Flying the Flag (for You)
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| “Flying the Flag (for You)” | |||||
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Natalie Powers (top left), Russ Spencer (bottom left), David Ducasse (top right), Caroline Barnes (bottom right)
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| Single by Scooch from the album Eurovision Song Contest 2007 |
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| Released | April 30, 2007 (digital download) May 7, 2007 (CD single) |
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| Format | Digital download, CD single | ||||
| Recorded | 2007 | ||||
| Genre | Bubblegum dance | ||||
| Length | 3:04 | ||||
| Label | Warner Bros. | ||||
| Writer(s) | Russ Spencer Morten Schjolin Andrew Hill Paul Tarry |
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| Scooch singles chronology | |||||
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| Audio sample | |||||
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 Flying the Flag (for You) |
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| Eurovision Song Contest 2007 entry | |||||
| Country | United Kingdom | ||||
| Artist(s) | Scooch | ||||
| Language | English | ||||
| Composer(s) | Andrew Hill, Morten Schjolin, Russ Spencer, Paul Tarry | ||||
| Lyricist(s) | Andrew Hill, Morten Schjolin, Russ Spencer, Paul Tarry | ||||
| Place | 23rd | ||||
| Points | 19 | ||||
| Lyrics | Lyrics | ||||
"Flying the Flag (for You)" is a song written by Russ Spencer, Morten Schjolin, Andrew Hill, and Paul Tarry[1] and performed by British pop/bubblegum dance group Scooch.
The song was entered into Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up in 2007, the British national pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, and represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. The song came 23rd with a total of 19 points, the same as France who finished 22nd[2]
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[edit] Song information
Scooch had reformed to hope to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, and the song was specifically written for the Contest (Eurovision rules state that the song must be an original composition.)[3] Russ, as the captain, opens and closes the song with captain's announcements. Natalie and Caroline sing the vocals of the song, as David offers passengers confectioneries. The lyrics are heavily based on actual experiences of flying.[4] The song contains a liberal amount of sexual innuendo[5], the most overt being "...and blow into the mouthpiece" and "Would you like something to suck on for landing, sir?" (the latter was omitted or changed for some tea-time television performances). The camp style was both praised and criticised - The Guardian noted that the song was, in terms of Eurovision, outdated and similar to Buck's Fizz's winning entry in 1981[5], while Tim Moore called the song "a fine song in Eurovision tradition".[6]
[edit] Music video
The original music video was just their final performance on Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up; Scooch recorded a new version once their contract with Warner Bros. had been signed.
Conforming to the lyrics, the second video starts with the quartet in the front of the aeroplane, with Spencer as the captain. The video continues with all of the members as stewards walking up and down the plane, with a cameo appearance from Sister Mary McArthur, who was invited to take part after the band saw her lip sync video. [7].
Later in the video each member of the band is seen dancing in front of the flags of selected countries that are all participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, in addition to the flag of the European Union.
[edit] "Flying the Flag" in Helsinki
.jpg/200px-ESC_2007_UK_Scooch_-_Flying_the_flag_(for_you).jpg)
"Flying the Flag (for You)" was the nineteenth song to be sung during the Eurovision Song Contest.[8]. The song scored only nineteen points: twelve from Malta, and seven from Ireland[2], two nations known for awarding points to the United Kingdom - although according to the Head of the Maltese Delegation, Malta voted twelve partly in protest to regional block voting which, had made the Contest "not about the songs any more"[9], an opinion shared by "five or six other countries". Due to the low score that Scooch had received (in fact, only Ireland were lower on the scoreboard[2]), the song received negative press by newspapers - in particular, The Sunday Mirror commented that the song made the United Kingdom "the laughing stock of Europe"[10], while The Sunday Times referred to the song as a "crash landing" (rather than a disaster).[10][11]
[edit] International promotion
On 18 April 2007 it was announced that Scooch had been signed to the Warner Bros. label[12]. This would help them to promote and release their single to a broader range of fans in the United Kingdom and abroad. As part of the contract, Scooch recorded certain phrases of the song in French, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, and Danish. [13]
[edit] Track listings and formats
- CD[14]
- "Flying The Flag (For You)" [Eurovision 2007 Version] (3:04)
- "Flying The Flag (For You)" [Karaoke Version] (3:04)
- DVD[15]
- "Flying The Flag (For You)" [Video]
- "How To" Special Scooch Dance Feature [Video]
- "Flying The Flag (For You)" [Karaoke Version] [Video]
- "Flying The Flag (For You)" [Audio]
[edit] Chart positions
The official single version was available from April 30, 2007[16] and was released as a physical CD single in the following week, on 7 May 2007.[14]
The song's peak position in the UK Top 40 was #5, on the first week of release. In the second week of the release, the song had the most physical sales of any song in the chart, effectively giving Scooch their first UK Number 1 on any of the UK charts. [17]
| Chart (2007) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom - Singles Chart | 5 |
| United Kingdom - Physical Sales Chart | 1 |
| United Kingdom - Downloads Chart | 17 |
| Irish - Singles Chart | 48 |
[edit] References
- ^ Passport of SCOOCH. European Broadcasting Union (eurovision.tv). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ a b c Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final Scoreboard. European Broadcasting Union (eurovision.tv) (2007-05-12). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest (PDF) p. 3. Retrieved on 2007-05-14. “The entries (lyrics and music) must not have been commercially released and/or publicly performed before 1 October 2006.”
- ^ Barry Viniker. "19. Flag reinterpreted for UK act.", 2007-05-08. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b "Assume crash position", The Guardian Online, 2007-03-20. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ Tim Moore. ""The worst show in living memory."", BBC News, 2007-05-13. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ Barry Viniker. "Scooch: The new video... & that nun again.", 2007-04-27. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ^ Eurovision Song Contest Final Participants (in running order). European Broadcasting Union (eurovision.tv). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ "Malta slates Eurovision's voting", BBC News, 2007-05-13. Retrieved on 2007-05-14.
- ^ a b "Papers bemoan UK Eurovision score", BBC News, 2007-05-13. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ Brendan Bourne. "UK's Scooch nosedive at Eurovision", The Times Online, 2007-05-13. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ Barry Viniker. "Exclusive: Warner Bros sign Scooch, single out May 7th.", 2007-04-18. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ^ Barry Viniker. "Exclusive: 5 language versions for Scooch", 2007-04-20. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
- ^ a b HMV.co.uk singles: Flying the Flag (For You) (CD). HMV.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ HMV.co.uk singles: Flying the Flag (For You) (DVD). HMV.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ iTunes Store - Scooch - Flying the Flag (for You) single (requires iTunes) (2007-04-30). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ Barry Viniker. "UK: The new Sweden?", 2007-05-17. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
| Preceded by Teenage Life |
UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 |
Succeeded by Even If |
