L'Oiseau et l'Enfant

"L'oiseau et l'enfant"
Eurovision Song Contest 1977 entry
Country	France
Artist(s)	Miriam Lopes
As	Marie Myriam
Language	French
Composer(s)	Jean-Paul Cara
Lyricist(s)	Joe Gracy
Conductor	Raymond Donnez
Finals performance
Final result	1st
Final points	136
Entry chronology
◄ "Un, deux, trois" (1976)
"Il y aura toujours des violons" (1978) ►

"L'oiseau et l'enfant" ("The Bird and the Child") was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 performed in French by Marie Myriam, who represented France. The song was composed by Jean Paul Cara and written by Joe Gracy. This is currently the last song to win for France.

The song was the eighteenth and final song performed on the night (following Belgium’s Dream Express with "A Million in One, Two, Three"). At the close of voting, it had received 136 points, coming first in a field of eighteen. Myriam recorded the song in five languages; French, English (as "The Bird and the Child"), German ("Der Vogel und das Mädchen"), Spanish ("El zagal y el ave azul") and her mother tongue Portuguese ("A ave e a infância").

During Preview Week, Myriam's music video showed her performing the song in an open-air atmosphere, in a section of the Square René Viviani in Paris. This preview video is notable for the prominent presence of the gendarmes having to restrain the crowd, some of whom having climbed the noted "oldest tree in Paris" to catch a glimpse of the singer. On the Contest night, she performed in a floor-length orange gown while her five backup singers were clad in black.

It was succeeded as French representative at the 1978 Contest by Joël Prévost with "Il y aura toujours des violons".

Sources and external links

• Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1977
• Detailed info & lyrics, The Diggiloo Thrush, "L'oiseau et l'enfant".