Goeiemorgen, Morgen

Belgium was represented by Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel, with the song "Goeiemorgen, morgen", at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 3 April in Dublin. Raymond and Castel had not taken part in the original Belgian final, which was won with Nicole and Hugo performing the song.

Before Eurovision

Canzonissima

''Canzonissima'' was the national final format developed by BRT which determined the song that would represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 1971. This was the 4th edition of Canzonissima, after previously being used to select BRT's 1963 and 1967 entry, and a 3rd season that ran between 1967 and 1968 but wasn't related to the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of nine semi-finals held between October 1970 and January 1971, and a final on 6 February 1971. All shows were held in the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, and hosted by Jan Theys.

Format

Canzonissima 1971 consisted of nine semi-finals and a final. The original format had ten artists compete in each semi-final and the top three songs chosen by a jury, as well as the public's favourite, would appear again in the next semi-final, while the other artists would have to select new songs, but after one of the competing artists died after semi-final 2, the remaining seven semi-finals only had nine artists. For a song to qualify to the final, it would have to place top three with the juries, or win the public vote, three times. A song could qualify with any combination of these, for example, it could get top three with juries twice and win the public vote once and then qualify to the final

Competing Entries

BRT shortlisted eight singers and two groups for Canzonissima 1971; Ann Christy, Kalinka, Micha Marah, Mary Porcelijn, Ron Davis, Joe Harris, Johan Stollz, Johnny White, Nicole & Hugo, and Kate's Kennel. A total of 58 songs competed in Canzonissima 1971.

Shows

= Semi-Finals

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Voting in the semi-finals was done by two separate juries and postcard voting. Jury A was a 5-member professional jury who each give out between 0 and 10 points to every song, and Jury B was a 5-member jury formed by people from the music industry. Jury B didn't impact the selection for Eurovision and their goal was to choose 'the best Flemish song'. Since songs introduced in semi-final 9 could not get top three with the juries or win the public vote three times and qualify to the final, the rules to qualify for the final were changed for semi-final 9. Songs had to receive at least the average number of points that every song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final from the jury. The public vote winner also qualified to the final.

After Semi-final 2, on 21 October 1970, Ron Davis is involved in a car accident and stays absent from Canzonissima 1971 until his death on January 22, 1971. His death is commemorated at the start of the ninth semi-final.

= Final

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The final took place on 6 February 1971 at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels. Voting was by an "expert" jury of 11 members, each nominating their favourite song. This turned out to be something of a non-event, as in the end, only three songs received any votes at all. "Goeiemorgen, morgen" was the choice of eight of the jury members.

At Eurovision

Shortly before the Dublin final however, Nicole had fallen ill and was unable to travel, so broadcaster BRT (Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep, Nederlandse uitzendingen), the predecessor of VRT, drafted in Raymond and Castel as late replacements. Raymond had previously sung for Belgium at Eurovision in 1963. Nicole and Hugo would represent Belgium in 1973.

On the night of the final Raymond and Castel performed 10th in the running order, following the United Kingdom and preceding Italy. At the close of the voting "Goeiemorgen, morgen" had received 68 points, placing Belgium 14th of the 18 participating countries.ESC History - Belgium 1971
/ref> The original version by Nicole and Hugo does, however, remain one of the better-remembered of Belgian Eurovision entries.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1971

1971
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971
Eurovision