The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF), the contest, originally known as the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne 1959 (English: Grand Prix of the Eurovision Song Contest 1959), was held in France following the country's victory at the 1958 contest with the song "Dors, mon amour", performed by André Claveau.
In total eleven countries participated in the contest, with Monaco making its first appearance and the United Kingdom returning after their absence the previous year. Luxembourg, however, decided not to participate after competing in all former editions.
The winner was the Netherlands with the song "Een beetje", performed by Teddy Scholten, composed by Dick Schallies and written by Willy van Hemert. This was the Netherlands' second victory in the contest, having also won in 1957, and also marked the first time a country had won the contest more than once. Van Hemert also became the first individual to win twice, having also written the first Dutch winning song from 1957, "Net als toen". The United Kingdom placed second, marking the first of a record sixteen times that the country would go on to finish as contest runners-up, while France placed third.
Results[]
Country in gold is the winning entry and the country in silver is the host country.
| Rank | Country | EBU member station | Artist | Song | Conductor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Netherlands | NTS | Teddy Scholten | "Een beetje" | Dolf van der Linden | 21 |
| 02 | United Kingdom | BBC | Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson | "Sing Little Birdie" | Eric Robinson | 16 |
| 03 | France | RTF | Jean Philippe | "Oui oui oui oui" | Franck Pourcel | 15 |
| 04 | Switzerland | SRG SSR | Christa Williams | "Irgendwoher" | Franck Pourcel | 14 |
| 05 | Denmark | DR | Birthe Wilke | "Uh, jeg ville ønske jeg var dig" | Kai Mortensen | 12 |
| 06 | Italy | RAI | Domenico Modugno | "Piove" | William Galassini | 9 |
| Belgium | NIR | Bob Benny | "Hou toch van mij" | Francis Bay | 9 | |
| 08 | Germany | ARD/HR | Alice and Ellen Kessler | "Heut' woll'n wir tanzen geh'n" | Franck Pourcel | 5 |
| 09 | Sweden | SR | Brita Borg | "Augustin" | Franck Pourcel | 4 |
| Austria | ORF | Ferry Graf | "Der K. und K. Kalypso aus Wien" | Franck Pourcel | 4 | |
| 11 | Monaco | TMC | Jacques Pills | "Mon ami Pierrot" | Franck Pourcel | 1 |
Broadcast[]
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | ORF | Unknown | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | NIR | Unknown | Unknown |
| Belgium (French) | INR | Paule Herreman | |
| Denmark | Danmarks Radio TV, Program 2 | Sejr Volmer-Sørensen | Unknown |
| France | RTF | Claude Darget | Unknown |
| France II | Unknown | ||
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Unknown | Unknown |
| Italy | Programma Nazionale, Secondo Programma | Renato Tagliani | Unknown |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Unknown | Unknown |
| Radio Monte-Carlo | Unknown | ||
| Netherlands | NTS | Piet te Nuyl Jr. | Siebe van der Zee |
| Hilversum 1 | Aad Bos | ||
| Sweden | Sveriges TV | Jan Gabrielsson | Roland Eiworth |
| SR P1 | |||
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Unknown | Unknown |
| DRS 2 | Unknown | ||
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Unknown | |
| RSR 2 | Unknown | ||
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Unknown | |
| RSI | Unknown | ||
| United Kingdom | BBC Television Service | Tom Sloan | Unknown |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | Télé-Luxembourg | Unknown |
Broadcast notes[]
- Monaco - The show was broadcast on a deferred basis on Radio Monte-Carlo at 22:06 CET.