Swiss Lady - Aikuinen nainen

The 1977 Eurovision Song Contest was held in London. The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had been dropped in 1973. So every country had to perform their song in one of country's official language. For Switzerland this was done by Pepe Lienhard Band, and they sang about "Swiss Lady" (Only the title was in English , the rest was in German). Before the contest they were one of the greatest favourites, but they ended up placing 6th with 71 points. Finland's "Lapponia" sung by Monika Aspelund placed 10th. Pepe Lienhard, (b. Peter Rudolf Lienhard) was a Swiss bandleader and musician who in 1969 founded this sextet with which he released numerous albums. What was extraordinary in the ESC performance was of course the huge alphorn, which was played in the introduction and between the verses of the song. This use of the alphorn in pop music was at the time a singular case, but after this its influence spread throughout Switzerland. The Finnish version was done by Kari Tapio (see previous entry), and it was called "Aikuinen nainen" (Grown-up woman). For some reason this melodic song with driving beat wasn't a hit in Finland, and it's now completely forgotten. But Kari Tapio is today more populat than ever.

Here's the pair: