Raymond and Castel had not taken part in the national final, which was won by Nicole & Hugo performing the song. BRT called them as late replacements shortly before Eurovision, as Nicole had fallen ill and was unable to travel. Nicole & Hugo would represent Belgium in 1973.
Canzonissima was the national final format developed by Flemish broadcaster Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) which determined the song that would represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 1971. This was the 4th edition of Canzonissima, after previously being used to select BRT's 1963 and 1967 entry, and a 3rd season that ran between 1967 and 1968 but wasn't related to the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition consisted of nine semi-finals held between October 1970 and January 1971, and a final on 6 February 1971. All shows were held in the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels, and hosted by Jan Theys.[1]
Canzonissima1971 consisted of nine semi-finals and a final. The original format had ten artists compete in each semi-final and the top three songs chosen by a jury, as well as the public's favourite, would appear again in the next semi-final, while the other artists would have to select new songs, but after one of the competing artists died after semi-final 2, the remaining seven semi-finals only had nine artists. For a song to qualify to the final, it would have to place top three with the juries, or win the public vote, three times. A song could qualify with any combination of these, for example, it could get top three with juries twice and win the public vote once and then qualify to the final[1]
Voting in the semi-finals was done by two separate juries and postcard voting. The first jury was a professional jury made up of five members who each gave between 1 and 10 points to every song. The members of the professional jury were non-voting chairman Herman Verelst (head of entertainment at BRT), Jo Leemans (singer), Jos Boudewijn (radio producer), Anton Peters (actor and director), Staf Knop (author and actor), and Raymond Stuyck (journalist). The second jury was a 5-member jury formed by people from the music industry. The music industry jury voted during every semi-final but did not impact the selection for Eurovision and their goal was to choose 'the best Flemish song'. The music industry jury only voted on any new songs in a semi-final and qualified songs kept their scores from previous semi-finals. The members of the music industry jury were non-voting chairman Nest Van der Eyken (SABAM), Gaston Nuyts (composer and conductor), Gerd Mertens (conductor and organist), Vic Nees (composer), Jef Claessen (radio producer), and Armand Preud'homme (composer).
Since songs introduced in semi-final 9 could not get to top three with the juries or win the public vote three times and qualify for the final, the rules to qualify for the final were changed for semi-final 9. Songs had to receive at least the average number of points that every song that qualified to the final got in their last semi-final from the jury. The public vote winner also qualified to the final.[1]
After the second semi-final, on 21 October 1970, Ron Davis was involved in a car accident and remained absent from Canzonissima1971 until his death on 22 January 1971. His death was commemorated by the juries at the start of the ninth semi-final.[1]
The seventh semi-final did not take place live and was instead pre-recorded because it took place during the Christmas holidays.[1]
The final took place on 6 February 1971 at the Amerikaans Theater in Brussels. Voting was by an "expert" jury of 11 members, which consisted of the five members of the professional jury in the semi-finals plus six journalists from Flemish newspapers, each giving one point to their favourite song. This turned out to be something of a non-event, as in the end, only three songs received any votes at all. "Goeiemorgen, morgen" performed by Nicole & Hugo was the choice of eight of the jury members.[1][2]
During the final, it was also announced that "Als je terugkomt" performed by Mary Porcelijn was the winner of the music industry jury and earned the title of 'the best Flemish song'.[1]
Shortly before the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 final, however, Nicole had fallen ill and was unable to travel, so broadcaster BRT drafted in Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel as late replacements. Raymond had previously sung for Belgium in 1963. Nicole & Hugo would represent Belgium in 1973.
On the night of the final Raymond and Castel performed 10th in the running order, following the United Kingdom and preceding Italy. At the close of the voting "Goeiemorgen, morgen" had received 68 points, placing Belgium 14th of the 18 participating countries.[3][4] The original version by Nicole & Hugo does, however, remain one of the better-remembered of Belgian Eurovision entries.
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