On the 25th of March, 1972, the 17th running of the Eurovision Song Contest took placein Edinburgh, Scotland, in which a musically diverse field of 18 entries competed. A few entries, such as those from Switzerland, Austria, and Norway, leaned heavily toward the folk sound popular in the early 1970s. Other entries were more pop-oriented, such as the Netherlands’ entry, along with that from the UK, “Beg, Steal or Borrow,” which would go on to finish in second and be recognized as a top 10 hit in multiple countries that year.
The winner of this year was the ballad from Luxembourg, "Après toi," performed by Vicky Leandros. She had previously represented the country in 1967 with the famous song “L’amour est bleu,” placing fourth. Family Four, who represented Sweden the previous year, returned for their second participation in 1972, and Tereza Kesovijarepresented Yugoslavia after having competed for Monaco in 1966. Another second- time participant at this contest was Malta, who acheived last place overall, for the second time out of their two attempts. This was also the second time ever that Portugal finished above 10th place since their debut in 1964, with their entrant, Carlos Mendes, also competing at Eurovision for his second time.
Along with those “seconds,” this contest also can claim several “firsts” in Eurovision history. Of course, this was the first (and so far, only) time the UK chose a host city outside of England. Another is Ireland’s first (and also so far, only) entry performed in the Irish language, "Ceol an Ghrá" performed by Sandie Jones. And, interestingly, this was the first Eurovision in history where no ties occurred in the voting - every country received a unique final points score.