Tim: So here’s one that got entered for Melodifestivalen this year but was rejected; you’ll hear why.
Tom: It’s not because of the crushingly unoriginal title, then?
Tim: Nope, not that. It’s by the lead singers of two Swedish dansbands that we’ve covered previously – Drifters and Titanix respectively. Those two links, incidentally, are to wonderful tracks that entirely deserve a revisit; hear this first though.
Tom: Oh bloody hell, even the crowd can’t be bothered with that! Why would you put them in the audience like that? Why?
Tim: Oh, it’s a marvellous audience reaction. I think the fairly prominent old woman in the pale blue dress is my absolute favourite, particularly when she starts admiring the scenery at 1:45…
Tom: I think my favourite moment is at about 0:47 and 1:25, when two different parts of the crowd are clearly clapping at different times or in completely different tempos, each missing different beats slightly. Or at 1:37 when the camera just loses focus and wanders off for a bit. Sorry, you were saying?
Tim: …that’s a delightful track.
Tom: Ugh. The thing is, you’re right. It’s a textbook meaningless schlager track, and if you take it out of that bizarre audience situation, it ticks all the right boxes.
Tim: I started smiling from that very first note, because I immediately knew exactly what to expect, and I wasn’t remotely disappointed. Well, slightly disappointed – the way the key change came quite early on got my hopes up for a second one – but that aside I’m not sure I could complain about this even if I wanted to. So of course it got rejected, but damn I’m glad it finally saw the light of day.