The 4th Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in Cannes, France on Wednesday, 11th of March, 1959, nineteen days before I was born. I could not watch the contest but I listened to it from my mother's womb. She could not watch it either as my parents had no telly yet. Holland won the contest with the song "Een Beetje" sung in Dutch by Teddy Scholten. This was The Netherland's second victory and so it became the first country to win the contest twice. Willy van Hemert, the lyricist of the winning song was also the first person ever to win the contest twice as he was the author of the lyrics of 1957's winning song "Net als toen".

1959 saw Monaco's debut in the contest and the return of the United Kingdom, which would never withdraw again. On the other hand Luxemburg withdrew from the contest for the first time. There were therefore eleven countries in this edition. The UK placed second and France was third. This was the first time that the United Kingdom finished second, up to date it is the country that has finished second more times: fifteen! For the first and only time ever there was an award for the second and third placed songs and they were also performed at the end of the show after the voting.
Domenico Modugno represented Italy for second time in a row. France and Italy were favourites this year and there was a lot of controversy after the contest as the press suggested that Italy and France gave more points to the Netherlands only because none of them wanted the other to win. It was only four years after it was born, but the Eurovision Song Contest popularity was growing fast and winning it becoming a matter of prestige.

See you in London for the 5th Eurovision Song Contest in 1960