Norway was represented by

Bobbysocks! Bobbysocks is a Norwegian pop duo consisting of Norwegian Hanne Krogh and Swedish-Norwegian Elisabeth Andreassen. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song " La det swinge" ("Let it swing"). Elisabeth went by the surname Andreass ...

, with the song "

La det swinge "La det swinge" (; "Let it swing") is a Norwegian-language song by the pop duo Bobbysocks!. It was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 and 's first victory in the contest. The song is a tribute to dancing to old rock 'n' roll heard on ...

", at the

1985 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys. Organised by the Europ ...

, which took place on 4 May in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

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 ...

. "La det swinge" 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 30 March, and went on to bring Norway a famous first Eurovision victory after decades of being the butt of jokes about their status as Eurovision's perennial also-rans. It was admitted that the lyrics of "La det swinge" had been written with the specific intention of avoiding those Norwegian consonant combinations which had been said to sound harsh in song to non-Scandinavian ears. Bobbysocks! were

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...

and

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 ...

, who both had previous Eurovision experience – Krogh as a 15-year-old for Norway in

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 ...

and Andreassen for Sweden in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. Both would make further appearances for Norway, Krogh in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and Andreassen in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 1985

The MGP was held at the

Chateau Neuf Chateau Neuf is a building in Oslo, Norway that houses the Norwegian Students' Society ''( Det Norske Studentersamfund)'' including cafes, bars, performance centers, and other facilities for student assembly. It is situated at Slemdalsveien 1 ...

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 Rita Westvik. The staging was now been set in a modern way for accompanying live music for the first time in the history of national final, while the usage of the orchestra were replaced with a live band (e.g. band drums, electric guitars, keyboard synthesizers and horns) and was conducted by Terje Fjærn. Ten songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by voting from five regional juries and a panel of "experts" consisting of

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

Anne Marie David Anne-Marie David (born 23 May 1952) is a French singer. She has represented both Luxembourg and France at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning in 1973 and placing third in 1979. Career David was born and raised in Casablanca, French Protecto ...

Stikkan Andersson Stig Erik Leopold Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997), better known as Stikkan Anderson, was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Sw ...

and

Ronnie Hazlehurst Ronald Hazlehurst (13 March 1928 – 1 October 2007) was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director. Hazlehurst composed the theme tunes for many well-known Britis ...

. One of the other participants was former three-time Norwegian representative

Anita Skorgan Anita Skorgan (born 13 November 1958) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in (14th), (11th) and with Jan Teigen in (12th). She was also a backing singer at the and contests, and co-wrote th ...

At Eurovision

On the night of the final Bobbysocks! performed 13th in the running order, following

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and preceding the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The voting in 1985 was particularly disparate, with points being spread all across the board to a much greater extent than usual. However at the close of voting "La det swinge" had picked up 123 points, enough for victory by an 18-point margin over runners-up

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, although the total was and remains the lowest-ever winning score under the 12 points system. "La det swinge" appeared to have sharply divided opinion with the national juries, as it had received an unusually high eight maximum 12 points votes, while the remaining ten juries had awarded it only 27 points between them. The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to Sweden. The congratulations to Bobbysocks! after the victory are fondly remembered for the infamously double-edged remark by Swedish host

Lill Lindfors Maj Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors (born 12 May 1940) is a Swedish singer who has performed in Scandinavia since the 1960s. Career She was born in Helsinki, Finland, and made her debut as a revue actress in Uddevalla in 1960. The following year she ...

"I must say I'm honestly very happy that this happened, because Norway has been last song so many times that you really deserve it!", prompting much laughter from the audience.ESC History - Norway 1985
/ref>

Voting

References

External links

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

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985

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 ...