their status as Eurovision's perennial also-rans. It was admitted that the lyrics of "La det swinge" had been written with the specific intention of avoiding those Norwegian consonant combinations which had been said to sound harsh in song to non-Scandinavian ears.
Before Eurovision
editMelodi Grand Prix 1985
editThe Melodi Grand Prix 1985 was held on 30 March at the Chateau Neuf in Oslo, hosted by Rita Westvik. The staging was now set in a modern way for accompanying live music for the first time in the history of national final, while the usage of the orchestra were replaced with a live band (e.g. band drums, electric guitars, keyboard synthesizers and horns) and was conducted by Terje Fjærn. Ten songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by voting from five regional juries and a panel of "experts" consisting of Tony Visconti, Anne Marie David, Stikkan Andersson and Ronnie Hazlehurst. One of the other participants was former three-time Norwegian representative Anita Skorgan.[1]
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Regional Jury |
Expert Jury |
Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pastel | "Ring ring ring" | Pete Knutsen, Marianne Mørk | 39 | 27 | 66 | 3 |
| 2 | Bjørn Eidsvåg | "Gammel drøm" | Bjørn Eidsvåg | 18 | 26 | 44 | 7 |
| 3 | Zaz | "Oh-là-là" | Amund Enger | 12 | 15 | 27 | 9 |
| 4 | Kai Eide | "Love, amour og kjærlighet" | Kai Eide | 10 | 12 | 22 | 10 |
| 5 | Rolf Graf | "II & II" | Rolf Graf, Finn Kalvik | 31 | 19 | 50 | 5 |
| 6 | Anita Skorgan | "Karma" | Anita Skorgan, Lars Kilevold | 30 | 44 | 74 | 2 |
| 7 | Bobbysocks! | "La det swinge" | Rolf Løvland | 46 | 34 | 80 | 1 |
| 8 | Mia Gundersen and Olav Stedje | "Nattergal" | Jonas Fjeld, Astor Andersen | 30 | 26 | 56 | 4 |
| 9 | Hilde Heltberg | "Livet har en sjanse" | Hilde Heltberg, Stein Gulbrandsen | 37 | 12 | 49 | 6 |
| 10 | Silje Nergaard | "Si det, si det" | Silje Nergaard | 27 | 9 | 36 | 8 |
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At Eurovision
editOn the evening of the final Bobbysocks! performed 13th in the running order, following Italy and preceding the United Kingdom. The voting in 1985 was particularly disparate, with points being spread all across the board to a much greater extent than usual. However at the close of voting "La det swinge" had picked up 123 points, enough for victory by an 18-point margin over runners-up Germany, although the total was and remains the lowest-ever winning score under the 12 points system.[2] "La det swinge" appeared to have sharply divided opinion with the national juries, as it had received an unusually high eight maximum 12 points votes, while the remaining ten juries had awarded it only 27 points between them. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to Sweden.
The congratulations to Bobbysocks! after the victory are fondly remembered for the infamously double-edged remark by Swedish host Lill Lindfors "I must say I'm honestly very happy that this happened, because Norway has been last song so many times that you really deserve it!", prompting much laughter from the audience.[3]
Voting
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References
edit- ^ ESC National Finals database 1985
- ^ "Final of Gothenburg 1985". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- ^ ESC History - Norway 1985
- ^ a b "Results of the Final of Gothenburg 1985". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.