| Sì | ||
|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1974 entry | ||
| Country | Italy | |
| Artist(s) | Gigliola Cinquetti | |
| Language | Italian | |
| Composer(s) | Mario Panzeri, Daniele Pace, Lorenzo Pilat, Corrado Conti | |
| Lyricist(s) | Mario Panzeri, Daniele Pace, Lorenzo Pilat, Corrado Conti | |
| Conductor(s) | Gianfranco Monaldi | |
| Place | 2nd | |
| Points | 18 | |
| Lyrics | from the Diggiloo Thrush | |
"Sì" (Yes in English) is the name of the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, which finished second behind the Swedish entry Waterloo sung by ABBA. The lyrics and musics were written by Mario Panzeri, Daniele Pace, Lorenzo Pilat and Corrado Conti. It was sung in Italian by Gigliola Cinquetti. She later recorded versions in English, French, German and Spanish, which were released across Europe. Cinquetti performed the ballad alone on stage, in a blue dress. The song is sung in the first person where she reflects and describes her love for a man. The song mentions the catchphrase sixteen times. It was the last song of the evening, following Portugal's song E depois do adeus which was used as a signal in Portugal to begin the Carnation Revolution [1]. Under the scoring system of the time, each country had ten jurors, each of whom allocated one point to the song which they deemed to be the best. Sì received 18 votes in this manner, including five from United Kingdom and Monaco, two each from Finland and Spain, and single votes from Israel, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland and Portugal, and went pointless from the other six participating songs [2]. It was Italy's second best result to date, with Cinquetti having won the contest with Non Ho L'Età ten years earlier [3].
Censorship of song in 1974
The live telecast of the song was banned in her home country by the Italian national broadcaster RAI as the event partially coincided with the campaigning for the 1974 Italian referendum on divorce which was held a month later in May. Rai censored the song due to concerns the name and lyrics of the song (which constantly repeated the word "SI") could be accused of being a subliminal message and a form of propaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote "YES" in the referendum.[4]. The song remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month An English version of the song, Go (Before You Break My Heart) reached eighth position in the British charts in June 1974 [5].
