Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985

Norway was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1985 with the song "La det swinge", written by Rolf Løvland, and performed by Bobbysocks!. The Norwegian participating broadcaster, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK), organised the national final Melodi Grand Prix 1985 in order to select its entry for the contest. Both Bobbysocks! members, Elisabeth Andreassen and Hanne Krogh, had previous Eurovision experience – Krogh as a 15-year-old for Norway at the 1971 contest and Andreassen for Sweden at the 1982 contest as part of Chips. Both would make further appearances for Norway, Krogh in 1991 and Andreassen in 1994 and 1996.

Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1985
Eurovision Song Contest 1985
Participating broadcaster	Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK)
Country	Norway
Selection process	Melodi Grand Prix 1985
Selection date	30 March 1985
Competing entry
Song	"La det swinge"
Artist	Bobbysocks!
Songwriters	Rolf Løvland
Placement
Final result	1st, 123 points
Participation chronology
◄1984 • 1985 • 1986►

"La det swinge" was chosen as the Norwegian entry on 30 March, and went on to bring Norway its first Eurovision victory after decades of being the butt of jokes about their status as Eurovision's perennial also-rans. It was admitted that the lyrics of "La det swinge" had been written with the specific intention of avoiding those Norwegian consonant combinations which had been said to sound harsh in song to non-Scandinavian ears.

Before Eurovision

Melodi Grand Prix 1985

The Melodi Grand Prix 1985 was held on 30 March at the Chateau Neuf in Oslo, hosted by Rita Westvik. The staging was now set in a modern way for accompanying live music for the first time in the history of national final, while the usage of the orchestra were replaced with a live band (e.g. band drums, electric guitars, keyboard synthesizers and horns) and was conducted by Terje Fjærn. Ten songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by voting from five regional juries and a panel of experts consisting of Tony Visconti, Anne Marie David, Stikkan Andersson and Ronnie Hazlehurst. One of the other participants was former three-time Norwegian representative Anita Skorgan.

Final – 30 March 1985

Draw	Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)	Regional Jury	Expert Jury	Total	Place
1	Pastel	"Ring ring ring"	Pete Knutsen, Marianne Mørk	39	27	66	3
2	Bjørn Eidsvåg	"Gammel drøm"	Bjørn Eidsvåg	18	26	44	7
3	Zaz	"Oh-là-là"	Amund Enger	12	15	27	9
4	Kai Eide	"Love, amour og kjærlighet"	Kai Eide	10	12	22	10
5	Rolf Graf	"II & II"	Rolf Graf, Finn Kalvik	31	19	50	5
6	Anita Skorgan	"Karma"	Anita Skorgan, Lars Kilevold	30	44	74	2
7	Bobbysocks!	"La det swinge"	Rolf Løvland	46	34	80	1
8	Mia Gundersen and Olav Stedje	"Nattergal"	Jonas Fjeld, Astor Andersen	30	26	56	4
9	Hilde Heltberg	"Livet har en sjanse"	Hilde Heltberg, Stein Gulbrandsen	37	12	49	6
10	Silje Nergaard	"Si det, si det"	Silje Nergaard	27	9	36	8

Detailed Regional Jury Votes Draw Song Tromsø Steinkjer Elverum Porsgrunn Stavanger Total 1 "Ring ring ring" 3 9 9 9 9 39 2 "Gammel drøm" 4 3 3 2 6 18 3 "Oh-là-là" 2 1 5 3 1 12 4 "Love, amour og kjærlighet" 1 4 1 1 3 10 5 "II & II" 9 5 6 7 4 31 6 "Karma" 6 8 4 4 8 30 7 "La det swinge" 7 11 11 6 11 46 8 "Nattergal" 5 7 2 11 5 30 9 "Livet har en sjanse" 8 6 8 8 7 37 10 "Si det, si det" 11 2 7 5 2 27

Detailed Expert Jury Votes Draw Song T. Visconti A. M. David S. Andersson R. Hazlehurst Total 1 "Ring ring ring" 7 7 5 8 27 2 "Gammel drøm" 4 8 9 5 26 3 "Oh-là-là" 1 4 4 6 15 4 "Love, amour og kjærlighet" 3 3 3 3 12 5 "II & II" 9 2 6 2 19 6 "Karma" 11 11 11 11 44 7 "La det swinge" 8 9 8 9 34 8 "Nattergal" 6 6 7 7 26 9 "Livet har en sjanse" 5 5 1 1 12 10 "Si det, si det" 2 1 2 4 9

At Eurovision

On the evening of the final Bobbysocks! performed 13th in the running order, following Italy and preceding the United Kingdom. At the close of voting "La det swinge" had picked up 123 points, enough for victory by an 18-point margin over runners-up Germany.^[1]

Voting

Points awarded to Norway[2] Score Country 12 points  Austria  Belgium  Denmark  Germany  Ireland  Israel  Sweden  United Kingdom 10 points 8 points 7 points  Luxembourg 6 points  Italy   Switzerland 5 points 4 points  Finland 3 points 2 points  France 1 point  Greece  Spain

Points awarded by Norway[2] Score Country 12 points  Sweden 10 points  Israel 8 points  Germany 7 points  United Kingdom 6 points  Denmark 5 points   Switzerland 4 points  Luxembourg 3 points  Ireland 2 points  Austria 1 point  Turkey