Eurovision Song Contest 1976 | ||||
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Participating broadcaster | Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) | |||
Country | Netherlands | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Nationaal Songfestival 1976 | |||
Selection date(s) | 18 February 1976 | |||
Selected artist(s) | Sandra Reemer | |||
Selected song | "The Party's Over" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) | Hans van Hemert | |||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 9th, 56 points | |||
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
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The Netherlands was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song "The Party's Over", written by Hans van Hemert, and performed by Sandra Reemer. The Dutch participating broadcaster, Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, NOS was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Nederlands Congresgebouw in The Hague, after winning the previous edition with the song "Ding-a-dong" by Teach-In. This was the second of Reemer's three Eurovision appearances for the Netherlands: she had sung in the 1972 contest in a duo with Dries Holten (Andres), and would also take part in the 1979 contest under the name of Xandra.
Prior to the contest, there was controversy when some other national delegations laid accusations that "The Party's Over" plagiarised the 1968 Mary Hopkin hit "Those Were the Days". The allegations of plagiarism were considered and rejected by contest organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), who conceded that the songs were very similar in style and structure, but did not find any similarity between the actual melodies.