Sing, Little Birdie

"Sing, Little Birdie" is the 1959 UK Eurovision entrant song that took second place at Eurovision 1959. Performed by husband-and-wife duo Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson,[1] "Sing, Little Birdie" was the first UK Eurovision entrant to be recorded reaching #12 in the UK charts.

"Sing, Little Birdie"
Single by Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson
RecordedLondon, England
GenrePop
Length1:50
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Syd Cordell & Stan Butcher
Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson singles chronology
"Sing, Little Birdie" "How Wonderful To Know"
Eurovision Song Contest 1959 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Language
Composer(s)
Stan Butcher
Lyricist(s)
Syd Cordell
Conductor
Finals performance
Final result
2nd
Final points
16
Entry chronology
◄ "All" (1957)   
"Looking High, High, High" (1960) ►

Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson performed "Sing, Little Birdie" in the first semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest (ESC)/British Finals — the national preliminary round for the UK in Eurovision 1959 — on 2 March 1959. The duo also performed in the second semi-final of ESC/British Finals on 5 March 1959 with the song "That's It, That's Love", making Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson the only act to ever perform two songs in the same multi-artist formatted UK Eurovision pre-selection round; the duo also being double-entered in the national preliminary round for the UK in Eurovision 1960. Polly Brown would perform two contending songs in the UK pre-selection round for Eurovision 1976 but as distinct acts: herself and as a member of Sweet Dreams.

"Sing, Little Birdie" was one of six songs to advance to the ESC/British Finals final held on 7 March 1959, at the close of which "Sing, Little Birdie" was announced as the UK entrant at Eurovision 1959; the semi-final and final results for the ESC/British Finals of 1959 were determined by seven regional panels each comprising fourteen members. At the finals for Eurovision 1959, held at Cannes on 11 March 1959, "Sing, Little Birdie" finished in second place, bettered by the Netherlands Eurovision entrant "Een beetje" by Teddy Scholten.

Having failed to participate in the inaugural Eurovision 1956 due to missing the entry deadline, the UK had made a disappointing Eurovision debut at Eurovision 1957 with the UK entrant "All" by Patricia Bredin finishing seventh in a field of ten: no recording had been made of "All" and the UK had not participated in Eurovision 1958. The second place showing of "Sing, Little Birdie" at Eurovision 1959 was the first evidence of the UK being a potent force at Eurovision: four subsequent UK Eurovision entrants would take second place at the contest finals before the UK would score its first Eurovision victory at Eurovision 1967 with "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw.

The song was mentioned in the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch "World Forum/Communist Quiz" in 1970 as having won the 1959 contest as answered by Mao Zedong when it actually finished second.

References
  1. "Eurovision 1959 Henk and Teddy Scholten, Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson - 'Sing little birdie'". YouTube.com. 1959.
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