of the Eurovision final, following 's Lisa del Bo with "Liefde is een kaartspel" and preceding 's Jasmine with "Niin kaunis on taivas". "The Voice" placed first in a field of 23 with 162 points, easily besting both "I evighet" and "Den vilda" whose tallies of 114 and 100 points earned Eurovision 1996 final placings of respectively second- and third-place. "The Voice" was awarded the maximum douze points by seven countries: , , , , , and . The jury decision at the 1996 contest was greeted with dismay amongst the public opinion of the audience, which began to leave the arena once the count had become a foregone conclusion. As a result of the differences between public and jury opinion, partial televoting was introduced for the following year's contest. "The Voice" reached number three in Ireland but failed to become a major international hit with its only other evident top ten showing being in Belgium, where it reached number nine on the Dutch region charts. "The Voice" also charted in the Netherlands at number 21, on Belgium's French region charts at number 30, in Sweden at number 31 and in the UK at number 40. "The Voice" was succeeded as Irish representative at the 1997 contest by Marc Roberts with "Mysterious Woman" and as Eurovision winner in 1997 by Katrina and the Waves representing the with "Love Shine a Light". Content Lyrically, "The Voice" is a very Celtic-inspired song, with the singer portraying herself as "the voice" which watches over the world, describing "her" effects on the elements, such as the wind, the seasons, in a similar way to Mother Nature. It is of a folk style and is sung at a very high pitch. Quinn was accompanied by traditional Irish percussion, woodwind and string instruments. Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Other versions Beginning in 2006 and 2007 with A New Journey, "The Voice" became a staple of the repertoire of Celtic Woman. Lisa Kelly, one of its members at the time, originated its version and then Susan McFadden took this melody. References External links Lyrics from the Diggiloo Thrush Eurovision songs of Ireland Eurovision songs of 1996 Eurovision Song Contest winning songs 1996 songs Songs written by Brendan Graham CNR Music singles 1996 singles