How a song that finished last at Eurovision ended up toppling Europe’s oldest fascist dictatorship

50 years ago, a stunning series of events triggered by a song that had been performed at Eurovision just days before led to the fall of Europe’s oldest fascist dictatorship, The Guardian reports.

In musical terms, the song with which Portugal participated in the final of the 1974 Eurovision contest was far from being a success.

E Depois do Adeus (“And After Goodbye”), sung by Paulo de Carvalho, with lyrics written by José Niza, finished tied for last with Norway, Germany and Switzerland, narrowly avoiding the ignominy of receiving no points in a year in which the winning song was Waterloo, sung by Abba.

Although De Carvalho never quite reached the fame of their opponents in Sweden, E Depois do Adeus left behind a different kind of legacy – just a few weeks later, the song changed the course of history.

In 1974, the situation in the Portuguese military had reached its limit: Portugal had already been fighting a three-front colonial war in Africa for 13 years, which forced the authoritarian and ultra-nationalist Estado Novo regime to use more and more men to maintain control.

Repeated attempts by the Portuguese army to recruit more and more soldiers for the colonial war were met with protests from professional soldiers with the rank of captain, who organized themselves, forming an internal opposition movement that became increasingly sophisticated and politicized.

Most of these officers agreed that the war must end, and change could only come from the political level.

Moreover, the Portuguese armed forces had to respect the will of the people, which required a transition to a democratic regime. By April, plans to overthrow the dictatorship were already underway, under the coordination of Major Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho.

For the final operations of the Carnation Revolution to be confirmed, it was necessary for “a signal to be sent and received throughout the country” to mark the moment when there was “no way back,” according to member Carlos Almada Contreiras of the opposition movement stationed in the navy’s communications center.

“The communications systems of the three military branches—the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force—were not interconnected, so we couldn’t use them. Then I remembered something I read in this book,” Contreiras says.

On a trip to Spain, Contreiras received a copy of the “White Paper on the Change of Government in Chile” report edited by Augusto Pinochet detailing the recent coup d’état in Chile.

The book described a military warning system that involved broadcasting a series of pop songs over civilian radio stations.

If the movement could convince a radio station that could be received throughout mainland Portugal to play a certain song at a predetermined time, that could be the signal to launch the whole operation.

The leaders of the movement wanted the chosen song to be symbolic and to best represent their vision for the future of Portugal.

Initially, the revolutionary movement chose the song Venham Mais Cinco (“Come five more”) – but that’s where the trouble started. The song was banned by state censorship. Moreover, those who worked on the radio were afraid to play a protest song because it risked attracting too much attention.

Thus, Carvalho suggested to the announcer to choose a “trivial” song that would not arouse suspicion. That’s how we got to the song E Depois do Adeus.

Although the song was not politically controversial, its author, Niza, was a socialist activist who had produced protest songs in the past.

At 22:55 on April 24, 1974, the voice of Joao Paulo Diniz was heard on the radios of the residents of Lisbon, as he announced the song E Depois do Adeus by Paulo de Carvalho.

At the second radio station, which was supposed to transmit the revolutionary signal to the rest of the country, the whole plan came close to falling apart when the people there broadcast advertisements instead of announcing the song announcing the military operations.

At 20 minutes after midnight, the second agreed song (Grândola, Vila Morena) was heard on the radio, and the Captains’ Movement received both of the signals it needed to launch the coordinated military operation throughout Portugal.

Government forces were quickly overwhelmed, with the fighting culminating in the siege and eventual surrender of then-Prime Minister Marcelor Caetano in central Lisbon.

As the movement announced its intentions over busy radio stations, people took to the streets in huge numbers to show their support for the revolutionary captains.

In less than 24 hours since the first signal was issued, Europe’s oldest fascist dictatorship fell and Portugal’s transition to democracy, the Carnation Revolution – named after the flowers that the populace took to the streets to offer to the soldiers – It started.

Both E Depois do Adeus and Grandola, Vila Morena have forever remained in Portuguese history in a way their authors could never have anticipated.

By the 1975 edition of the Eurovision contest, Portugal had become a very different country to what it had been a year earlier – the colonial empire had crumbled, the population was no longer suffocating under the boot of fascism, and the streets were alive with revolutionary spirit.

Portugal’s chosen song that year was very fitting for a country that had just overthrown a brutal dictatorship and whose population was just settling into a new world: early morning (“Daybreak”) by Duarte Mendes, a singer who had been one of the captains of the April 1974 revolution and who appeared on stage proudly wearing a red carnation on his chest.

It was a song about music and light finally breaking through the darkness. It was song number 16 and finished the contest in 16th place with 16 points.

Editor: Raul Nețoiu

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