Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "Marcel", written by Charly Niessen, and performed by Heidi Brühl. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), selected its entry through a national final, after having previously selected the performer internally. Brühl had finished runner-up in the 1960 national final, but her song "Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehn" had gone on to become one of the biggest hits of the year, topping the German singles chart for several weeks.
Before Eurovision
National final
The final was held at the television studios in Frankfurt. Brühl performed five songs and the winner was chosen by postcard voting. "Marcel" was a runaway winner, receiving almost two-thirds of all votes cast.[1]
Draw
Song
Votes
Place
1
"Die blaue Stunde"
5,846
4
2
"Das kleine Lied"
5,011
5
3
"Zum großen Glück"
6,681
3
4
"Marcel"
55,119
1
5
"Ein schöhner Tag"
10,857
2
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Brühl performed third in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Austria. Voting was by each national jury awarding 5-4-3-2-1 to their top 5 songs, and at the close "Marcel" had received 5 points (3 from Monaco and 2 from Norway), placing Germany 9th of the 16 entries. The German jury awarded its 5 points to Monaco.[2]
