Tim: Last trip to the Melodifestivalen final for now, and it’s this, the track that turns up every year – the country/dansband track that we all love but never ask for, as it sure as hell isn’t going to Eurovision.
Tom: Hooray! And I always enjoy it, although never enough to actually download the song.
Tim: This year’s carrier: Hasse Andersson, who’s been going basically forever but hasn’t entered Melodifestivalen before now. And what an entrance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fUT-iPlP0I
Tom: A disturbingly happy violinist! He’s got a disturbingly happy violinist!
Tim: My favourite part (and really do please stop reading now if you’ve skipped ahead before the song’s got to the end, because SPOILERS) is not the key change itself, great as that is, but the moment before it, when the middle eight draws to a close, he starts singing again, and you suddenly think “OH I KNOW WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN,” and then a few seconds later it does, and you get goosebumps running through your body and the song rises up to perfection.
Tom: Wait, perfection? Really? Let’s not go that far.
Tim: Oh, no, perfection it is – not in any way perfect for Eurovision, mind, but a wonderfully enjoyable track to listen to, to dance along with, to see the sheer joy you mentioned on the face of that violinist and to have that infect every single part of you.
Tom: Mm. I think “infect” is the right verb there. If only because I started tapping my foot after that key change, damn it. It’s even got a la-la-la bit.
Tim: With its happiness and, yes, infectious glee, it is, in short, the song Sweden deserves, but not the one it needs right now.