In 2005, the brothers returned to the Danish national final with "Little Yellow Radio", but had to settle for second place behind Jakob Sveistrup.
The Olsen Brothers (Danish: Brødrene Olsen) are a Danish rock/pop music duo, and are brothers Jørgen (born March 15, 1950) and "Noller" (Niels, born April 13, 1954) Olsen. They formed their first band, The Kids, in 1965. The Kids warmed up for The Kinks in the K.B. Hallen in 1965 and released their first single in 1967.
Both Jørgen and Niels Olsen participated in the musical Hair in the Cirkusbygningen in Copenhagen March 1971, and went on tour afterwards through Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
The Olsen Brothers' first album came out in 1972. To date they have released 12 albums.
Their big hit singles include "Angelina" (1972), "Julie" (1977), "San Francisco" (1978), "Dans Dans Dans" (1979), "Marie, Marie" (1982) and "Neon Madonna" (1985).
After having won the annual Dansk Melodi Grand Prix song competition in 2000 in Copenhagen they went on to represent Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 in Stockholm, where they stormed to a landslide victory with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" (translated from the Danish Smuk som et Stjerneskud (literally translated, "Beautiful as a Shooting Star"). At one stage, they sold 100,000 copies in one day, in Denmark.
They opened the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen with a short reprise of their winning song from the previous year, followed by a full performance of their new release "Walk Right Back".
In 2005 for the first time since their victory, they re-entered the Danish Melodi Grand Prix, the national pre-selection for the Eurovision contest, with the song "Little Yellow Radio". It was widely reported that they hoped to repeat their triumph; however this time they had to settle for second place, finishing behind Jakob Sveistrup, a student teacher from Odense and former finalist on Danish television's talent competition Stjerne for en aften ("Star for a Night").
Their song Fly on the Wings of Love was nominated as one of the 14 finalists for the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, at which they also performed.
Eurovision Song Contest 2000 - Stockholm
Entry for Denmark
Performer: Olsen brothers
Song title: Fly On The Wings Of Love
Song writer(s):
Song composer(s): Jørgen Olsen
Sang in Position: 14
Final Position: 1
Total Points: 195
25 participating countries were intended for the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, but Greece decided not to participate, so only 24 took part as the European Broadcasting Union did not find a replacement in time for the last spot. Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina were not allowed to take part due to their bad average scores. Latvia made its debut this year, and the entry My Star performed by the group Brainstorm did really well, finishing in third position. Estonia finished fourth with Ines' Once In A Lifetime which was the bookmaker's favourite. Internet polls also had the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as favourites but these countries only finished 16th and 13th respectively.
13,000 spectators were at the final in the Globen Arena in Stockholm, which was a new record. This record did not last long, though. Already at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen 2001, the record was exceeded. The Israeli participants caused a stir when members of the group Ping Pong started waving the Syrian flag during their performance. The Netherlands had to use a back-up jury for their votes because of a large fireworks disaster in the city of Enschede, which meant that only half of the song contest was aired live on Dutch television.
About the winner
Despite the fact that Denmark's song Fly On The Wings Of Love by the Olsen Brothers climbed in the predicted rankings in the week prior to the final, the Scandinavian country was only thought to finish in 18th position. Therefore it came as a huge surprise for many that the charming Olsen Brothers won - and with a large margin to the runner-up, Russia. Fly on the wings of love went on to become a huge hit in Scandinavia and the German-speaking countries. The Russian delegation petitioned the disqualification of the winner, Denmark, because a vocoder had been used to give one of the performers in the Danish duo, Jørgen Olsen, an electronic sound to his voice during one part of their performance.
Facts & figures
For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, an official CD was released which included all 24 songs. Since then, CDs with all entries have been released every year.
Neon Madonna
Olsen Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The scene is hot for a midnight plot,
Stretches her feelers at brakers and reelers,
The walls close in and the game begins,
Computer Theresa, just wait till you see her.
She's a neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Green champagne flows like rain,
She's a Neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Synthesize, laser eyes,
And digital heart.
She showed him his input and picked his output,
A cold repeat of a voice so sweet,
And echo of danger a limited stranger,
From audio into video,
Computer Theresa, just wait till you see her.
She's a neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Green champagne flows like rain,
And sequencers starts,
She's a Neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Synthesize, laser eyes,
And digital heart.
She's a neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Green champagne flows like rain,
And sequencers starts,
She's a Neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
Synthesize, laser eyes,
And digital heart.
The lyrics of Olsen Brothers' song "Neon Madonna" are full of vivid imagery and metaphorical language. The song appears to be about a highly seductive and enigmatic woman named Computer Theresa, who is described as a "neon Madonna." She drinks cappuccino at Café Flamingo, and the scene is hot for a midnight plot. This sets the tone for a dangerous and secretive encounter, where she stretches her feelers at brakers and reelers, while the walls close in and the game begins.
The chorus repeats the phrase "She's a neon Madonna" over and over again, with descriptions of her attributes. The green champagne flows like rain, sequencers start up, and she has laser eyes and a digital heart. The lyrics seem to suggest that Computer Theresa is a highly advanced and artificial being, with an underlying danger lurking beneath her alluring facade. She shows the singer his input and picks his output, and her voice is sweet but cold and repetitive. The song concludes with a warning to "just wait till you see her" - implying that there could be some sort of reckoning or downfall.
Line by Line Meaning
She drinks cappuccino at Café Flamingo,
She enjoys drinking cappuccino at a popular café called Café Flamingo.
The scene is hot for a midnight plot,
The atmosphere is charged with excitement in anticipation of something happening late at night.
Stretches her feelers at brakers and reelers,
She extends herself towards people who frequent nightclubs and bars.
The walls close in and the game begins,
As people start crowding in, a sense of competition and excitement is aroused.
Computer Theresa, just wait till you see her.
Theresa is a woman who is very skilled in the use of computers.
She's a neon Madonna oh Neon Madonna,
She's a woman who is like a neon version of Madonna - a famous musician and trendsetter.
Green champagne flows like rain,
Green-colored champagne is flowing abundantly.
And sequencers starts,
The music sequencers are activated.
Synthesize, laser eyes,
She has the ability to synthesize music and has eyes that seem to emit laser beams.
And digital heart.
She has an advanced and sophisticated heart-like technology.
She showed him his input and picked his output,
She demonstrated to him the way he input information, and then analyzed and returned to him the output.
A cold repeat of a voice so sweet,
She repeated the information he input back to him in a pleasant but unemotional way.
And echo of danger a limited stranger,
A feeling of danger and a sense of unfamiliarity are reflected in her voice.
From audio into video,
She has the ability to transform sound into moving and still images.
Contributed by Jacob I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.