Friday, July 27, 2007

1973: Lars Forsell (1928-2007) - Breasts like swallows

I just read at ESCtoday that the Swedish author Lars Forsell has passed away at age 79.
Lars Forsell earned his accolade in Eurovision History with the lyrics for the Swedish entry of 1973 You Are Summer (You Never Tell Me No) by Nova.

Both the English Eurovision version and the original Swedish version Sommar'n Som Aldrig Säger Nej (with the band going under the name Malta) got their place in the history books on the shelf for being the first Eurovision song ever to mention breasts. (Your breasts are like swallows in nestling).
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In todays Eurovision it's not uncommon to hear about popping cherries, something to suck on or all kinds of candy being handed out, but for its time the mention of any parts of the female anatomy was not done and at least something for the press to rant about.

The best illustration for this is the set of coverversions of the song made by the Bendik Singers from Norway. They covered the song in Swedish, with the original lyrics, breasts included, but in their Norwegian version Du Er Sommer the mention of breasts is replaced for something less provocative like happiness or so.
The Bendik singers themselves represented Norway in the 1973 contest with It's just a game.
Their versions of the Swedish entry appeared on 70's hits LP's like Svensktoppar. (exact details welcome)



Lars Forsell at Svenska Akademien (in Swedish).

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