Gigliola Cinquetti Sì Eurofestival 1974

this is real! infact, unusually RAI broadcast Euro festival after referendum on divorce, instaed of live (I thought, but i'm not sure 1974 eurofestival was broacasted the day before the referendum). I those years politics thought people could think this song as a invitation to say "yes" on this referendum. The responsability for this is only by the Parliament, not by the Government!

" the main reason why it didn't win as it deserved ps ...." correction there.

Don't get crazy on trying to find all possible reasons of why this song didn't win the contest,'cos everyone knows there's one reason for that .
Since this song is so classy and it's more refined & better structured than Waterloo (which is not universally considered one among Abba best songs), yhe main reason why it didn't win like it deserved is because of the English language. Truly

The key point is that no country has ever been allowed to vote for itself, so the fact that Italians didn't see it for a few days is irrelevant. The countries who could vote DID get to see it.
I don't see how an internal squabble/censorship could have affected that.
As I see it, solo female vocalists had been ten a penny back then. The last winner who wasn't a solo female before Abba was in 1966, and there were four in 1969!

Excuse me,my comments are not totally and utterly wrong. They are,in point of fact,correct as you acknowledge.I merely stated that Italy suppressed their 1974 song due to a political situation. My information comes from a Signor Sica(whose daughter I now work with),then a goverment secretary for arts under President Leone and PMs Rumor and Andreotti. Abba may well have won fair'n'square but the fact remains that Italy could have probably done better in other circumstances.

Totally and utterly wrong. I know that Italian TV didn't show the contest for a few days because of the referendum on divorce, but no country has ever been allowed to vote for itself. Of course nowadays fans cross borders to vote for their own countries, but the telephone vote has only been around since 1997.

Abba won fair and square.

There is a more sinister reason why Gigliola's "Si" didn't win in 1974. Italy, blocked her own votes due to a referendum on divorce. The English know Gigliola's song as 'Go' but in Italy the title was 'Si' which means 'yes'. The Italian government took that to be a subversive influence. I don't know if the Italians could have voted for their own song then, but they didn't and neither did many other countries who otherwise would have. So Abba won. Politics get everywhere!
Stuart

Hello Pier,
Thank you for the reply. It is kind of you. I have seen Gigliola's 'Derniere histoire, Premiere d'amour' and it is very good. In England it was 'Door of the sun' or 'Alle porte de sole' in Italian. A lovely song from Italy's great singer. I hope she is still a star. Many thanks for being interested.
Stuart

Any other year, this would have won, but Waterloo was much the best song. In fact this was the best Eurovision Song Contest of all time, with Waterloo reaching no 1 in the UK, Si (under the title Go) and I See A Star also reaching the UK Top Ten, and Long Live Love getting to no 11.

Ho scoperto una cicca storica. L'Eurofestival del 74 si svolse mentre in Italia era in pieno svolgimento la campagna per il referendum sul divorzio. La Rai, temendo che questa canzone potesse in qualche modo influenzare il voto, oscurò la trasmissione e tutti i passaggi radiofonici del disco, mandando in onda la registrazione della serata quasi un mese dopo.

bela esibizione

Dear Stuart,
you have to find on youtube "Gigliola Cinquetti - Derniere historie, Premiere d'amour",
there you can see the French video of "The Door of the Sun".
It is very nice!
PG

I don't understand why this song didn't bang Abba right off the map in 1974. This is fabulous and Abba's was rubbish. Is there a vid of Gigliola singing 'Door of the Sun'? It's a great song, did very well in the UK in '74. Please post it if you can, thanks, Stuart

questo é bello.
bello per sempre

The Great Italian Lady in 1974 was her: Gigliola Cinquetti!