Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

The Netherlands was represented by Sandra Reemer, with the song "The Party's Over", at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in The Hague, following Teach-In's victory for the Netherlands the previous year. The song was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held on 18 February. This was the second of Reemer's three Eurovision appearances for the Netherlands: she had sung in the 1972 contest in a duo with Dries Holten (Andres), and would also take part in the 1979 contest under the name of Xandra.

Eurovision Song Contest 1976
Country Netherlands
National selection
Selection processNationaal Songfestival 1976
Selection date(s)18 February 1976
Selected entrantSandra Reemer
Selected song"The Party's Over"
Selected songwriter(s)Hans van Hemert
Finals performance
Final result9th, 56 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1975 • 1976 • 1977►

Prior to the contest, there was controversy when some other national delegations laid accusations that "The Party's Over" plagiarised the 1968 Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days". The allegations of plagiarism were considered and rejected by contest organisers the European Broadcasting Union, who conceded that the songs were very similar in style and structure, but did not find any similarity between the actual melodies.

Before Eurovision

Nationaal Songfestival 1976

The final was held at the Congresgebouw in The Hague (the same venue where the Eurovision final was to take place) on 18 February 1976, hosted by Willem Duys.

Five songs took part, with the winner being decided by eleven regional juries who each had 10 points to allocate between the songs. All the acts were well-known hitmakers in the Netherlands, and an extra point of interest for viewers was that one of the other participants was Reemer's former singing partner Holten, now performing with his new partner Rosy: reportedly by 1976 Reemer and Holten were no longer on the best of terms, so there was much anticipation to see them competing against each other. In the event, "The Party's Over" emerged the winner while Holten's song "I Was Born to Love" could only manage fourth place.[1]

Final – 18 February 1976
Draw Artist Song Points Place
1 Spooky & Sue "Do You Dig It" 5 5
2 Bolland & Bolland "Souvenir" 30 2
3 Sandra Reemer "The Party's Over" 35 1
4 Rosy & Andres "I Was Born to Love" 17 4
5 Lucifer "Someone Is Waiting for You" 23 3

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Reemer performed 8th in the running order, following Ireland and preceding Norway. At the close of voting "The Party's Over" had received 56 points from 14 countries, placing the Netherlands 9th of the 18 entries.[2] The Dutch jury awarded its 12 points to France.[3]

The Dutch conductor at the contest was Harry van Hoof.

Voting

References
  1. ESC National Finals database 1976
  2. "Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  3. ESC History - Netherlands 1976
  4. "Results of the Final of The Hague 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
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