"Sing, Little Birdie" is a song recorded by husband-and-wife duo Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson with music composed by Stan Butcher and English lyrics written by Syd Cordell. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1959 The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European Broadca ...

held in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, placing second. It was the first British Eurovision entrant to be recorded, reaching number 12 in the UK singles chart.

Background

Conception

"Sing, Little Birdie" was composed by Stan Butcher with English lyrics by Syd Cordell.

Selection

On 2 March 1959, Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson performed "Sing, Little Birdie" in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest British Final, the organized by the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. On 5 March 1959, the duo also performed in the second semi-final with the song "That's It, That's Love", making them the only act to ever perform two songs in the same multi-artist formatted British Eurovision pre-selection round; the duo also being double-entered in the British national preliminary round for the .

Polly Brown Polly Brown ( Polly Browne; born 18 April 1947) 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 Honey" - Br ...

would perform two contending songs in the British pre-selection round for the but as distinct acts: herself and as a member of Sweet Dreams. "Sing, Little Birdie" was one of six songs to advance to the national final held on 7 March 1959, at the close of which "Sing, Little Birdie" was announced as the for Eurovision; the semi-final and final results for the British Finals of 1959 were determined by seven regional panels each comprising fourteen members.

Eurovision

On 11 March 1959, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the in

hosted by (RTF) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson performed "Sing, Little Birdie" tenth in a field of eleven entrants. Eric Robinson conducted the event's live orchestra in the performance of the British entry. At the close of voting, the song finished in second place, bettered by the ' entrant "

Een beetje "n Beetje" (; "A little bit"), spelled in full as "Een beetje", is a song recorded by Dutch singer Teddy Scholten with music composed by and Dutch lyrics written by Willy van Hemert. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 held in Cannes, winnin ...

" by

Teddy Scholten Dorothea Margaretha "Teddy" Scholten (; 11 May 1926 – 8 April 2010) was a Dutch singer and television presenter. She is known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song " Een beetje", representing the Netherlands. Career In ...

Aftermath

Having failed to participate in the due to missing the entry deadline, the BBC had made a disappointing Eurovision debut in with "

All All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and pro ...

" by

Patricia Bredin Patricia Bredin (14 February 1935 – 13 August 2023) was an English actress and one-time singer. She is best known as the first representative of the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1957. Career In 1957 Bredin took the part ...

, finishing seventh in a field of ten: no recording had been made of "All" and the BBC had not participated in . The second place showing of "Sing, Little Birdie" at the 1959 contest was the first evidence of the United Kingdom being a potent force at Eurovision: four subsequent British Eurovision entrants would take second place at the contest finals before it would score its first Eurovision victory in with " Puppet on a String" by

Sandie Shaw Sandra Ann Goodrich (born 26 February 1947), known by her stage name Sandie Shaw, is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Some ...

Legacy

The song was mentioned in the ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...

'' sketch " World Forum/Communist Quiz" in 1970 as having won the 1959 contest as the correct answer by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

when it actually finished second.

References

{{United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest Songs about birds Columbia Graphophone Company singles Eurovision songs of 1959 Eurovision songs of the United Kingdom 1959 songs