The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the 1963 contest with the song "Dansevise" by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), the contest was held at Tivolis Koncertsal on 21 March 1964, and was hosted by Danish TV presenter Lotte Wæver.
Sixteen countries participated in the contest. Portugal made its debut this year, whereas Sweden decided not to enter.
The winner of the contest was Italy with the song "Non ho l'età", performed by Gigliola Cinquetti, written by Nicola Salerno and composed by Mario Panzeri. At the age of 16 years and 92 days, Gigliola Cinquetti became the youngest winner of the contest yet; a record she held until 1986. The entry had one of the widest margins of victory ever witnessed in the competition. It garnered almost three times as many points as the second-placed song.
Besides the 1956 contest, the 1964 contest is the only other one of which there are no surviving video recordings. No official accounts of the viewing figures are known to exist. Estimates given in the press ranged from 100 to 150 million viewers.
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 | Italy | RAI | Gigliola Cinquetti | "Non ho l'età" | Gianfranco Monaldi | 49 |
| 02 | United Kingdom | BBC | Matt Monro | "I Love the Little Things" | Harry Rabinowitz | 17 |
| 03 | Monaco | TMC | Romuald | "Où sont-elles passées" | Michel Colombier | 15 |
| 04 | Luxembourg | CLT | Hugues Aufray | "Dès que le printemps revient" | Jacques Denjean | 14 |
| France | RTF | Rachel | "Le Chant de Mallory" | Franck Pourcel | 14 | |
| 06 | Austria | ORF | Udo Jürgens | "Warum nur, warum?" | Johannes Fehring | 11 |
| 07 | Finland | YLE | Lasse Mårtenson | "Laiskotellen" | George de Godzinsky | 9 |
| 08 | Norway | NRK | Arne Bendiksen | "Spiral" | Karsten Andersen | 6 |
| 09 | Denmark | DR | Bjørn Tidmand | "Sangen om dig" | Kai Mortensen | 4 |
| 10 | Netherlands | NTS | Anneke Grönloh | "Jij bent mijn leven" | Dolf van der Linden | 2 |
| Belgium | RTB | Robert Cogoi | "Près de ma rivière" | Henri Segers | 2 | |
| 12 | Spain | TVE | Nelly with Tim and Tony | "Caracola" | Rafael Ibarbia | 1 |
| 13 | Germany | ARD/HR | Nora Nova | "Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne" | Willy Berking | 0 |
| Portugal | RTP | António Calvário | "Oração" | Kai Mortensen | 0 | |
| Yugoslavia | JRT | Sabahudin Kurt | "Život je sklopio krug" | Radivoje Spasić | 0 | |
| Switzerland | SRG SSR | Anita Traversi | "I miei pensieri" | Fernando Paggi | 0 |
Broadcast[]
As with the 1956 contest, no complete video recording of the actual contest is known to have survived. Some clips of the contest have survived, including the winning announcement by Svend Pedersen, and part of Gigliola Cinquetti's reprise.
A persistent myth, even repeated on the official Eurovision site, is that the tape was destroyed in a fire in the 1970s. In a 2019 interview, DR claimed that the broadcast was never recorded in the first place, allegedly due to no tape machines being available at the studio at the time. The audio of most of the show, however, is still available online, without the last few minutes, and short video clips and photos from various archives also remain available.
Participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
|
Austria |
ORF | Unknown |
| Belgium (French) | RTB | Unknown |
| Belgium (Dutch) | BRT | Unknown |
| Denmark | DR TV, DR P1, DR P3 | Unknown |
| Finland | Suomen Televisio | Aarno Walli |
| Yleisohjelma | Erkki Melakoski | |
| Ruotsinkielinen ula-ohjelma | Unknown | |
| France | RTF, Inter Jeunesse | Robert Beauvais |
| Germany | Deutsches Fernsehen | Unknown |
| Italy | Programma Nazionale | Renato Tagliani |
| Luxembourg | Télé-Luxembourg | Robert Beauvais |
| Monaco | Télé Monte-Carlo | Robert Beauvais |
| Netherlands | NTS | Ageeth Scherphuis |
| Hilversum 2 | Unknown | |
| Telecuraçao | Unknown | |
| Norway | NRK Fjernsynet, NRK | Odd Grythe |
| Portugal | RTP | Unknown |
| Spain | TVE | Federico Gallo |
| RNE | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (German) | TV DRS | Unknown |
| DRS 1 | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (French) | TSR | Robert Burnier |
| RSR 1 | Unknown | |
| Switzerland (Italian) | TSI | Unknown |
| RSI 1 | Unknown | |
| United Kingdom | BBC TV | David Jacobs |
| Yugoslavia | Televizija Beograd | Unknown |
| Televizija Ljubljana | Unknown | |
| Televizija Zagreb | Unknown |
Non-participating countries[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Commentator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland | Telefís Éireann | Unknown |
| Malta | MTV | Victor Aquilina |
| Sweden | Sveriges TV | Sven Lindahl |
Broadcast notes[]
- Netherlands (Curaçao) - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis, on 20 May 1964 at 21:15 ADT.
- Spain - The show was broadcast on a deferred basis on RNE at 23:00 CET.
- Switzerland - The show was broadcast on a delayed basis on DRS 1 at 23 March, 20:00 CET.