Save Your Kisses For Me
Encyclopedia
"Save Your Kisses for Me" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
The Eurovision Song Contest 1976, the 21st in the series, was held in The Hague, Netherlands, on 3 April 1976. With Corry Brokken as the presenter – the first time a previous winner of the contest had played hostess – the contest was won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United...

, performed for the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 by Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s, most notably by winning the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me"....

 in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The lyrics and music were written by Tony Hiller
Tony Hiller
Tony Hiller is a British songwriter. He began his musical career as a member of the song and dance duo The Hiller Brothers, sharing the stage with his brother Irving...

, Lee Sheriden
Lee Sheriden
Lee Sheriden is a British singer/songwriter and musical director, best known as a member of pop group Brotherhood of Man.-Early career:...

, and Martin Lee
Martin Lee (singer)
Martin Lee is a singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the British pop group Brotherhood of Man.- Early career :...

, the latter two being members of the band. This was the third consecutive occasion on which a group had won the contest.

Song origins

"Save Your Kisses for Me" was originally written by member Lee Sheriden in August 1974. On bringing the song in to the next songwriting session, others thought that the title was clumsy and reworked it into "Oceans of Love". Sheriden was unhappy with the changes and the song was shelved. A year later when it came to coming up with songs for the next album, they discovered that they needed one more song and Sheriden again put forth "Save Your Kisses for Me". This time it was accepted, as he later recalled:

"I'd had a year to think about it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do on the arrangement, the glockenspiel on the beginning and the big 12-string acoustic guitar and the strings, and then came the day to record the song...It was about midnight and I sang it and it went well. I could see everyone behind the glass panel getting excited and I thought great, they all really like the song, and as I finished I was waiting for them to press the button so they could speak to me and say 'great, we've got a hit' or whatever, and the person pressing it said: 'Lee, we think Martin should sing this song'. But I didn't mind because Martin came in and sung it to perfection."


Soon after, manager Tony Hiller was keen for the group to try for Eurovision, now that the qualifying rounds had changed in the UK. Up till now, a singer was nominated to perform, but for 1976 it was opened up to different singers to enter their own songs. Brotherhood of Man put forward "Save Your Kisses for Me" and it was accepted as one of the 12 finalists. It won A Song for Europe
A Song for Europe
A Song for Europe may refer to:*A Song for Europe, former name of British pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Eurovision: Your Country Needs You...

on 25 February 1976, beating second-placed Co-Co
Co-Co (band)
Co-Co were a five piece British band who represented the UK for the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, staged at the Palais de Congrès in Paris, France, on 22 April 1978, with the song, "The Bad Old Days". The song was written by the husband and wife team of Stephanie de Sykes and Stuart Slater...

 by just two points. The song was released as a single and reached number one in the UK Charts two weeks before the Eurovision final, due to be held on 3 April.

Eurovision victory

The performance consisted of the two male singers wearing black and white suits, and the two females wearing white and red jumpsuits with matching berets, standing still and singing with minor arm and leg choreography. The bouncy jingle described the gently conflicted emotions of a young man leaving an adored loved-one in the morning as he leaves for work. The song's final line provided the twist: that he was leaving a three year old behind, ending with "Won't you save them for me...even though you're only three?".

It was awarded the maximum twelve points by seven countries, totalling 164 points compared to the second-placed French entry with 147 points. According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, the song is the biggest selling single for a winning entry in the history of the contest. It also still holds the record for the highest relative score under the voting system introduced in 1975 (which has been used in every contest since), with an average of 9.65 points per jury After winning the contest, the song reached No.1 in many countries across Europe and eventually sold more than six million copies. In the UK, it stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and was certified platinum by the BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

 in May 1976, becoming the biggest selling single of the year. In the United States, the song was a moderate pop hit (No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

) but went all the way to No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart.

Post Eurovision

At the same time as the single was at No.1, the group released their latest album; Love and Kisses
Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man
Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man is the second album released by the new line-up of British pop group Brotherhood of Man. It was released in the UK the day before their 1976 Eurovision win with "Save Your Kisses for Me", which the album contained...

, which featured "Save Your Kisses for Me". The group followed this up with the similarly themed "My Sweet Rosalie", which was also a hit around Europe. The group continued to score hits in the UK, with two more chart toppers in the next two years; however, this was not the case in the United States, where "Save Your Kisses for Me" was the group's final chart entry.

"Save Your Kisses for Me" was succeeded at Eurovision in 1977 by Marie Myriam
Marie Myriam
Marie Myriam is a French singer of Portuguese origins...

 singing "L'oiseau et l'enfant
L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant
"L'oiseau et l'enfant" was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 performed in French by the Portuguese singer Marie Myriam, who represented France...

" for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. In a reversal of the 1976 result, the UK were runners-up.

Among many cover versions, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Margo Smith
Margo Smith
Margo Smith is an American Country Music Singer. In the 1970s, she was a popular female Country vocalist, acquiring two No. 1 hits on the Country charts during that time, "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" and "It Only Hurts for a Little While", both Country music remakes of previous Pop music...

 had a number ten hit on the Country charts in 1976, while Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...

 had a Billboard top 100 hit in the same year with his version.

The song was chosen in an internet poll conducted by the European Broadcasting Union
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 74 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 49 associate broadcasters from a further 25...

 in 2005 as one of the fourteen most popular songs in the history of the Eurovision, and was one of the entrants in the Congratulations
Congratulations (Eurovision)
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest was a television programme organised by the European Broadcasting Union to commemorate the Eurovision Song Contest's fiftieth anniversary and to determine the Contest's most popular entrant of its fifty years. It took place at Forum,...

fiftieth anniversary concert in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, held in October 2005. It was re-enacted by the group (who are still together) along with twelve dancers dressed in matching red, white, and black costumes with briefcases and a live orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 as the original footage was shown in the background. It came fifth in the final voting.

"Save Your Kisses for Me" is still one of the top 100 selling singles of all time in the UK.

Track listing

  1. "Save Your Kisses for Me" (Tony Hiller / Lee Sheriden / Martin Lee) 3:06
  2. "Let's Love Together" (Hiller / Sheriden / Lee / Sandra Stevens) 2:57

Chart performance

Country Peak (1976)
Austria 3
Belgium 1
France 1
Germany 2
Ireland 1
Italy 41
The Netherlands 1
New Zealand 9
Norway 1
South Africa 4
Sweden 6
Switzerland 2
UK 1
US 27


Year-end charts

Country Placing (1976)
Austria 18
Germany 19
Switzerland 9
UK 1

See also

  • List of European number-one hits of 1976
  • List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1976
  • List of number-one hits of 1976 (France)
  • List of number-one singles of 1976 (Ireland)
  • List of number-one hits in Norway
  • List of number-one singles from the 1970s (UK)
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1976 (U.S.)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK