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Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963

Eurovision Song Contest 1963
Country  Denmark
National selection
Selection process Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
1963
Selection date(s) 24 February 1963
Selected entrant Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann
Selected song "Dansevise"
Finals performance
Final result 1st, 42 points
Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1962 1963 1964►

Denmark was represented by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, with the song '"Dansevise", at the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 23 March in London. "Dansevise" was chosen as the Danish entry at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on 24 February, and went on to win the contest for Denmark in the most controversial of circumstances, when it was alleged that the Norwegian jury had altered their votes in order to hand victory to Denmark at the expense of Switzerland.


The DMGP was held at the Tivoli in Copenhagen, hosted by Marianne Birkelund. Eight songs took part with the winner being chosen by a 10-member jury. Other past and future Eurovision entrants competing were Birthe Wilke (1957 & 1959), Dario Campeotto (1961), Bjørn Tidmand (1964) and Gitte Hænning (1973, for Germany).


On the night of the final the Ingmanns performed 8th in the running order, following Finland and preceding Yugoslavia. "Dansevise" was a very sophisticated, atmospheric song, unlike anything previously heard in Eurovision. The pre-contest betting had suggested a two-horse race between Denmark and Switzerland, and the two songs quickly separated themselves from the pack in the early rounds of voting, which was done by each national jury awarding 5-4-3-2-1 to their top 5 songs. Host Katie Boyle then contacted Norway, the fifth jury due to vote, and the Norwegian spokesman clearly and confidently announced their votes as 5 to the United Kingdom, 4 to Italy, 3 to Switzerland, 2 to Denmark and 1 to Germany. However, as the spokesman had not given the results in the required format (by firstly giving the performance number of the song), Boyle asked him to repeat the votes. This appeared to confuse him, and Boyle agreed that to avoid any delay, they would come back to the Norwegian jury after all the other countries had voted.


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