Country Norway Language Norwegian Conductor Geir Langslet | Artist(s) Tor Endresen Lyricist(s) Tor Endresen | |
Composer(s) Tor Endresen, Arne Myksvoll | ||
"San Francisco" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997, performed in Norwegian, the Bergen dialect specifically - with some lyrics in English - by Tor Endresen.
The song is a moderately up-tempo number, with a sound similar to rock music from the late 1960s. Endresen delivers a paean to San Francisco as an idealised paradise from that decade, with lyrics containing many references to slogans ("Make love not war"), people (Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon) and song titles ("California Dreamin'", "Blowin' in the Wind") from that era, as well as key events such as the moon landing and the Woodstock festival.
The chorus further idealises the city and the period, with it being described as "A time of peace, a spring of youth/No guns, no war, no disco/Just lovely flowers in your hair".
The song was performed third on the night, following Turkey's Şebnem Paker & Grup Etnic with "Dinle" and preceding Austria's Bettina Soriat with "One Step". At the close of voting, it had received no points, placing 24th (joint last) in a field of 25 and further extending Norway's unwanted record of recording zero points on the most occasions. Additionally, as the result followed on a second place and a victory, Norway achieved a dramatic reversal of fortunes.
Prior to the next Contest, the decision was taken to restrict entry to the 18 countries with the best average score over the previous five years, a group which included Norway courtesy of Secret Garden's victory in 1995 and Elisabeth Andreassen's second-place the year after. Thus, the song was succeeded as Norwegian representative at the 1998 contest by Lars Fredriksen with "Alltid sommer".