The United Kingdom held a televised national pre-selection broadcast on BBC1 to choose the song that would go to the

Eurovision Song Contest 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 ...

1969 with Scottish singer

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

chosen to represent the UK.

Before Eurovision

A Song for Europe 1969

After performing all six songs weekly on her eponymous TV series ''Lulu'', the final was held on 22 February 1969 and presented by

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', ''This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

. Of the six finalists, "I Can't Go On Living Without You", was written by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and Bernie Taupin, before both found songwriting fame. John recorded the track as a demo which later became available on CD.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

and

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

also submitted a song called "Try It and See" but this failed to reach the final. They later reworked the track and it became "King Herod's Song" in the musical ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

''. Viewers cast votes on postcards via mail to choose the winner. The winning song, announced on 1 March 1969, with 56,476 votes, was " Boom Bang-a-Bang".

Chart success

" Boom Bang-a-Bang" was released on single, with the runner-up in the national final "March!" on the B-Side and reached No. 2 in the UK singles chart, remaining Lulu's most successful solo single of her career in Britain. She also reportedly recorded the winner in French, Italian, German and Spanish. A third song from the competition "Come September", co-written by

Mark London Mark London (born 30 January 1940) is a Canadian-born British soundtrack composer, songwriter and music producer. He is perhaps best known as composer of the song "To Sir with Love". History Mark London was born in Montreal, Quebec, and initial ...

, the husband of Lulu's manager

Marion Massey Marion Massey (born Marian Gordon, c.1930 – 1 March 2014)

, was released later in 1969 as an album track on the LP '' Lulu's Album''. Eventually, all six recordings of the songs by Lulu were made available on various CD compilations. Former Eurovision winner

Grethe Ingmann Grethe Ingmann (born Clemmensen; 17 June 1938 – 18 August 1990) was a Danish singer. She started her career at 17, when she temporarily performed as a singer of the Malihini Hawaiians pop quartet. Soon after she sang with the Danish guitarist ...

and German contestant

Heidi Brühl Heidi Rosemarie Brühl (; 30 January 1942 – 8 June 1991) was a German singer and actress who came to prominence as a young teenager and had a prolific career in film and television. She was also a successful recording artist, and is known for ...

(who had both taken part in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1963 The Eurovision Song Contest 1963 was the eighth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and took place in London, United Kingdom. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporat ...

) recorded a Danish and German version of the winning song respectively. Other Eurovision artists recorded versions of the songs from the UK final. Swedish singer (and future Eurovision winner)

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse Fältskog (born 5 April 1950), known as Agnetha Fältskog (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and musician. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 self-titled debut album. She later achieved internatio ...

recorded a version of "Are You Ready For Love?" under the title "Ge dej till tåls". Finland's

Katri Helena Katri Helena Kalaoja (née Koistinen, born 17 August 1945) is a Finnish singer. Career Katri Helena released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloist ...

recorded "Come September" as "Taas kun tuulee", while another Finnish version was recorded by Jarkko & Laura under the title "Kahden ollaan". Jarkko & Laura were competitors against Lulu in the 1969 Eurovision final.

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a Northern Irish television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regular appear ...

also recorded "Are You Ready For Love?" in the UK. In Britain,

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...

and

Polly Brown Polly Brown (born 18 April 1947), also known as Polly Browne, is an English singer from Birmingham. A member of Pickettywitch and Sweet Dreams - and with each group lead singer on a Top Ten hit, respectively "That Same Old Feeling" and "Honey H ...

all recorded versions of "I Can't Go On Living Without You".

At Eurovision

The United Kingdom went on to finish in a four-way win in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

with the songs from host country Spain, plus the Netherlands and France. Although technically a joint win in terms of points between four countries; four countries (the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands and France) won the contest, the first time ever a tie-break situation had occurred. However, there was no rule at the time to cover such an eventuality, so all four countries were declared joint winners. France's win was their fourth. France became the first country to win the contest four times. The Netherlands' win was their third. Spain and the United Kingdom each won for the second time. And it was the first time that any country (Spain, in this case) had a winning ESC entry two years in a row.

David Gell David Gell (born 23 August 1929) is a Canadian DJ and television presenter. Born in Canada, he worked for radio station CFAC in Calgary before relocating to Europe. He was a DJ on Radio Luxembourg, and later on the BBC Light Programme, Radio ...

provided the television commentary for

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

at the Eurovision final on 29 March,

was acting as the standby commentator. Pete Murray provided the commentary for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

listeners and John Russell provided the commentary for British Forces Radio.

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1969 1969 Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969

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 ...