Norway was represented by 15-year-old

Hanne Krogh Hanne Krogh (born 24 January 1956) is a Norwegian singer and actress from Haugesund and Oslo. Krogh is among the most selling record artists in Norway ever and is internationally well known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with Elisab ...

, with the song "Lykken er", at the

1971 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. Organised by the European Br ...

, which took place on 3 April in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. "Lykken er" was chosen as the Norwegian entry at the

Melodi Grand Prix Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It dete ...

on 20 February. "Lykken er" marked Norway's return to Eurovision after their first of only two absences to date since their debut, when they were one of five nations to boycott the 1970 contest in protest at the four-way tie in 1969 and the fact that they (along with

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) considered that the voting system of the late 1960s tended to place the Nordic countries at a disadvantage.

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 1971

The

1971 was held at the studios of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, hosted by

Jan Voigt Jan Voigt (24 June 1928 – 5 December 1997) was a Norwegian actor, dancer and museum director. Biography He was born in Bærum as a son of Charles Antonius Voigt (1891–1962) and Nathalie Reuter Sande (1896–1986). He became a student at t ...

. Twelve songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by a 14-member public jury who each awarded between 1 and 5 points per song. Other participants included past and future Norwegian representatives

Inger Jacobsen Inger Johanne Jacobsen (13 October 1923 in Christiania – 21 July 1996 in Oslo) was a Norwegian singer and actress, known internationally for her participation in the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest. Career Jacobsen made her first recordings d ...

Odd Børre Odd Børre Sørensen (born 9 August 1939, in Harstad) is a former Norwegian pop singer. He was better known by his stage name of Odd Børre. Internationally, he is best known for the song "Stress" that he performed in the Eurovision Song Contest ...

and

Anne-Karine Strøm Anne-Karine Strøm (born 15 October 1951) is a Norwegian singer, best known for having taken part in the Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest selection, Melodi Grand Prix, in six consecutive years between 1971 and 1976, winning on three occasions ( ...

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Krogh performed last in the running order, following Finland. Lyrically, "Lykken er" (translated as "Happiness Is") was little more than a list of pleasant things and experiences which Krogh enjoyed, leading to much comment that it was an overly-obvious attempt to replicate the previous year's winner "

All Kinds of Everything "All Kinds of Everything" is a song written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith; as performed by Dana Rosemary Scallon, Dana, it won the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 representing . "All Kinds of Everything" marked a return to the ballad (music), ...

", with a good dash of " My Favourite Things" from ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

'' thrown in for good measure. At MGP Krogh had performed in normal teenage attire, but in Dublin she sang dressed in a Victorian gown, complete with a parasol which she opened, closed and twirled throughout the song. At the close of voting "Lykken er" had picked up 65 points, placing Norway 17th of the 18 entries, ahead only of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. The poor result was largely attributed to the fact that the whole package of song, performance and presentation was much too cute, precious and twee for its own good, and was likely to have left a negative impression with the voters.ESC History - Norway 1971
/ref>

Voting

References

External links

Full national final on nrk.no
{{Melodi Grand Prix (Norway)

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...