Saturday Flashback: Louise Dubiel – Rejs Dig Op

“I cannot for the life of me understand why we didn’t feature it, because it’s wonderful.”

Tim: For no reason at all other than that it’s on my list of ones we didn’t have room for at the time, here’s a song that was deemed not good enough to represent Denmark at Eurovision in 2013 (for context, that’s the year Emmelie de Forest ended up winning it).

Tim: And I cannot for the life of me understand why we didn’t feature it, because it’s wonderful.

Tom: That’s a brilliant melody in the introduction and chorus — and the final chorus in particular — but I’m not sure about the rest of it. What tips it over to wonderful for you?

Tim: Admittedly I didn’t entirely think that until I checked the lyrics, but it’s basically “who gives a shit if you get knocked down, just get up and keep fighting” – those two main chorus lines are “You have to dance in the rain and never get enough; you must shine in the dark and always rise again”. And that message, with those military drumbeats, those swooshing lights and that wonderful key change are entirely fantastic.

Tom: And it would have been translated into English for the contest, almost certainly. You’re right: in another year, this might have been a serious contender. I mean, apart from the key change. I love it, but it’s pretty clear at this point that Europe doesn’t.

Tim: Obviously, in hindsight it’s clear the Danish populace made the right call, but this is still a blinder.