Long Live Love (Olivia Newton-John song)
| "Long Live Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover of the Belgian release | ||||
| Single by Olivia Newton-John | ||||
| from the album Long Live Love | ||||
| B-side | "Angel Eyes" | |||
| Released | March 1974 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | John Farrar | |||
| Olivia Newton-John singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Eurovision Song Contest 1974 entry | ||||
| Country | ||||
| Artist(s) | ||||
| Language | English | |||
| Composer(s) | ||||
| Lyricist(s) |
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| Conductor | ||||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 4th | |||
| Final points | 14 | |||
| Entry chronology | ||||
| ◄ "Power to All Our Friends" (1973) | ||||
| "Let Me Be the One" (1975) ► | ||||
| Official performance video | ||||
| "Long Live Love" on YouTube | ||||
"Long Live Love" is a song by Australian singer, songwriter, and actress Olivia Newton-John composed and written by Valerie Avon and Harold Spiro. It represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 held in Brighton.
Background
[edit]Conception
[edit]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".
National selection
[edit]"Long Live Love" was the third time Avon and Spiro had submitted a co-composition of theirs to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for consideration for A Song For Europe, its national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, having finished fourth in a field of six in 1970 with "Can I Believe", and having finished sixth in a field of six in 1971 with "In My World of Beautiful Things".
The BBC had internally selected Olivia Newton-John as its performed for the 19th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. She introduced one of each of the six nominated songs on a broadcast of Jimmy Savile's Clunk Click television show on BBC One; on 23 February 1974 a television 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, becoming the British entrant for Eurovision.[2] The runner-up, "Angel Eyes" –which was Newton-John's favourite–[3] gained 18,018 votes.[4]
Newton-John made recorded versions of all the songs she had performed for consideration for Eurovision, 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." She also recorded a German-language version of "Long Live Love".[5]
Eurovision
[edit]On 6 April 1974, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at The Dome in Brighton hosted by the BBC, and broadcast live throughout the continent. Considered a strong contender, Newton-John performed "Long Live Love" second on the evening, following Finland's "Keep Me Warm" by Carita Holmström and preceding Spain's "Canta y sé feliz" by Peret. The conductor for the British entrant was Nick Ingman and Newton-John was backed by a five-woman chorale which included the Ladybirds, the trio who had sung backup for Sandie Shaw on her victorious performance of "Puppet on a String" in the 1967 contest.[6]
At the close of voting "Long Live Love" had received 14 points to place in a three-way tie for forth[4] in a field of 17, "Bye Bye I Love You" by Ireen Sheer singing for Luxembourg and "Celui qui reste et celui qui s'en va" by Romuald singing for Monaco also having accrued 14 points.[7] Newton-John admitted post-contest: "I was never really happy with the song I had to sing."[citation needed]
"Long Live Love" was succeeded as British entrant at the 1975 contest by "Let Me Be the One" by The Shadows. Olivia Newton-John would be the last solo act to represent the UK at Eurovision until the 1985 contest.
Aftermath
[edit]On 10 August 2022, the Eurovision's official YouTube channel uploaded, with permission of the BBC, the song's Eurovision performance in Brighton in tribute to Newton-John after her death.
Chart performance
[edit]In the British Isles "Long Live Love" charted in the UK with a #11[8] peak and reached #9[9] in Ireland: the track also afforded Newton-John a #11 hit in her adopted homeland of Australia.[10] 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,[11] being kept from #1 by the chart-topping 1974 Eurovision victor "Waterloo" (ABBA) with first "Devil Gate Drive" (Suzi Quatro) and then "Seasons in the Sun" (Terry Jacks) at #2.[12] 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).[13][14]
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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Legacy
[edit]Renderings of "Long Live Love" in Norwegian and Finnish were recorded by respectively Gluntan ("Det er et sted")[18] and Päivi Paunu ("Kun rakastaa").[19] Anthony Newley covered the song and it was issued as a single (MGM M12744) in the U.S. in 1974
References
[edit]- ^ "Olivia Newton-John - United Kingdom - Brighton 1974". Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ "United Kingdom: A Song for Europe 1974". Eurovisionworld.
- ^ Kruger, Debbie (30 August 1994). "Olivia Newton-John Interview". debbiekruger.com. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ a b Ewbank, Tim (2008). Olivia: the biography of Olivia Newton-John. London: Piatkus. pp. 97–100. ISBN 978-0-7499-0984-0.
- ^ ""Long Live Love" - lyrics". The Diggiloo Thrush.
- ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1974". Eurovision Song Contest. 6 April 1974. BBC / EBU.
- ^ "Official Eurovision Song Contest 1974 scoreboard". Eurovision Song Contest.
- ^ a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ a b "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Long Live Love". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 217. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ a b "Olivia Newton-John – Long Live Love". VG-lista. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ "VG Lista - Singles Top 20 - 17/1974". VG-lista. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Olivia Newton-John – Long Live Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Olivia Newton-John – Long Live Love" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Olivia Newton-John". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 183. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
- ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1974". Kent Music Report. 30 December 1974. Retrieved 15 January 2022 – via Imgur.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1974" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
- ^ "Gluntan – Det Er Et Sted / Du Lever Som Du Engang Har Lært" at Discogs
- ^ "Päivi Paunu Ja Kai Hyttinen – Nään Täysikuun / Kun Rakastaa" at Discogs
External links
[edit]- "Long Live Love" at Discogs (list of releases)
