Country Germany Selected entrant Silver Convention Final result 8th, 55 points | Selection process Internal Selection Selected song "Telegram" 1977 • 1978► | |
Germany was represented by Silver Convention, with the song '"Telegram", at the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 7 May in London. For the first time since 1974, the German entry was chosen internally rather than through a public final.
At the time of their participation at Eurovision, Silver Convention were commercially one of Germany's most successful groups and had already had a succession of big hits across both Europe and North America. They are the only performers in Eurovision history to have had a number 1 single in the USA (with "Fly, Robin, Fly") prior to their Eurovision appearance.
At Eurovision
The free-language rule which had been in effect between 1973 and 1976 was abolished by the European Broadcasting Union before the 1977 contest and countries were now required once again to perform in one of their official languages. However, Germany had chosen an English-language song before the EBU announced the rule change, so they (along with Belgium who had done the same) were given dispensation to perform in English.
On the night of the final Silver Convention performed 6th in the running order, following Norway and preceding Luxembourg. It is usually acknowledged that the group's professionalism and experience shone through with the slickest stage performance of the night. "Telegram" was a very contemporary song and had been tipped prior to the contest as a likely challenger for victory; however, like the similarly contemporary song from Belgium's Dream Express, it fell short of expectations in the voting. "Telegram" received 55 points from 13 countries (the highest being 8s from Greece, Portugal and the United Kingdom), placing Germany 8th of the 18 entries. The German jury awarded its 12 points to contest winners France.