LUXEMBOURG, THREE LANGUAGES FOR FIVE WINNERS

Luxembourg in Eurovision

Luxembourg is another interesting small country full of history and culture. The Grandma wants to talk about it. Luxembourg made its debut at the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and it has won five times.

The Grandma wants to talk about the five winners who represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest and about their songs. Luxembourg is a country with three official languages and two of them, Luxembourgish and French, have been represented in this contest.

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. Its capital, Luxembourg City, is one of the four official capitals of the European Union, together with Brussels, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg, and the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU.

Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and German cultures, as evident by the nation's three official languages: French, German, and the national language of Luxembourgish.

Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux.

More information: 1944, Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg

The history of Luxembourg is considered to begin in 963, when count Siegfried acquired a rocky promontory and its Roman-era fortifications known as Lucilinburhuc, little castle, and the surrounding area from the Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin in nearby Trier.

The linguistic situation of Luxembourg is complex. It is characterized by the existence of a language specific to the local population (Luxembourgish), mixed with the historical presence of the two major languages spoken in the surrounding countries (French and German).

Three languages are recognised as official in Luxembourg: French, German, and Luxembourgish, a Franconian language of the Moselle region that is also spoken in neighbouring parts of Belgium, Germany and France.

Though Luxembourgish is part of the West Central German group of High German languages, more than 5,000 words in the language are of French origin.

Apart from being one of the three official languages, Luxembourgish is also considered the national language of the Grand Duchy; it is the mother tongue or language of the heart for the local population.

Every citizen or resident has the right to address the administration in the language of their choice among the three official languages and to be answered in that language.

More information: Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Luxembourg has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. Between 1956 and 1993, Luxembourg missed only the 1959 contest.

Since 1994, Luxembourg has not participated in the contest. Luxembourg has won the contest five times. Only Ireland (seven) and Sweden (six) have more wins.

Logo RTL Luxembourg

Luxembourg's first victory was in 1961 when Jean-Claude Pascal won with Nous les amoureux. France Gall then won in 1965 with Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

Luxembourg achieved back-to-back victories in the early 1970s, with Vicky Leandros winning with Après toi in 1972 and Anne-Marie David with Tu te reconnaîtras in 1973.

Luxembourg's fifth victory was in 1983, when Corinne Hermes won with Si la vie est cadeau.

Luxembourg then struggled to make an impact over the next decade, only reaching the top ten twice, with Sherisse Laurence third (1986) and Lara Fabian fourth (1988). Since being relegated from taking part in 1994, the country withdrew from the contest indefinitely.

More information: RTL

Jean-Claude Pascal (24 October 1927 in Paris, France-5 May 1992), born Jean-Claude Villeminot, was a French comedian and singer.

After surviving World War II in Strasbourg, Pascal studied at the Sorbonne before turning to fashion-designing for Christian Dior. While working on costumes for the theater production of the play Don Juan, he was exposed to acting.

His first acting role was in the film Quattro rose rosse (1951) opposite Anouk Aimée, followed by several films including Die schöne Lügnerin, 1959 with Romy Schneider, and Angélique et le sultan, 1968 with Michèle Mercier.

Jean-Claude Pascal in Eurovision (1961)

Pascal won the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg with the song Nous les amoureux, with music composed by Jacques Datin and lyrics by Maurice Vidalin.

He later represented Luxembourg again in the 1981 contest and finished 11th of 20 with the song C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique, with words and music he composed together with Sophie Makhno and Jean-Claude Petit.

Nous les amoureux was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in French for Luxembourg by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal.

The song was performed fourteenth on the night, following Denmark's Dario Campeotto with Angelique and preceding the United Kingdom's The Allisons with Are You Sure?. By the close of voting, it had received 31 points, placing it first in a field of 16 and thus helping Luxembourg to achieve the rare feat of moving from last to first in successive years.

Due to the contest overrunning in time, the reprise of this song was not shown in the UK. The UK's coverage ended shortly after the voting had finished and the winning song was declared.

The song was succeeded as Contest winner in 1962 by Isabelle Aubret singing Un premier amour for France.

It was succeeded as Luxembourgish representative at the 1962 Contest by Camillo Felgen with Petit bonhomme.

More information: Eurovision World

Nous les amoureux
Il nous a don-né le droit
Au bonheur et à la joie.

We, the lovers
He gave us the right
To be happy and to be joyful together.
 

Jean-Claude Pascal

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947-7 January 2018), better known by her stage name France Gall, was a French yé-yé singer.

In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest. Between 1973 and 1992, she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. From the ten songs proposed to her, she chose Gainsbourg's Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

On 20 March 1965, Gainsbourg, Gall, and Goraguer attended the finals of the song contest in Naples, where the song was allegedly booed in rehearsals for straying so far from the sort of song usually heard in the Contest at this point.

Although the delivery during the live show may not have been Gall's strongest performance -one critic wrote that Gall's performance was far from perfect -another noted that her voice was out of tune and her complexion pale, and when Gall called Claude François, her lover at the time, immediately after the performance, he shouted at her, You sang off key. You were terrible! -the song impressed the jury and it took the Grand Prix.

France Gall in Eurovision (1965)

Success at Eurovision ensured that Gall became even more known outside Europe and she recorded Poupée de cire, poupée de son in French, German, Italian and Japanese. There appears to be no English version released by France Gall, although there was an English cover version by the English 1960s star Twinkle.

Poupée de cire, poupée de son is a song recorded by French singer France Gall.

The song was written by Serge Gainsbourg. It is best known as the Luxembourgian winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, held in Naples.

The song, inspired by the 4th movement, Prestissimo in F minor, from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1, was the first song to win Eurovision that was not a ballad. It was nominated as one of the 14 best Eurovision songs of all time at the Congratulations special held in October 2005.

As is common with Gainsbourg's lyrics, the words are filled with double meanings, wordplay, and puns. The title can be translated as wax doll, rag doll -a floppy doll stuffed with bran or chaff- or as wax doll, sound doll, with implications that Gall is a singing doll controlled by Gainsbourg.

Sylvie Simmons wrote that the song is about the ironies and incongruities inherent in baby pop, that the songs young people turn to for help in their first attempts at discovering what life and love are about are sung by people too young and inexperienced themselves to be of much assistance, and condemned by their celebrity to be unlikely to soon find out.

This sense of being a singing doll for Gainsbourg reached a peak when he wrote Les Sucettes for Gall.

More information: France Gall & 'Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son'

Qu'une poupée de son
Sous le soleil de mes cheveux blonds
Poupée de cire, poupée de son
Mais un jour je vivrai mes chansons
Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

I am but a wax doll, a sound idol basking
In the cold sun of my blond hair
Vinyl idol, straw doll
Now one day my songs will become real
Wax doll, straw doll.
 

France Gall

 

Vassiliki Papathanasiou (born 23 August 1949), generally known as Vicky Leandros, in Greek Βίκυ Λέανδρος, is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou, in Greek Λέανδρος Παπαθανασίου, also known as Leo Leandros as well as Mario Panas.

In 1967 she achieved worldwide fame after gaining fourth place for the country of Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song L'amour est bleu, which became a worldwide hit. She further established her career by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972 with the song Après Toi, again representing Luxembourg.

Leandros was born in Palaiokastritsa, Corfu. Her father wanted to expand his career and went to Germany while she grew up at her grandmother's house until the age of eight.

In 1958 her parents took her to Germany where she stayed with her father permanently after her parents' divorce. She revealed her talent at a young age while taking guitar, music, dance, ballet and voice lessons.

In 1965 Leandros released her first single Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht. This was the beginning of a successful career for her with her father as composer, manager and producer. 

Vicky Leandros in Eurovision (1972)

In 1967 she received an offer to sing for Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song L'amour est bleu.

In 1972 she represented Luxembourg at Eurovision for the second time and won the contest with the song Après Toi.

Translated into English as Come What May it was also a hit in the UK reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart. Globally it sold over six million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Leandros recorded the song in seven languages. Later in the year she released her version of the Theodorakis composition O Kaymos (Sorrow) which became a hit all over the world in various language versions. It peaked at #40 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1973 When Bouzoukis Played became another massive selling world hit in several languages reaching #44 in the UK chart.

In 1974 she recorded Theo, wir fahr'n nach Lodz a song that was a #1 hit in Germany. She also found much success in South Africa during the 1970s.

Après toi was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros, representing Luxembourg.

The song was co-written by Leandros' father Leandros Papathanasiou, also known as Leo Leandros, under his pseudonym Mario Panas. This was Vicky Leandros' second entry in the Contest.

In 1967 she had finished fourth with L'amour est bleu, better known under its English title Love is Blue, which subsequently went on to become a worldwide hit when covered by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.

More information: All Music

Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi
J'avais appris rire
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi je ne serai que l'ombre
De ton ombre
Après toi.

