Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957

Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Participating broadcaster	Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR)
Country	Switzerland
National selection
Selection process	Finale suisse du Concours Européen de la Chanson
Selection date(s)	11 February 1957
Selected artist(s)	Lys Assia
Selected song	"L'enfant que j'étais"
Selected songwriter(s)	Géo Voumard; Émile Gardaz;
Finals performance
Final result	8th, 5 points
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Switzerland was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 with the song "L'enfant que j'étais", composed by Géo Voumard, with lyrics by Émile Gardaz, and performed by Lys Assia. The Swiss participating broadcaster, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR), selected its entry through a national final. Assia had already represented Switzerland at the previous contest performing both Swiss entries, and winning with "Refrain".

Before Eurovision

Finale suisse du Concours Européen de la Chanson

The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) held a national final on 11 February 1957 in St. Moritz. Three artists competed to represent Switzerland: previous year's winner Lys Assia; Jo Roland, who participated at the national final of 1956; and Gianni Ferraresi, and the winning song was chosen by the votes of 4 regional juries which consisted of 10 members each.^[1]

Following the voting, three songs tied for first place with 8 points; "La vie" and "Avec vingt sous" by Jo Roland and "L'enfant que j'étais" by Lys Assia. After all three songs performed once more, a revote among the tying acts took place to decide the winner.^[2] This event is notable for being the earliest known instance of a tiebreaker in a Eurovision Song Contest national final.

The winner was Lys Assia for the second year, with the song "L'enfant que j'étais".^[3] The winning title was written by Émile Gardaz and composed by Géo Voumard, the same duo who wrote the previous year's Swiss entry and Eurovision winner "Refrain".

Final – 11 February 1957^[1]^[2]
Draw	Artist	Song	Total	Place
1	Jo Roland	"La vie"	8	1
2	Lys Assia	"L'enfant que j'étais"	8	1
3	Gianni Ferraresi	"Lasciami tranquillo"	Unknown
4	Lys Assia	"Derrière la cathedrale"
5	Gianni Ferraresi	"Nel mio carnet"
6	Gianni Ferraresi	"Bellissima"	7	4
7	Jo Roland	"Avec vingt sous"	8	1
8	Lys Assia	"Musst du schon geh'n"	Unknown
9	Jo Roland	"Quand je rêve"
10	Lys Assia	"Ein trautes Lied vom turm herab"
11	Lys Assia	"Ça n'epechera pas"

Final (Tiebreaker) – 11 February 1957^[1]^[2]
Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Basel	Geneva	Lugano	St. Moritz	Total	Place
1	Jo Roland	"La vie"	Pierre Gisin	6		5	3	14	2
2	Lys Assia	"L'enfant que j'étais"	Émile Gardaz, Géo Voumard		7	5	5	17	1
3	Jo Roland	"Avec vingt sous"	Dominique Roland	4	3		2	9	3

At Eurovision

At the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 in Frankfurt, the Swiss entry was the last of the night following Denmark with "Skibet skal sejle i nat". At the close of voting, Switzerland had received five points in total; the country finished shared eight among the ten participants. The Switzerland jury gave seven points, to the winning country, the Netherlands.

The Swiss entry was conducted at the contest by the event's musical director Willy Berking.