Anthem - Intellect
Anthem - Intellect
Anthem - Intellect
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Signifying Europe<br />
song is in a way in line with the EU motto as well as the social democratic ‘People’s<br />
Home’ ideology, where there is room for ‘everyone’. The distance is actually not that<br />
great from the Europe anthem, except that the moment of high culture elevation is<br />
totally absent. However, a slight hint of the elevation theme may be heard in the talk of<br />
a party going on to which only true Europeans are invited. Like some of the other songs<br />
mentioned above, ‘I Love Europe’ can be heard as an example of how the European<br />
motto of ‘united in diversity’ has been illustrated, while the desire of the Europa myth<br />
has here been transformed to just pure happiness, and the diversity factor reduced to<br />
highly superficial aspects of style, instead emphasising the natural unity in terms of<br />
being ‘one big family’. With his deep voice and firm body, Christer Sjögren is like the<br />
Zeus bull enjoying the company of the smiling nymphs, and the falling out of the flags<br />
could then signify the dislocation resulting in the establishing of Europe. The absence<br />
of any trace of past wars and pain may be typical for a country that has not since 200<br />
years on its soil experienced such fearful destruction.<br />
In 2010, the Lithuanian InCulto’s own ‘Eastern European Funk’ only made it to the<br />
semifinal, but made an explicit symbolic statement on EU’s controversial expansion<br />
to the east, in stark contrast to the previously analysed song. Five boys in checkered<br />
brown trousers, white shirts and black ties, and playing with colourful plastic mock<br />
instruments, sang and danced on the stage (Figure 7.7). The music was a funky modern<br />
dance tune with a few Balkan brass elements lending it a mildly eastern sound. Let<br />
me quote the whole English lyrics, presenting a fresh perspective on unification seen<br />
from the ‘new’ part of the continent:<br />
You’ve seen it all before<br />
We ain’t got no taste we’re all a bore<br />
But you should give us chance<br />
Cause we’re just victims of circumstance<br />
We’ve had it pretty tough<br />
But that’s ok, we like it rough<br />
We’ll settle the score<br />
We survived the reds and two world wars<br />
Get up and dance to our Eastern European kinda funk!<br />
Yes Sir we are legal we are, though we are not as legal as you<br />
No Sir we’re not equal no, though we are both from the EU<br />
We build your homes and wash your dishes,<br />
Keep you your hands all soft and clean<br />
But one of these days you’ll realize Eastern Europe is in your genes<br />
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