L'amour ça fait chanter la vie



"L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" ("Love, it makes life sing") was the Belgian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, performed in French by Jean Vallée. This was Vallée's second participation in the Contest, in 1970 he had finished 8th with "Viens l'oublier".

"L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" was performed tenth on the night (following Switzerland's Carole Vinci with "Vivre" and preceding the Netherlands' Harmony with "'t Is OK"). At the close of voting, it had received 125 points, coming second in a field of twenty after Israel's "A-Ba-Ni-Bi". This would remain Belgium's best showing in the Contest until Sandra Kim's win with "J'aime la vie" in 1986.

The song is a dramatic ballad about the power of love, specifically the way in which it can enhance life. The lyrics include the image that love makes one "a musician/A real little Chopin/just for a blonde". Vallée also recorded the song in English and Spanish as, respectively, "Goodbye" and "El amor hace cantar la vida".

It was succeeded as Belgian representative in the 1979 Contest by Micha Marah singing "Hey Nana".

According to John Kennedy O'Connor, the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 spokesperson for San Marino, which had no television at that time (San Marino RTV was established in 1991), non-participating nation Jordan, one of the Arabic World countries that censored the Israeli entry, and their television channel, announced that Belgium won after ending the contest with flowers onscreen. Later, the Arabic World boycotted the 1979 contest, including Turkey, which appeared for the second time in 1978.

Sources and external links

 * Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1978.
 * Detailed info and lyrics, Diggiloo Thrush, "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie".