Remove ads
"Fly on the Wings of Love" is a song recorded by Danish pop-rock duo Olsen Brothers –Jørgen and Niels Olsen–, with music composed and lyrics written by Jørgen Olsen. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, held in Stockholm, resulting in the country's second win at the contest.
| "Fly on the Wings of Love" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Olsen Brothers | |
| from the album Wings of Love | |
| B-side | "Smuk som et stjerneskud" |
| Released | 2000 |
| Genre | Pop rock[1] |
| Length | 3:05 |
| Label | EMI |
| Songwriter(s) | Jørgen Olsen |
| Producer(s) | Stig Kreutzfeldt |
| Eurovision Song Contest 2000 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) |
|
| As | |
| Language | English |
| Composer(s) | Jørgen Olsen |
| Lyricist(s) | Jørgen Olsen |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 1st |
| Final points | 195 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "This Time I Mean It" (1999) | |
| "Never Ever Let You Go" (2001) ► | |
| Official performance video | |
| "Fly on the Wings of Love" on YouTube | |
The song was an international hit, most notably in Sweden where it reached number one. The original Danish-language version "Smuk som et stjerneskud" was a number-one hit in their native Denmark.
Remove ads
Conception
"Fly on the Wings of Love" was composed and written by Jørgen Olsen. It is a love ballad, with the singers describing the beauty of a woman. Unusual for any pop song its lyrics strongly imply that this is a beauty which has improved with age – a theme made more explicit in the Danish original "Smuk som et stjerneskud". The Olsen Brothers recorded the song in Danish, English, and German –as "Weil nur die Liebe zählt"–.[2]
Eurovision
On 19 February 2000, "Smuk som et stjerneskud" performed by the Olsen Brothers competed in the 31st edition of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, winning the competition. As the festival was used by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) to select its song and performer for the 45th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, the song became the Danish entrant, and the Olsen Brothers the performers, for Eurovision.[3]
On 13 May 2000, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Globe Arena in Stockholm hosted by Sveriges Television (SVT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. The Olsen Brothers performed "Fly on the Wings of Love" fourteenth on the evening, following Spain's "Colgado de un sueño" by Serafín Zubiri and preceding Germany's "Wadde hadde dudde da?" by Stefan Raab.[4]
At the close of voting, the song had received 195 points, placing first in a field of twenty-four, winning the contest.[5] The song was not expected to score highly, as it was an old-fashioned ballad and performed by two of the oldest performers to enter the contest. In spite of this, it led the voting from start to finish –a feat not achieved since ABBA won in 1974– and became a great favourite among fans of the contest. The song is memorable for the vocoding effects given to the voice during the final chorus, which allow it to sound something like a robot. These effects were the subject of a protest by the Russian delegation, however they were not found to be against the rules and the result stood.
The song was succeeded in the 2001 contest as winner by "Everybody" by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton representing Estonia. It was succeeded as Danish representative in 2001 by "Never Ever Let You Go" by Rollo & King.
Aftermath
"Fly on the Wings of Love" was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reference group, from among the 992 songs that had ever participated in the contest, to participate in the fiftieth anniversary competition Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest held on 22 October 2005 in Copenhagen.[6] The brothers in fact performed part of the song onstage and were greeted with rapturous applause –perhaps due to the special's location–. Renārs Kaupers, hosting the show, made several references to "being beaten by a pair of Danish brothers" –which his band Brainstorm was–.[7]
On 6 March 2010, the Olsen Brothers performed the song at the Romanian national final for Eurovision. On 31 March 2015, they performed it in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits held in London.[8][9]
Remove ads
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden (GLF)[23] | Platinum | 30,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Remove ads
XTM and DJ Chucky version
| "Fly on the Wings of Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by XTM and DJ Chucky presents Annia | ||||
| Released | 2000 | |||
| Genre | Eurotrance[24] | |||
| Length | 2:59 | |||
| Label |
| |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jørgen Olsen | |||
| Producer(s) | DJ Richard and Johnny Bass | |||
| XTM singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
In 2000, Spanish dance act XTM recorded and released a version of the song featuring DJ Chucky and vocals from Annia. It became a hit between 2000 and 2003, peaking at number two in Spain, number one in Ireland, and number eight in the United Kingdom.
Chart performance
Upon its release in Spain, the song reached number two on the PROMUSICAE chart on 20 January 2001, behind "Love Don't Cost a Thing" by Jennifer Lopez.[25] It stayed in the top 20 for nine weeks.[26]
Two years after its original release, on 26 May 2003, the cover was released in the United Kingdom.[27] It debuted at number nine on the UK Singles Chart on the week beginning 1 June, then reached its peak of number eight the next week.[28] Over the next ten weeks, the song fluctuated around the top 20, eventually spending two more weeks at number eight before dropping out of the top 20 on 24 August and the top 100 on 12 October.[28] Due to its longevity on the UK chart, "Fly on the Wings of Love" finished 2003 as the country's 32nd best-selling single, outselling every song that peaked at numbers four to seven.[29] It eventually received a Silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry in 2016 for sales and streams of over 200,000.[30]
The song was also highly successful on the Scottish Singles Chart, where it entered and spent four weeks at its peak of number three. It spent 12 weeks in the top 10, 16 in the top 40, and 20 in the top 100.[31] In Ireland, the single reached number one for two weeks in August 2003,[32] spent 24 weeks in the top 50, and ended 2003 as Ireland's 11th highest-selling single.[33] The cover found moderate success in the Netherlands, climbing to number 31 in February 2004 and logging 19 weeks on the Dutch Singles Chart.[34]
Track listings
|
|
Charts
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[30] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Other cover versions
- In 2000 Danish producer Holger Lagerfeldt released a cover version under the name DJ Cookie with vocals by Linda Andrews.[43]
- In 2002 German trance group Topmodelz consisting of Pulsedriver and SveN-R-G vs. Bass-T released a cover version on Aqualoop Records.[44]
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads