Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968
Norway was represented by Odd Børre, with the song "Stress", at the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 6 April in London.
| Eurovision Song Contest 1968 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  Norway | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Melodi Grand Prix 1968 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 2 March 1968 | |||
| Selected entrant | Odd Børre | |||
| Selected song | "Jeg har aldri vært så glad i noen som deg (original entry) Stress (Eurovision entry)" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 13th=, 2 points | |||
| Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
"Stress" originally finished second in the 1968 Melodi Grand Prix on 3 March, but was promoted to the Norwegian entry when the winning song "Jeg har aldri vært så glad i noen som deg" was withdrawn from the contest by its composer amid persistent allegations that it plagiarised the 1963 hit "Summer Holiday" by Cliff Richard – who was the United Kingdom's singer in the 1968 contest. This is the only occasion on which the MGP winner did not go forward to Eurovision.
Before Eurovision
Melodi Grand Prix 1968
The final was held at the studios of broadcaster NRK in Oslo, hosted by Jan Voigt.
Five performers and songs took part in the final with each song sung twice by different singers, once with a small combo and once with a full orchestra.
| Final – 2 March 1968 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Points | Place | |
| Without orchestra | With orchestra | ||||
| 1 | Per Asplin | Nora Brockstedt | "Nysgjerrig-Per" | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Kirsti Sparboe | Odd Børre | "Stress" | 14 | 2 |
| 3 | Nora Brockstedt | Per Müller | "Nordlys" | 10 | 3 |
| 4 | Odd Børre | Kirsti Sparboe | "Jeg har aldri vært så glad i noen som deg" | 20 | 1 |
| 5 | Per Müller | Per Asplin | "Ingenmannsland" | 2 | 5 |
Final
The MGP was held at Centralteatret in Oslo, hosted by Jan Voigt. Five performers and songs took part in the final with each song sung twice by different singers, once with a small combo and once with a full orchestra. The winning song was chosen by voting from ten regional juries.[1]
| Draw | Combo | Orchestra | Song | Points | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Per Asplin | Nora Brockstedt | "Nysgjerrig-Per" | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Kirsti Sparboe | Odd Børre | "Stress" | 14 | 2 |
| 3 | Nora Brockstedt | Per Müller | "Nordlys" | 10 | 3 |
| 4 | Kirsti Sparboe | Odd Børre | "Jeg har aldri vært så glad i noen som deg" | 20 | 1 (W/D) |
| 5 | Per Müller | Per Asplin | "Ingenmannsland" | 2 | 5 |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Børre performed 13th in the running order, following the United Kingdom and preceding Ireland. Each national jury had 10 points to distribute between the songs, and at the close "Stress" had picked up 2 points (1 each from Luxembourg and Spain), placing Norway joint 13th (with Austria and Switzerland) of the 17 entries. The Norwegian jury awarded 6 of its 10 points to Sweden.[2]