"Long Live Love" is a song by Australian singer, songwriter and actress
Olivia Newton-John
Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...
, released in 1974. It was the entrant to the
Eurovision Song Contest 1974
The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Brighton, United Kingdom and was organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporati ...
in
Brighton,
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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Background
The song's composers,
Valerie Avon and
Harold Spiro, had worked together as staff writers for
Belwin Mills Publishing since 1970 and had placed songs with several artists: Newton-John had recorded the Avon/Spiro composition "Don't Move Away" as a
duet with
Cliff Richard, the track serving as
B-side to Richard's 1971 hit "
Sunny Honey Girl".
''A Song For Europe''
"Long Live Love" was the third time Avon and Spiro had submitted a co-composition of theirs for consideration as the UK Eurovision entrant, having finished 4th in a field of six at with "Can I Believe" while at the Avon/Spiro composition "In My World of Beautiful Things" had finished 6th in a field of six.
Newton-John introduced one of each of the six nominated songs on a broadcast of
Jimmy Savile's ''
Clunk Click'' TV show; on 23 February 1974 a TV broadcast entitled ''A Song For Europe 1974'' announced the tally of viewers' mailed-in ballots, with "Long Live Love" the clear victor at 27,387 votes. The runner-up, "Angel Eyes" - which was Newton-John's favourite
- gained 18,018 votes.
Newton-John made recorded versions of all the songs she had performed for UK Eurovision 1974 consideration, these tracks making up half of ''
Long Live Love'', a December 1974 Olivia Newton-John album release, with "Angel Eyes" being utilized as the B-side of the single release of "Long Live Love."
At Eurovision
Considered a strong contender for Eurovision 1974, "Long Live Love" was performed second on the night of the final (following 's
Carita Holmström singing "
Keep Me Warm" and preceding 's
Peret
Pedro Pubill Calaf ( ; 24 March 1935 – 27 August 2014), better known as Peret, was a Spanish Romani singer, guitar player and composer of Catalan rumba from Mataró (Barcelona).
Known for his 1971 single, "Borriquito" (Ariola Records), Per ...
with "
Canta y sé feliz"). The conductor for the number was
Nick Ingman
Nicholas Ingman (born 29 April 1948) is an English arranger, composer and conductor in the commercial music field. His collaborators include Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Björk, and the British X-factor.
Born and educated in London, Ingman moved ...
and Newton-John was backed by a five-woman chorale which included
the Ladybirds
The Ladybirds were a British female vocal harmony trio, most famous for their appearances on '' The Benny Hill Show''. They participated in over 60 episodes between 1968 and 1991. In addition, they were long-standing backing singers to many e ...
, the trio who had sung backup for
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 ...
on her victorious performance of "
Puppet on a String" at
Eurovision 1967.
At the close of voting "Long Live Love" had received 14 points to place in a three-way tie for 4th
in a field of 17, "
Bye Bye I Love You" by
Ireen Sheer singing for and "
Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va" by
Romuald singing for also having accrued 14 points. Newton-John admitted post-contest: "I was never really happy with the song I had to sing."
"Long Live Love" was succeeded as British representative at the
1975 contest by
The Shadows with "
Let Me Be the One". Olivia Newton-John would be the last solo act to represent the UK at Eurovision until
Eurovision 1985.
On 10 August 2022, Eurovision’s official YouTube channel uploaded the song’s performance from the 1974 contest in Brighton in tribute to Olivia after her death.
Chart performance
In the British Isles "Long Live Love" charted in the UK with a #11
peak and reached #9
in Ireland: the track also afforded Newton-John a #11 hit in her adopted homeland of Australia.
In anticipation of a boost from its expected strong Eurovision showing, "Long Live Love" was widely released throughout
mainland Europe with the track having its highest global impact in Norway with a three-week chart peak tenure at #3,
being kept from #1 by the chart-topping 1974 Eurovision victor "
Waterloo" (
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...
) with first "
Devil Gate Drive" (
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...
) and then "
Seasons in the Sun
"Seasons in the Sun" is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 Belgian song "Le Moribond" (in English "The Dying Man") by singer-songwriter Jacques Brel with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by American singer-poet Rod McKuen, portraying a dying ...
" (
Terry Jacks
Terrence Ross Jacks (born March 29, 1944) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist, best known for his 1974 hit song " Seasons in the Sun".
Early life
Terry Jacks was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His fa ...
) at #2. However "Long Live Love" did not afford Newton-John widespread European success, otherwise charting only on Belgium's Dutch chart (#7) and in Finland (#9).
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Cover versions
Newton-John herself recorded a German-language version of "Long Live Love", while renderings in Norwegian and Finnish were recorded by respectively ("Det er et sted") and
Päivi Paunu
Päivi Paunu (20 September 1946 – 14 December 2016) was a Finnish singer, born in Helsinki. Paunu and Kim Floor performed in the 1972 Eurovision contest in the United Kingdom with the song "Muistathan" ("I Hope You Remember").
Music career
P ...
("Kun rakastaa").
. Anthony Newley covered the song and it was issued as a single (MGM M12744) in the U.S. in 1974
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1974 singles
Eurovision songs of 1974
Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom
Olivia Newton-John songs
Songs written by Harold Spiro
Songs written by Valerie Murtagh
Pye Records singles
1974 songs