France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song "Hé, hé M'sieurs dames", composed by Sylvano Santorio, with lyrics by Richard de Bordeaux and Richard Joffo, and performed by the band Profil. The French participating broadcaster, Télévision Française 1 (TF1), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision
National final
Having chosen their 1979 entry by internal selection, Télévision Française 1 (TF1) returned to a public selection using the same format as in 1976-1978, with two semi-finals followed by the final on 23 March 1980.
Semi-finals
Each semi-final contained seven songs, with the top three in each going forward to the final. The qualifiers were chosen by public televoting. Other participants included 1969 contest winner Frida Boccara and Minouche Barelli, who had represented Monaco in 1967.[1]
On the night of the final Profil performed 16th in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding eventual contest winners Ireland. "Hé, hé M'sieurs dames" was a rare French venture into uptempo disposable pop, but did not prove to have great appeal as at the close of voting it had picked up 45 points, placing France 11th of the 19 entries and bringing to an end a run of four consecutive top 3 finishes.[3] The French jury awarded its 12 points to the Netherlands.[4]
