The Eurovision Song Contest 1965 was the 10th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 20 March 1965 at the in Naples, Italy, and presented by Renata Mauro. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RAI), who staged the event after 's entry, "" by Gigliola Cinquetti, won the .
Broadcasters from eighteen countries participated in the contesta new record number of participants. Joining the sixteen countries which had participated in the previous year's event were , who returned after a one year absence, and , making its debut in the contest.
The winner was with the song "", written by Serge Gainsbourg, and performed by the French singer France Gall. It was Luxembourg's second contest victory, following the nation's win in - and it was the first time that a pop song had won the contest. The , , and rounded out the top five, with the United Kingdom finishing in second place for the fifth time, and Austria achieving its best-ever result with a fourth-place finish.
A total of four countries received nul points and finished in joint last place.
With the winning song being of the pop genre, it marked the beginning of a sea change for the contest; it evolved from being an event dominated by and ballads in its early years to one more greatly associated with schlager and pop music for the remainder of the 1960s and into the 1970s and 1980s.
Location
The 1965 contest took place in Naples, Italy, following the country's victory at the with the song "" performed by Gigliola Cinquetti. It was the first time that Italy had hosted the event. The chosen venue was the , in the Fuorigrotta suburb of the city. Naples had been chosen by RAI as the host city due to the availability of the necessary equipment within the city's production facilities, as well as to honour Naples' history as a center for music in Europe, including the prestige which the holds. For the first time in the contest's history a competing entry was performed entirely in a language which was not the official language of the country it represented, namely the which was performed entirely in English.
Three of the competing artists at this year's event represented their countries for the second time: Conchita Bautista had represented , Vice Vukov had represented , and Udo Jürgens had represented .
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header" style="clear:left"
|-
|+ Eurovision Song Contest 1965 participants
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" | Language
! scope="col" | Songwriter(s)
! scope="col" | Conductor
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| Udo Jürgens
| ""
| German
|
| Gianni Ferrio
|-
! scope="row" |
| BRT
| Lize Marke
| ""
| Dutch
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| Birgit Brüel
| ""
| Danish
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| YLE
| Viktor Klimenko
| ""
| Finnish
|
| George de Godzinsky
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
| Guy Mardel
| ""
| French
|
| Franck Pourcel
|-
! scope="row" |
| NDR
| Ulla Wiesner
| ""
| German
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| RÉ
| Butch Moore
| "I'm Walking the Streets in the Rain"
| English
|
| Gianni Ferrio
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| Bobby Solo
| ""
| Italian
|
| Gianni Ferrio
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
| France Gall
| ""
| French
| Serge Gainsbourg
| Alain Goraguer
|-
! scope="row" |
| TMC
| Marjorie Noël
| ""
| French
|
| Raymond Bernard
|-
! scope="row" |
| NTS
| Conny Vandenbos
| ""
| Dutch
|
| Dolf van der Linden
|-
! scope="row" |
| NRK
| Kirsti Sparboe
| ""
| Norwegian
| Jolly Kramer-Johansen
| Øivind Bergh
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| Simone de Oliveira
| ""
| Portuguese
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| TVE
| Conchita Bautista
| ""
| Spanish
| Antonio Figueroa Egea
| Adolfo Ventas Rodríguez
|-
! scope="row" |
| SR
| Ingvar Wixell
| "Absent Friend"
| English
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |
| SRG SSR
| Yovanna
| ""
| French
|
| Mario Robbiani
|-
! scope="row" |
| BBC
| Kathy Kirby
| "I Belong"
| English
|
| Eric Robinson
|-
! scope="row" |
| JRT
| Vice Vukov
| "" <small>()</small>
| Serbo-Croatian
|
| Radivoje Spasić
|}
Production and format
thumb|The stage of the (pictured in 1963 at its inauguration); the auditorium's pipe organ was prominently featured during the contest.|246x246px
The contest was produced and broadcast by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. Each participating delegation was allowed to nominate its own musical director to lead the orchestra during the performance of its country's entry, with the host musical director also conducting for those countries which did not nominate their own conductor.
The stage design within the venue had the orchestra situated in the centre, on top a transparent dais which allowed for special lighting effects to be made during the performances. Stage left was a performance area which the majority of artists used for their performances, with a backdrop featuring the Eurovision logo, while stage right was the scoreboard. The performance area was also used by Mauro in her opening and closing remarks, and introduce the competing acts. No entry was allowed to be commercially published before 10 February 1965; this caused an issue for the , "Se piangi, se ridi" by Bobby Solo, which had won the 15th Sanremo Music Festival on 30 January, as around 240,000 copies of the single release had been available in Italy by the cut-off date. Although a small number of the other broadcasters participating in the event raised objections to the song competing, given that RAI was hosting the event, with disqualification of the host broadcaster considered impossible, and an understanding that there was little time available to select a new song, "Se piangi, se ridi" was ultimately allowed to compete. Technical rehearsals were held on 20 March, followed by two full dress rehearsals ahead of the live broadcast that evening; the second dress rehearsal was also heard by the national juries.
Contest overview<span class="anchor" id="Results"></span><span class="anchor" id="Participants and results"></span>
<!-- Anchors in the header are the old section names -->
The contest was held at 20 March 1965 at 22:00 (CET) and lasted 1 hour and 38 minutes.
The winner was represented by the song "", written by Serge Gainsbourg and performed by the French singer France Gall. It was Luxembourg's second contest win, following victory at the . The came in second for the fifth time, while placed third. This infuriated Gainsbourg, who insulted the orchestra and stormed out while threatening to leave Naples entirely and return to Paris, leaving Gall alone with an angry orchestra to finish the rehearsal. While the fractious relationship between Gainsbourg and the orchestra was eventually settled, the experience had a continued impact on Gall's confidence during the contest; as Gall recounted in 2015, this led to what she perceived to be a shaky and nervy performance during the event, which she believed diminished her chances of doing well in the contest.
