Song of the Day – We all have Eurovision songs that we love and listen to regularly. But then there are songs we might only remember because someone posts a link on Facebook or a Forum. In between our rankings we will shuffle through Eurovision history and present a random song each day to bring back memories and give you the chance to discuss songs and years during the “Eurovision drought”. Our song of the day today is the Danish entry of 1980.
contributed by our new writer Hendrick:
Bamses Venner (Teddy Bear friends) was a Danish musical group with Flemming Jørgensen, (leadvocals and bass) Morgens Balle (organ and piano) Bjarne Green (guitar) and Arne Østergaard(drums) They peformed since 1973 and in 1980 they were chosen to represent their country on the Eurovision Songcontest in Den Hague with the song Tænker Altid På Dig ( Always thinking of you)
Danish national final Dansk Melodi Grandprix was held on 29 march in the Falkoner Centrum in Copenhagen. Twelve songs competed and Bambes Venner won the contest with a total of 84 points, 7 points more than the number 2 Henning Villen and Birthe Kjaer. ( Danmark 1989) The points were given by a jury of 11 members who were live on the show. They gave between 1 and 9 points for every song right after the song was performed.
Tænker Alltid På Dig is about the end of a good friendship. It is about going your own ways but never leave each other because you are always thinking of them and they lead you on the way. It is also a song about traveling or never find a home. But in the end an enduring friendship even when you don’t see each other for a long time is what counts. Bamses Venner performed their song with Flemming in front with the bass wearing a blue suite and the other members behind playing the keyboard, guitar and a headless tambourine. The song has not been remembered by the juries at the end of the night and the Venner only scored 25 points. Receiving points from Greece(4) Morocco(2) Switzerland (6) Finland (7) Norway (1) and Germany (5)
Sadly Flemming Jørgensen died on 1 January 2011 from a cardiac arrest. The other members of Bamses Venner decided to break up after a series of memorial concerts
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sweet kind of song with a pleasant melody..no winner, but maybe deserved better…(but they went against 2nd rule of television…never wear stripes on TV if you’re on the big side..1st rule is: never work with animals or children..!)
Nice little one there. I fancy the stage presentation too; my #10 that year. Denmark is in my top10 for 4 years in a row back then: 1979 #1, 1980 #10, 1981 #10-tie with Sweden, 1982 #9
I was reminiscing there about Denmark entries, and agree with your top 10s only would put 79 a bit lower, I guess Denmark is better known for the rest of the 80s , early 90s than this song, I have a soft spot for Denmark 1990 myself, silly song but lovely girl!
Perhaps I’m the only esc fan that has a soft spot for Denmark 79; most fans have as their #1 that year Israel, Germany or, even better, France
I really like Denmark 1979 too and had it in 1st place when I watched the contest live all those years ago. Nowadays, I still like ‘Disco Tango’ but the song has dropped to 7th place on my list.
Hello Togravus
Btw, Denmark 79 was sort of a hit here at that time; there was even a greek version of “Disco Tango” back then, but, imho, it’s so bad that I don’t even dare posting it
Come on, do it! Give us a translation too! I love “Disco tango”, it’s a really catchy and good song, although the lines “Bach er lige fedt om dag’n, Beethoven ta’r endnu sin bid af kag’n” are very jerky.
Well, ok then; but you enter at your own risk!
“Into the the pale lights me and you,
so many couples and we all alone,
waiting for you to come and say just one word to me,
ask me to dance this tango…” :S LOL
Thanks!
The arrangement was rather odd, but I kinda like her voice. Sensual and a bit enchanting actually.
A very sweet and modest song. I am not very fond of the male vocal though. And the styling…. Well, fortunately for Denmark we had France that year with even more disastrous stripes.
Unpretentious. That was the word I was looking for.
This song has a sweet and simple melody and I really like it in studio version. I agree with w s though, I am not particularly fond of his live voice either. Moreover, I absolutely detest all those silly 80s outfits, and this is one of them. A good effort nevertheless and the last Danish ESC song I really liked until Aud Wilken came onto stage and blew me away in 1995.
