At number 34 on the Eurovision Top 100 list, one of the contest’s earliest winners gives us the Dutch entry “Net als toen.”
Let me (again) make one thing clear before we go any further: The Euro Yard is a Corry Brokken fan site. It came up when we discussed “Voorgoed voorbij,” her first Eurovision entry from 1956, but it bears repeating. She was one of the key stars of the early days of Eurovision, and is a legend in a similar way to someone like Lys Assia or Teddy Scholten.
In 1957, she gave the Netherlands its first victory in the contest, which of course would not be the last. However, the only other Dutch winner we have on this Top 100 countdown is “Ding-a-Dong” from 1975. Ironically, when the Netherlands hosted in 1976 because of that victory, Corry Brokken hosted the show.
Vital Information: “Net als toen”
| Song | Net als toen |
| English Translation | Just like then |
| Performed By | Corry Brokken |
| Written By | Willy van Hemert & Guus Jansen |
| Country | The Netherlands |
| Year | 1957 |
| Language(s) Performed In | Dutch |
| How It Fared | Won (31 Points) |
| Was It Fair? | Yes |
What I Liked
As we pointed out in our scoring review of the 1957 contest (The Netherlands got douze points, obviously), the best thing about this song was that it actually told a story and made you think. The thrust of the lyrics is that she, the singer, is singing about her husband in a marriage that has lost its sparkle, but she very much wants it to come back. It managed to be cute and a little bit serious at the same time, while giving me something to work with in terms of lyrics.
Brokken’s stage presence is worth a mention. The “cute” angle was intensified with how she seemed to play for the cameras. She kept looking away, and then making eye contact with the viewer again, with a smile. I am assuming it won over a lot of people, because it was a successful effort.
There will also be no criticism here on the vocals. She did a great job and as we have said on numerous occasions, they just do not make a lot of songs like this anymore.
Other Facts
- Brokken represented the Netherlands its first three times at the Eurovision Song Contest (splitting the duties with Jetty Paerl in 1956).
- The Netherlands went sixth in the running order out of 10 songs in 1957.
- Brokken beat France’s Paule Desjardins by 14 points in the final count, a veritable landslide. She received points from every other country’s jury. At this point, each juror had one vote for their favorite song, and that’s it.
- Following her singing career, Brokken became a judge, but eventually returned to singing later in life. She passed away in 2016.
Watch the Performance of “Net als toen”
This was the first contest of which there is surviving video, and because we live in the future, it’s on YouTube.
