"Bring Me Edelweiss" is a song by Austrian band
Edelweiss
EDELWEISS (Expérience pour DEtecter Les WIMPs En Site Souterrain) is a dark matter search experiment located at the Modane Underground Laboratory in France. The experiment uses cryogenic detectors, measuring both the phonon and ionization signal ...
, first released in late 1988 as a stand-alone single, then later included on their debut album ''Wonderful World of Edelweiss''. The song was a hit in Europe and New Zealand, reaching the number-one position in six countries and peaking within the top five on several other music charts, going on to sell over five million copies worldwide. The song contains numerous samples from other artists and features
yodeling
Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...
.
Origin and content
In 1988, British electronic band
the Timelords (better known as the KLF) scored a number-one hit in the United Kingdom and New Zealand with the novelty song "
Doctorin' the Tardis
"Doctorin' the Tardis" is a 1988 electronic Novelty record, novelty pop Single (music), single by the Timelords ("Time Boy" and "Lord Rock", aliases of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as The KLF). The song is predominantly a Mashup (m ...
", which samples a number of songs, including
Gary Glitter's "
Rock and Roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
" and
The Sweet
The Sweet (often shortened to just Sweet), are a British glam rock band that rose to prominence in the 1970s. Their best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer M ...
's "
Block Buster!
"Block Buster!" (also sometimes listed as "Blockbuster!") is a 1973 single by Sweet. Written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and produced by Phil Wainman, "Block Buster!" was the band's sole UK No. 1 hit. Released in January 1973, it spent five ...
". As a result of the song's success, the band published a book entitled ''
The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way)''. Written by members
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...
and
Jimmy Cauty, the book instructed—as a joke—how to earn a number-one hit without much work. One instruction, "Compose your music with bits you've nicked from other songs",
was supposedly followed by Edelweiss, allowing them to compose "Bring Me Edelweiss."
The song features many samples. The primary sample, which the song's chorus is based on, is
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group ...
's 1975 song "
SOS". ABBA usually do not allow other artists to sample their music, and they claimed Edelweiss never contacted them and never had permission to sample "SOS".
[ However, members of the band claim that they managed to get one of ABBA's publishers to provide them with a contract during a drunken phone call in broken English. Other samples in the song include the 'Ow!'s from " Rock Me Amadeus" by fellow Austrian musician Falco, sections of ]Indeep
Indeep was a 1980s New York-based group that was best known for its song " Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life".
Career
The group was led by its songwriter-musician Michael Cleveland, and it was known for employing a strong disco-esque bass line a ...
's 1983 song " Last Night a DJ Saved My Life", and the 'Ah yeah' from Run-DMC's "Here We Go (Live at the Funhouse)".Yodeling
Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...
is also common throughout the song, and the female vocals are provided by Austrian singer .
Jason Roth of NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
described the song's music video as "a cleavage-soaked Alpine fever dream".
Track listings
European 7-inch single
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
References
External links
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1988 songs
1988 debut singles
English-language Austrian songs
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Denmark
Number-one singles in Finland
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Sweden
Number-one singles in Switzerland
Songs about flowers
Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus
Songs written by Stig Anderson