Perhaps not all Danish songs 1981 to 1994 were bad but with the exception of ‘Video video’ they were all leaving too heavily towards the schlager side to get anywhere on my list.
don’t be so hard on those 80s outfits!! after all it was the 80s, I guess it was kind of cool then, at least they thought so, I remember having a striped T shirt in 1980 myself and thought it was fantastic!, as mentioned above worst (matching) stripes went to France 1980..maybe it’s one of those euro urban legends but I heard Moroccan TV put black stripes over French singers crotches (men) and tops (women) live on the night (after rehearsals) as they considered everything so “tight” a bit too provocative…judge for yourselves!:
I agree; there’s nth wrong with stripes after all
LOL
I prefer the French stripes to the Danish ones in this specific case because the French ones at least aspire to sth artistic whereas Bamses and his guys look like plumbers on a bad shirt and bad hair day …
Btw, I had blonde highlights and a small moustache in the 80s … and I regularly wore a gold chain over a buttoned shirt without tie. Oh my, what a grisly decade …
“…and I regularly wore a gold chain over a buttoned shirt without tie…”
Well, that’s nth compared to those big and thick glasses I used to wear back then, and try desperately to erase from my memory!
exactly!, before you diss ESC 80s fashion, think of yourselves first! I myself was proud of my “Fame” sweatshirt, and my “mod” tie (as an hommage to British bands like the Specials, The Jam etc, still my favourite bands today and The Smiths in the early 80s of course)
British pop scene of the early 80′s is my most favourite thing when it comes to pop music in general.
me too! love that era, but also late 70s era too in British pop, conclusion can be reached that late 70s /early 80s Brit pop had absolutely nothing to do with UK ESC entries at that time (eg UK 1980), off topic but talking about UK songs in the 70s, a good euro friend of mine found a song he remembered from his childhood (I remember it too), it was a famous theme tune from a TV series from 1971, he wondered whether both Portugal 1971 and Germany 1999 (listen to the chorus/refrain) were “inspired” by them, I wonder…(video is first part of a 10 minute slot from BBC 1971)
Typical danish sweetness, I nice and cosy song. Very likeable. And even though “Bamse” often is a word used for teddy bears, it can also mean “Big Boy” or something similiar, which I think it is in this case.
For Toggie, I have Denmark 1982 as my winner that year… as for 1980, it’s nice and sweet and I like it ok, in a very boring year it makes my top 10!
He is the Robin J. type, isn’t he?
Btw, I really like Denmark 1982 in studio version but I have always found the live performance a tad annoying. Plus blondes simply don’t do it for me … Nevertheless, Denmark is still in 10th place on my list. My winner probably won’t come as a surprise: Cyprus!
agree Cyprus 1982 is my favourite too, Denmark is ok but the bit about Wimbledon on video etc kind of spoiled it, and you from Germany, would you say that the song above (Lightning tree by the Settlers) sounds very very similar to Germany 1999? it has been commented upon in ESC circles, I guess Ralph had run out of ideas at that point in 1999?..maybe..
Denmark 1982 was a fresh song with its electro sound, but it became a bit repetive after a while. I consider ESC 1982 to be the weakest Eurovision ever. Cyprus is in my 2nd place of that year, after Norway. My favourites in 1980 are Netherlands and Germany, followed by Turkey, Morocco, Ireland and Italy.
The horrific bunch of songs from 2006 saves the 1982 contest from being last on my list …
LOL I think that poor Ralph had run out of ideas even before he started composing. All his work is so terribly generic and many songs resemble older songs …
I think Ralph Siegel had quite many interesting songs in the early 80′s. I love both “Dschinghis Khan” (and “Moskau), “Theater” and “Johnny Blue”. From the German national finals, I do especially love two Siegel songs: “Pan” and “Die Glocken von Rom”. He lost the grip around 1987 something imo (“Frieden für die Teddybären”
)
I agree that “Dschinghis Khan” (and the whole first DK album), “Theater” and “Johnny Blue” are among Siegel’s best songs … and man did I love Lena Valaitis when I was young … Nevertheless, I wouldn’t call those songs quality although Katja Ebstein miraculously manages to make something worthwhile out of almost anything. I have never been a fan of “Die Glocken von Rom” though.
She sure does, wonderful Katja. I did just re-watch “Die Glocken von Rom” from Ein Lied für Göteborg, and it seems like Siw Malmkvist had some problems with her German…
Btw, I take it back what I wrote before. I like “Frieden für die Teddybären” too in some mysterious way. It’s just the spoken intro that somehow makes me go WTF!
blondes TOTALLY do it for me, love him, love the audio, yeah the live is okayish only, but 1982 sucks so bad…
What do you expect of the only ESC ever without France and Italy? Of course it sucks and the winning song sucks even more …
I have never been fan of Bamses venner, they had most middle age audience here.. btw Last weekend I joined a market festival here, I saw Birthe Kjær on stage singing an ESC song “Ein bisschen”. Shockingly many people around were singing along to the song (including me)
I mean “Ein bisschen Frieden” of course
She didn’t do “Fuglen og barnet”, her danish version of “L’oiseau et l’enfant”?