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Artist
! scope="col" | Song
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Points
! scope="col" | Place
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 1
|
|
| ""
| 5
| 11
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 2
|
|
| "I Belong"
| 26
| 2
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 3
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 4
|
|
| "I'm Walking the Streets in the Rain"
| 11
| 6
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 5
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 6
|
|
| ""
| 16
| 4
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 7
|
|
| ""
| 1
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 8
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 9
|
|
| ""
| 7
| 9
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 10
|
|
| "Absent Friend"
| 6
| 10
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 11
|
|
| ""
| 22
| 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 12
|
|
| ""
| 1
| 13
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 13
|
|
| ""
| 15
| 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 14
|
|
| ""
| 10
| 7
|- style="font-weight: bold;background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 15
|
|
| ""
| 32
| 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 16
|
|
| ""
| 0
| 15
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 17
|
|
| ""
| 2
| 12
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" | 18
|
| Yovanna
| ""
| 8
| 8
|}
Spokespersons
Each participating broadcaster appointed a spokesperson, connected to the contest venue via telephone lines and responsible for announcing, in English or French, the votes for its respective country. Known spokespersons at the 1965 contest are listed below.
- Dick van Bommel
Detailed voting results<span class="anchor" id="Scoreboard"></span>
<!-- Anchor in the header is the old section name -->
Jury voting was used to determine the points awarded by all countries. The announcement of the results from each country was conducted in the order in which they performed, with the spokespersons announcing their country's points in English or French in ascending order. The detailed breakdown of the points awarded by each country is listed in the tables below, with voting countries listed in the order in which they presented their votes.
The same voting system introduced for the previous year's event retained. Each jury comprised ten individuals representing the average television viewer and radio listener; as such no individuals in the music industry, including composers, music publishers, and people employed by record companies, were able to sit on the jury. Each jury comprised twenty members, who each had three votes to award in total, which could be given to one song or divided across two or three songs. Jurors could not vote for their own country, and no abstentions were allowed. The song which was awarded the most votes received five points, the second-highest three points, and the third-highest one point. If only two songs had been awarded votes they would receive six and three points for first and second respectively, and if only one song was awarded votes they would receive nine points. At the end of the voting, only Belgium gave their points to only two songs (United Kingdom and Italy) which thus received 6 and 3 points respectively. No jury gave all its votes to one song, so no country received nine points.
|-
! colspan="2" |
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
! scope="col"
|-
! rowspan="18"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Netherlands
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 5 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || 5 || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | United Kingdom
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 26 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 5 || || || || 1 || 6 || || 3 || || || 1 || 5 || || || || 5
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Spain
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Ireland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 11 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || 3 || 5 || || || || 3 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Germany
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Austria
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 16 || || 3 || || 5 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || 5 || 3 || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Norway
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || || || || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Belgium
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Monaco
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 7 || || 5 || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || || || || 1 || 1
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Sweden
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 6 || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#AAAAAA;" | || || || || 3 || || 3 || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | France
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 22 || 1 || || 3 || 1 || 3 || || || || 5 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || 3 || 1 || 5 ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Portugal
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 1 || || || || || || || || || 1 || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || || || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Italy
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 15 || 3 || 1 || || || 1 || || || 3 || 3 || || 3 || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || || 1 || || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Denmark
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 10 || || || || || || || || || || 5 || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 5 || || ||
|- style="background:gold;"
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; font-weight:bold; background:gold;" | Luxembourg
| style="text-align:right; font-weight:bold;" | 32 || 5 || || 1 || 3 || 5 || 5 || 3 || || || 1 || || || || 1 || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || 5 || || 3
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Finland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 0 || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | || ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Yugoslavia
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 2 || || || || || || || || || || || 1 || 1 || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" | ||
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align:left; background:#f2f2f2;" | Switzerland
| style="text-align:right; background:#f2f2f2;" | 8 || || || || || || 3 || || || || || 5 || || || || || || || style="text-align:left; background:#aaa;" |
|}
5 points
The below table summarises how the maximum points available were awarded from one country to another. The winning country is shown in bold. Luxembourg and the UK each received the maximum score from four of the voting countries; Austria, Denmark and France received two sets of maximum scores each; and Ireland, Monaco, the Netherlands and Switzerland each received one maximum score.
For the first time the contest was broadcast by members of the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), the counterpart of the EBU within Eastern European countries, via its Intervision network. Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators, are shown in the tables below.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sticky-header"
|-
|+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
|-
! scope="col" | Country
! scope="col" | Broadcaster
! scope="col" | Channel(s)
! scope="col" | Commentator(s)
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORF
| ORF
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| BRT
| BRT
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| RTB
| RTB,
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| DR
| DR TV
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="3" |
| rowspan="3" | YLE
|
|
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="3" |
|-
|
|
|-
|
| Jerker Sundholm
|-
! scope="row" |
| ORTF
| , France Inter
| Pierre Tchernia
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| rowspan="2" | RÉ
|
| Bunny Carr
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="2" |
|-
|
| Kevin Roche
|-
! scope="row" |
| RAI
| ,
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| CLT
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| NTS
|
| Teddy Scholten
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
| KRO
|
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" |
| NRK
| , NRK
| Erik Diesen
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="row" |
| RTP
| RTP
|
| style="text-align:center" |
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan="2" |
| TVE
| TVE, TVE Canarias