Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978
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Sweden was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 with the song "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten", written by Peter Himmelstrand, and performed by Björn Skifs. The Swedish participating broadcaster, Sveriges Radio (SR), selected its entry through Melodifestivalen 1978.
| Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1978 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Sveriges Radio (SR) | |||
| Country | ||||
| Selection process | Melodifestivalen 1978 | |||
| Selection date | 11 February 1978 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" | |||
| Artist | Björn Skifs | |||
| Songwriter | Peter Himmelstrand | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Final result | 14th, 26 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
Melodifestivalen 1978
Melodifestivalen 1978 was the selection for the 18th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 17th time that Sveriges Radio (SR) used this system of picking a song. 58 songs were submitted to SR for the competition. The final was held in the Cirkus in Stockholm on 11 February 1978, presented by Ulf Elfving and broadcast on TV1 but was not broadcast on radio. The songs were not performed live, instead the performances were recorded the afternoon before, and inter-mingled with live pieces from the venue. There was a tie in the voting, and each regional jury was asked to award one point to their favourite song of "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" and "Miss Decibel". The former won by eight votes to three.
| R/O | Artist | Song | Songwriters | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pastellerna | "Idag är det vår" |
|
52 | 6 |
| 2 | Thomas Munck | "Nåt som gör dej glad" |
|
11 | 10 |
| 3 | Tomas Ledin | "Mademoiselle" | Tomas Ledin | 78 | 5 |
| 4 | Harlequin | "Harlequin" |
|
49 | 8 |
| 5 | Göran Fristorp | "Längtan om livet med dig" | Göran Fristorp | 85 | 3 |
| 6 | Kikki Danielsson, Lasse Holm and Wizex | "Miss Decibel" |
|
100 | 2 |
| 7 | Kenneth Greuz | "Åh, evergreens" |
|
50 | 7 |
| 8 | Pugh Rogefeldt | "Nattmara" | Pugh Rogefeldt | 85 | 3 |
| 9 | Jörgen Edman and Polarna | "Lilla stjärna" |
|
29 | 9 |
| 10 | Björn Skifs | "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" | Peter Himmelstrand | 100 | 1 |
Voting
| R/O | Song | Luleå |
Falun |
Karlstad |
Gothenburg |
Umeå |
Örebro |
Norrköping |
Malmö |
Sundsvall |
Växjö |
Stockholm |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Idag är det vår" | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 52 |
| 2 | "Nåt som gör dej glad" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | "Mademoiselle" | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 78 |
| 4 | "Harlequin" | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 49 |
| 5 | "Längtan om livet med dig" | 4 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 85 |
| 6 | "Miss Decibel" | 10 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 100 |
| 7 | "Åh, evergreens" | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 50 |
| 8 | "Nattmara" | 12 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 85 |
| 9 | "Lilla stjärna" | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 10 | "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" | 8 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 100 |
| Song | Luleå |
Falun |
Karlstad |
Gothenburg |
Umeå |
Örebro |
Norrköping |
Malmö |
Sundsvall |
Växjö |
Stockholm |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Miss Decibel" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| "Det blir alltid värre framåt natten" | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
At Eurovision
When Skifs was set to participate in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest, he could not decide whether to sing in Swedish or English—possibly as a joke. This was a risky move, as the rules at the time required each country to perform its entry in its own language. The result was that Skifs became nervous and sang the wrong lyrics during the first verse—a moment that has since become a classic among Swedish TV blunders. The line "Dagarna och kvällarna, då lever jag – trivs med mitt jobb, har kompisar, att snacka med, det flyter" ("The days and the evenings, that’s when I live – I enjoy my job, have friends to talk to, things are going smoothly") instead turned into something along the lines of "Dagarna och kvällarna, då lever jag – röppni fälls, örr ur i knön, och gniblisåå, på kvällen."[1] He finished 14th (out of 20).[2]
Voting
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