Time-Warp Tuesday | A milestone sealed with a kiss

Where: The Hague, the Netherlands

When: 1976

Who: Brotherhood of Man

What: Save All Your Kisses For Me

I’m not exactly dying to mention this because I feel like I’m on the verge of a mid-life crisis, but tomorrow I turn 21 (sorry for the short notice – large and expensive gifts are appreciated but not required). Amidst all of the freaking out and all the cries of ‘where have the years gone? WAAAAH!’ I decided it would be appropriate to focus this Time-Warp Tuesday on the song that triumphed the year Eurovision turned the big 2-1 – in terms of contests held, anyway.

The twenty-first edition was won for the third time by the UK. Brotherhood of Man arrived in the Netherlands with an extremely cutesy song and even cutesier choreography up their puffy sleeves. Having drawn the short straw to open the show (not the shortest straw in the packet, but one that makes it much more difficult to win) they needed as many ‘aww!’ factor votes as possible. Fortunately for them they got enough, meaning the weeks of Kurt Calleja-esque foot swiveling, head nodding and intensive rehearsing to get that killer last line just right had paid off.

Watching BOM’s performance a) nearly forty years later and b) as a member of Gen Y, it does come across pretty dated and unfashionable. But personally, I can’t resist the sweetness. Save Your Kisses For Me is more effective as a heart-melter than a blowtorch, and considerably less painful. What do you think?

 

11 Responses to “Time-Warp Tuesday | A milestone sealed with a kiss”

  1. nprovenghi271

    Happy Birthday! I hope you had/have an amazing day! (Time zones screw with my head.)

    Onto the song. Even though I’m of the iGeneration/Generation Z/Millenial Generation, I really like this song. If it weren’t so darn cute, I don’t think that anyone would like it, though. Just like Calleja, it relies heavily on a successful performance. But, it’s still a song I’d love to hear, especially on a celebratory day, which is today for me, considering I just sent out my first college application!

    Like

    Reply
    • Jaz

      Well by now it’s definitely a ‘had’. Thanks for the wishes =]

      I think if you aren’t in the right mood, SYKFM could be a cute overload. But I was feeling okay when I watched the performance the other day, so it was just cute enough I guess. I do wonder if it would have won without the choreography. Sometimes it can seem like just a slight extra touch to make the entry more exciting and then other times it can be really crucial, as in the Bucks Fizz skirt-rip.

      PS – Good luck for the college applications!

      Like

      Reply
      • nprovenghi271

        Don’t mention it!

        I know exactly what kinds of moods you’re talking about, mainly because I was in that kind of mood Wednesday. I don’t think that even a basket of kittens with milk and cookies could’ve fixed that. I think that the cute, kind of funny, choreography was crucial in the song’s success. And that’s not just true with Eurovision entries, but music performances in general. That explains why a song like “Gangnam Style” has blown up, but the equally good “Euphoria” from Loreen really hasn’t. If people have something to chuckle at, they’ll share.

        Thank you so much! I’m excited to just finish the process, honestly. I mean I like to write, but I’m a little tired of it now.

        Like

        Reply
        • Jaz

          I’m not in the best of moods right now, so I wish I had a basket of kittens and/or milk and cookies!! You don’t have any lying around that I could borrow??

          “Gangnam Style” = perfect example of crucial choreography! I think we’ve all done the horsey dance by now. I also have to mention that thanks to that becoming a ‘thing’, I now know what it feels like to know about something before most other people and then be annoyed when the whole world comes to know about it! We have this MV show called PopAsia (pretty self-explanatory) which introduced me to Psy quite a while ago. Ahh, glad I got that off my chest.

          I reckon “Euphoria” could top the charts in the US and over here if only people would latch on to it as a song. If Rihanna or Katy Perry sung it it would probably be #1 everywhere.

          So do you guys have to write essays for your college applications?? I do not envy you! We get in purely on the basis of our final school exams. I guess your selection process is more thorough. You’ll really earn your place wherever you end up.

          Like

          Reply
      • nprovenghi271

        Well, I know that I have some milk and cookies, but I don’t think that they’d get to you fast enough…

        I’ve also had that “I knew it before everyone!” feeling. I visited my sister in 2009 and she was working in a South Beach club. As a result, she had a ton of club music on her iPod, and Calvin Harris was on it. When I heard the one song, I really liked it, and, basically, I knew about him about a year before he entered the mainstream!

        Oh totally. Considering dance-pop is huge in America right now, it’s a perfect storm for “Euphoria” to smash onto the market here. Interestingly enough, I don’t think that most Americans are aloof to the existence of Eurovision. Last year, I went to a mall in the middle of the country and they were playing a Lena song! It wasn’t even “Satellite!” I was totally shocked.

        Yeah, the process of admissions here is really thorough. I don’t know how I’d respond to one test determining something that important, so I’m glad I have the essays, along with the SAT. But at the same time, I have a problem with blowing my own horn, so to speak, and that’s apparently what you have to do.

        Like

        Reply
        • Jaz

          That is so random, hearing that Lena song! I heard ‘Satellite’ on the radio when I was in a video store once, but right before they played it the announcers were trashing Eurovision big time and saying ‘I can’t believe we’re about to play this…’ Typical Australian non-fan attitudes. Bleuurgh.

          I hope the rest of your horn-blowing goes well!

          Like

          Reply
      • nprovenghi271

        I know. I just had to stop (I had a coat in my hand) and think for about 10 seconds “Is this really happening?” To be honest, I think that the person in charge of music didn’t even know Lena’s Eurovision history, so they couldn’t trash her, nor could they support her. And, to top it all of, it was on the day right before Eurovision 2011! It pretty much made my life.

        And thank you so much!

        P.S. This is insanely random (more so than Lena) but I’m curious, should I actually put a photo of myself as my avatar, rather than the abstract Estonian-esque cross thing? I just, as always, need a second opinion.

        Like

        Reply
        • Jaz

          Hey, I have no problem with ‘insanely random’. I say your abstract cross is perfectly fine, but if you feel like a change of scenery go for the photo! It would be good to put a face to the person I know as nprovenghi271 (that is such an unusual name, btw. Are your parents robots? #lame #justignoreme)

          Like

          Reply
      • nprovenghi271

        No, they aren’t robots, they’re just Italian (well, my father is). I guess I’ll do it!

        Like

        Reply
  2. Annika

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAZ!!!!! Have an amazing day! And check twitter if you haven’t done so yet 😛 About this song…well, I agree it’s cute and everything, but the choreography kind of annoys me for some reason.

    Like

    Reply
    • Jaz

      Thanks (again)!! The card was so awesome I printed it out. Being able to stare at Zeljko is a great gift…you know, in a totally non-creepy way.

      Like

      Reply

Start the Eurovision conversation

Basic HTML is allowed. Your email address will not be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.