France was present at the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, held in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

The French national final to select their entry, ''Concours de la Chanson Française pour l'Eurovision 1979'', was to be held on 4 March 1979 at the TF1 Studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, but the ''Société Française de Production'', the French film technicians' union, went on strike, barring the semi-finals from airing and the finals from being taped at all.Information about the final
/ref> A professional jury picked the winner out of a pool of 14 semi-finalists. The winning entry was "Je suis l'enfant soleil", performed by Anne Marie David and composed by

Eddy Marnay Edmond Bacri known by the professional name Eddy Marnay (Algiers, 18 December 1920 – 3 January 2003), was a French songwriter. In his career, he wrote more than 4000 songs, including works for Édith Piaf, Frida Boccara and Céline Dion. He ...

with lyrics by

Hubert Giraud Hubert Yves Adrian Giraud (3 March 1920 – 16 January 2016) was a French composer and lyricist. Career Giraud began his career playing the harmonica with Django Reinhardt's jazz group, the Quintette du Hot Club de France. In 1941, he was recr ...

. Despite the strike, Anne Marie David's semi-final performance was allowed to be shown during Preview Week.

At Eurovision

Anne Marie David performed eleventh on the night of the contest, following

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and preceding

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. At the close of the voting the song had received 106 points, placing 3rd in a field of 19 competing countries.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1979

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 Eurovision Eurovision