Maybe she did, I was just passing, and stopped when I saw her on stage and just listened to one song…and then I moved on for shopping:)
“and then I moved on for shopping”
Girls will always be girls …
Exactly
don’t worry, I was at a “Bardo· reunion tour concert once (drunk I must add), and replayed her kick at the end of the song…shame on me!
I really like Spain’s song of 1980, Germany’s song was good but certainly not Ireland
Spanish song 1980 was sung by singers from Basque country as a kind of compromise to “basque separatist movement” (= ETA) at the time, didn’t help they went on killing in Spain over many years afterwards…:-(
“Quedáte conmigo esta noche” has a kind of double meaning “Stay with me tonight” or “be with me tonight to overcome what has happened”….as what has happened in reference to Basque country…
if you asked anyone in the UK on the street to recognize a certain song from 1980 would be this one
if they were young enough to remember it, somehow, everyone remembers it in the Uk for some reason, more than the crappy UK entry (probably from the preview video)..
I have no idea what my 1980 winner is… Ireland, Morocco, Netherlands, Turkey are like the better songs but none really moves me enough to think “winner” when I hear it and I think no 1980 song makes it to my top 100
Same here. The following songs are in the running for a possible makeshift top 5: Germany, Morocco, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Turkey and Ireland.
1980 had a good share of good songs but not a single outstanding one.
yeah I like Sweden and Spain too and think they’re in my top 5 I forget and I’m too lazy to look up I just know I’m not impressed by any (and I must admit I hate “Theater” as a song, regardless of the singer it can’t make my top)
Semi-offtopic: A little reflection on Denmark
Denmark has been in different musical landscapes since their return in 1978. From the beginning, they had a complete mix of songs: from modern pop-rock music like Kim Larsen in 1979, to the old-fashioned ones from ESC winner Grethe Ingmann, who did return to DMGP during the first years. But soon, it was the songwriter duo Tommy Seebach and Keld Heick that took command over the competition. Seebach did somewhat introduce the electronic keyboard music to Denmark, and that did also become the dominating style in the early 80′s (1982 as the best example). In 1984, it was composer Søren Bundgaard who became the new guiding star for DMGP. His music reminded of Seebach’s but was less electronic and more bound to disco music of the 80′s, combined with Dansktoppen schlager. This was also the time when DMGP become characterised for their glossy finals, with not only playback but also singback.
This era did somewhat finish when Mr. Melodi Grand Prix himself, the host Jørgen de Mylius stepped aside in the late 80′s. Now, DR wanted to wash away “Mylle’s friends”, like Tommy Seebach, Hot Eyes, Snapshot, Birthe, Lecia and so on from DMGP. In the early 90′s, they tried to plough new ground (Jørgen Olsen’s two anthemic entries in 1989 and 1990 did somewhat reflect the struggle to make some new music become the signum of the show, instead of the kitschy MGP schlager). But the real change came in DMGP 1995. It was a completely new national final. First, it was the first DMGP since the return in which Keld Heick wasn’t responsible for any song. That was alone a symbol to point out that the “schlager years” were gone. DMGP 1995 contained much more calm and slow songs than the earlier editions, like the winner “Fra Mols til Skagen”. And also some very dark ones; like the runner-up, Lars Muhl’s “Europa”, miles away from Hot Eyes.
Here is the song, btw. A real personal favourite:
Thanks a lot, that is a fantastic song.
Good night!
Last Year, we heard Songs from Bamse in Danish Lessons & I remembered his Entry from Video…not even our Teacher knew, that he was at ESC:D
I like his Songs, since they have nice Melody & are easy to understand:)
Albania is going to debut in JESC! http://myeurovisiondiary.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/junior-eurovision-albania-to-participate-for-the-first-time/
This is one of only a few Danish entries that I actually like, the others being “Dansevise” (1963), “For din skyld” (1965), “Under stjernerne på himlen” (1993), “Fra Mols til Skagen” (1995) and “A New Tomorrow” (2011).
To be fair, our entries in 1957, 1961, 2000, 2008, 2010 and 2012 were ok, but in the 80′s we always came up with som very annoying schlager tunes that almost sounded alike. They were far to light, containing no musical depth.