Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974
Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) held the Grande Prémio TV da Canção Portuguesa 1974 at the Teatro Maria Matos in Lisbon on 7 March 1974, hosted by Glória de Matos and Artur Agostinho.[2] For the first time, Funchal was called to vote[3] On the night of the final Carvalho performed 16th in the running order, following Switzerland and preceding Italy.At the close of the voting the song had received 3 points, placing joint last (along with Germany, Norway and Switzerland).Despite the modest showing in Brighton at the Contest itself, the song achieved considerable fame as one of the two signals to launch the Carnation Revolution in Portugal against the Estado Novo regime of Marcelo Caetano - the other being the folk song "Grândola Vila Morena" by Zeca Afonso, which was the signal for the coup leaders to announce that they had taken control of strategic parts of the country.In his Official History of The Eurovision Song Contest author John Kennedy O'Connor, for example, describes it as "the only Eurovision entry to have actually started a revolution", while Des Mangan suggests that other Portuguese entries (he mentions 1998's "Se eu te pudesse abraçar") would not be likely to inspire coups.