Israel joins the family
For the third time in the 18-year-old history of the Eurovision Song Contest, Luxembourg had the honour of hosting the event with 17 nations present. After ending up in last position two years in a row, Malta decided to withdraw from the contest. Austria decided not to participate either. Instead, a new country joined the song contest, Israel. It was the first non-European country to enter the contest. Israel was allowed to do so because the country was already a member of the European Broadcasting Union. With the Israelis participating, the security control was unusually tight and special security measures were put in place for the Israeli delegation.
Another important rule change for the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest was that the participants could choose the language in which they wanted to sing their songs. This rule remained in place until 1976 before being re-introduced in 1999.
Luxembourg does the double
The Spanish, entry Eres Tu performed by Mocedades was accused of plagiarism. It was suggested by critics that the song was merely a copy of the Yugoslav entry of 1966, Brez Besed performed by Berta Ambroz. No action was taken though and the Spanish entry became a huge international hit, even outselling the winner Tu Te Reconnaitras by Anne-Marie David. Luxembourg became the first country in the history of the competition to win the contest twice in a row. The winning performer, Anne-Marie David, tried her luck again in 1979 when she competed for France and came third. She is one of the few artists who ended up in the top-3 with all appearances in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Facts & figures
Cliff Richard sang for the United Kingdom for the second time and came in third, one place worse than in 1968;
Sweden's Monique Dominique became the first woman to conduct the orchestra. Nurit Hirsch, the female conductor for Israel, followed her a few minutes later.