The empty hands, the heart without joy
With you,
I had learned how to laugh
And my laughter comes only by you
After you, I will be only a shadow
Of your shadow
After you.
 

Vicky Leandros

 

Anne-Marie David (born 23 May 1952 in Arles, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France) is a French singer. She has represented both France and Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest.

David was born and raised in Arles. She started her musical career at age 18 in Paris when she became involved with musical theatre.

In 1972, she was cast in the role of Mary Magdalene in the French production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 1972 also saw her submit the song Un peu romantique to the French selection committee for the Eurovision Song Contest. It made the final shortlist of ten songs.

In 1973, she was selected to represent Luxembourg as the Grand Duchy sought to repeat its previous year's triumph on home soil in the Eurovision Song Contest. She thus joined the long list of non-native performers to have represented the country in the contest, which also includes France Gall (the 1965 winner) and Vicky Leandros (the 1972 winner).

Tu te reconnaîtras, sung in French by French singer Anne-Marie David representing Luxembourg, was the winning song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973. I was the first time a country won the contest two years in succession without sharing the victory.

Anne-Marie David in Eurovision (1973)

Vicky Leandros had won the 1972 Contest for Luxembourg with Après toi and the 1973 edition was consequently held in the Luxembourgish capital. The voting was also a very close one, Luxembourg won with 129.

Tu te reconnaîtras is the only winning entry of Luxembourg, where not the artist, composer, lyricist and director all were from outside Luxembourg. Although both Anne-Marie David, the composer [Morgan], and the lyricist [Buggy], were all French, the conductor Pierre Cao was Luxembourger.

David recorded her winning entry in five languages; French, English Wonderful Dream, German as Du bist da, Spanish Te reconocerás and, very unusually, in two entirely different Italian translations, entitled Il letto del re and Non si vive di paura  respectively.

After the contest, she started touring the world. She lived in Turkey for a while, recorded two singles in Turkish and one album and received several awards in the country.

She returned to Eurovision in the 1979 contest held in Jerusalem, this time representing her native France with the song Je suis l'enfant soleil. Once again it was a tight three-way finish, with the Israeli entry Hallelujah edging to a home victory. She started to tour France in the 1980s.

Between 1982 and 1983, she continued her musical career in Norway. In 1987, she retired from music but returned in 2003.

In 2005, she sang at the festival for the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Copenhagen, where she performed the 1972 Eurovision winner Après toi.

More information: Eurovision TV

Dans les rêves de l'artiste
Que la gloire n'a jamais couronné
Dans ce monde égoïste
Qui renie ce qu'il a adoré.

In the artist's dreams
That glory has never crowned
In this selfish world
Who denies what he loved.
 

Anne-Marie David

 

Corinne Hermès (born Corinne Miller; 16 November 1961, Lagny-sur-Marne) is a French singer. She represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 where she won with Si la vie est cadeau with music by Jean-Pierre Millers and words by Alain Garcia.

Si la vie est cadeau by Jean-Pierre Millers (music) and Alain Garcia (lyrics), was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in French by French singer Corinne Hermès for Luxembourg.

Corinne Hermès in Eurovision, 1983

The song is a dramatic ballad dealing with the wonder of life, likening it to a gift. The lyrics tell of the singer's suffering in love with a man; who promised her the whole world and did not follow through, what about the child I wanted to give to you in the spring?.

She then sings that any kind of gift is welcome, whether it be given, stolen or returned, and warns that the good times are too short, implying that the listener should savor them for all they are worth. Hermès also recorded the song in English and German, as Words of Love and Liebe gibt und nimmt respectively.

The song was performed 20th last on the night, following Belgium's Pas de Deux with Rendez-vous. At the close of voting, it had received 142 points, placing 1st in a field of 20.

The win brought Luxembourg equal with France on five Contest wins apiece, however both countries would later be eclipsed by the Republic of Ireland, which would win seven.

Compared to the previous year's Eurovision winners, Si la vie est cadeau only proved to be a moderate commercial success, peaking at #2 in France, #3 in Belgium, #12 in Ireland, #13 in Sweden, #14 in Switzerland, #31 in the Netherlands and failing to chart in most other European countries.

More information: Corinne Hermès

Mais le temps a tous les droits
Alors pourquoi m’avoir promis la terre entière
Et l’enfant qui n’est pas là?
C’est aujourd’hui mon seul bonheur imaginaire
Si la vie est cadeau.

But time has got all the rights
So, why having promised me the entire world?
And the child that is not there?
Now it is my only imaginary happiness
If life is a gift.
 

Corinne Hermès