Communication 103

It’s best to just bathe in the glorious musical achievement of this one.

1999
E-Mail to Berlin
Double Date
Netherlands



"Computer, Computer"

Communication 102

Again, this one is pretty self-explanatory: texting for love. Just hopefully not in the creepy, late-night commercial kind of way.

2002
SMS4Love
Hevenless7
Austria

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SMS is an acronym for short message service. In many other languages, it is used in the same manner as “text” is in English. This doesn’t really make a lot of sense, grammatically speaking.

Communication 101

It’s always interesting to see how changes in technology are reflected in popular music. That’s why we’ll examine songs with forms of communication in their title this week. First up is a classic Eurovision song from Germany. “Telegram” is in English, so I feel no need to summarize the lyrical content for you. It is interesting to note that telegraphy was still a commonly used form of long-distance communication in the mid-20th century. You might not know that Western Union discontinued its telegram service only 3 years ago. In fact, 20,000 telegrams were sent in 2005.

1977
Telegram
Silver Convention
Germany



In case you thought the group’s name looked familiar, yes, they are in fact the Silver Convention that won a Grammy and had a number one hit in the US with “Fly, Robin, Fly” in 1975.

The cure for loneliness…Part 3

You know how there are songs with lyrics that sound completely innocent until one of your friends points out that they might have a slightly perverse, alternate meaning? This is one of those songs (and I am one of those friends). “Yodel in the Canyon of Love” was the runner-up at the 1997 Great British Song Contest and is most likely a cute novelty song, despite having a name that sounds like an entry in Urban Dictionary.

1997
Yodel in the Canyon of Love
Do-Re-Mi & Kerry
United Kingdom

The cure for congestion…Part 2

Because yodeling by itself is never enough, Global Kryner decided to mix Caribbean rhythms with traditional Alpine music to form the 2005 Austrian Eurovision entry. I’d like to imagine that the idea for this song came about like this (where the mentholated vapors and anti-snoring strips represent Austrian and Cuban cultures, respectively).

2005
Y Así
Global Kryner
Austria

The cure for a sore throat…Part 1

Because Eurovision is a place where different nations share their cultural heritage, it should come as no surprise that a few entries have contained yodeling. In the late 1970s, Switzerland sent a song that charmingly expressed their fondness for both yodeling and alphorns. Oh, and also Dixieland jazz.

1977
Swiss Lady
Pepe Lienhard Band
Switzerland



Note 1: The Swiss Lady in the title is not a woman, but the aforementioned alphorn.
Note 2: Alphorns don’t sound like trumpets.

Hey, there's a nuke in my song festival...Part 3

Over the past few years, there have been growing concerns that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Naturally, Israel is very concerned. This concern was reflected in their 2007 Eurovision entry “Push the Button” which, reportedly, led to the Iranian government demanding that the song be disqualified. You can read a translation of the lyrics here.

2007
Push the Button
Teapacks
Israel



This completes nuke week. I’ll see you next Monday as we explore yodeling.

Hey, there's a nuke in my song festival...Part 2

During the early 1980s, escalating Cold War tensions caused thoughts of nuclear annihilation to reenter the public’s minds. Enter: “Nuku Pommiin” (lit. Sleep Until the Bomb). The 1982 Finnish Eurovision entry suggests, somewhat satirically, that the best way to avoid a nuclear blast is to sleep through it.

1982
Nuku Pommiin
Kojo
Finland



“If you don’t wake up this time, you won’t wake up at all.”

Hey, there's a nuke in my song festival...Part 1

Now that we are less than 2 months away from the start of 2009’s top 100 list, I thought it would be a good time to ease back into posting. Each week before the start of the big countdown, we’ll examine popular themes in Eurovision-related songs. This week, because everyone’s in such a good mood, we’ll explore songs about a nuclear holocaust.

Tensions from the Cold War occasionally appeared in songs competing at Eurovision. The first time this happened was in 1967 when Monaco competed with “Boum-Badaboum” (a fairly self-explanatory title). In this song, a girl begs not to be killed because there are many things she has yet to experience. Fair enough.

1967
Boum-Badaboum
Minouche Barelli
Monaco



One thing I’ve noticed as I compiled this list is that songs about nukes tend to be surprisingly upbeat.