"We Are the Winners" was the entry into the

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

, sung by Lithuanian all-star group LT United, consisting of

Andrius Mamontovas Andrius Mamontovas (born 23 August 1967) is a Lithuanian rock musician. He is also a songwriter, actor, performer and record producer. He was one of the co-founders of the Lithuanian rock band Foje and the initiator of the LT United project. Pe ...

, Marijonas Mikutavičius, Viktoras Diawara, Saulius Urbonavičius, Arnoldas Lukošius and Eimantas Belickas.

Composition

The song, thematically reminiscent of Queen's " We Are the Champions", is a cheery tongue-in-cheek celebration of their supposedly inevitable victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in the form of a football chant, with the chorus repeating "We are the winners of Eurovision / We are, we are! ..So, you gotta vote, vote, vote for the winners!".

Eurovision Song Contest

National final

Lithuania’s entry for the 2006 contest was chosen in a national final held by

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

broadcaster LRT. Before the final, four newcomer qualifying heats and three semi-finals were held to select the 16 finalists. "We Are The Winners" skipped the newcomer qualifying heats and moved directly to the semi-finals. The song would compete in the third semi-final on 25 February 2006. It would be one of four qualifiers, earning first in the semi-final by a wide margin. The final was held on 4 March 2006, with the winner being decided by the way of televoting. The song would win with 32,669 votes, over 16,000 more than second place. As a result, the song would go on to represent Lithuania in the

At Eurovision

"We Are The Winners" was one of the few Eurovision songs to get

booed Booing is an act of publicly showing displeasure for someone or something, such as an entertainer or an athlete, by loudly yelling "Boo!" and sustaining the "oo" sound by holding it out. People may also make hand signs such as the thumbs down sig ...

. As Lithuania had not qualified for the final at the 2005 contest, the song was first performed in the semi-final. In the semi-final, it was performed 18th, following the '

Treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

with " Amambanda" and preceding 's Nonstop with " Coisas de nada". At the close of voting, it had received 163 points, placing 5th in the 23-strong field and qualifying Lithuania for the final. In the final, the song was performed 14th, following 's Hari Mata Hari with " Lejla" and preceding the 's Daz Sampson with "

Teenage Life "Teenage Life" was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, which was sung by Daz Sampson in English. On 4 March 2006, Sampson had won the BBC show ''Making Your Mind Up'' with the song "Teenage Life", which was written and produced with ...

". At the close of voting, it had received 162 points, placing 6th in a field of 24 and giving Lithuania an automatic final berth at the next Contest. Its best points haul was from both the United Kingdom and from . At the after show press conference, winners Lordi sang the chorus of "We Are The Winners" as they entered. To date, the entry's final position of 6th is the highest-ranking entry for Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest.

World Cup cover

Perhaps fittingly for a football chant-style song, LT United also recorded a version for the

2006 Football World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

with slightly altered lyrics ("we are the winners / are you with us", for example). This recording appeared to be intended for any team to adopt, since Lithuania did not qualify for the finals of World Cup 2006. The refrain of the song was performed live by Robbie Williams during his show in

King Baudouin Stadium The King Baudouin Stadium (french: Stade Roi Baudouin , nl, Koning Boudewijnstadion ) is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. Located in the Heysel district of the City of Brussels, it was built to embellish the Heysel Plateau in v ...

, Brussels on June 13, 2006.R.Williamsas dainavo „We are the winners“
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Charts and reception

In Lithuania, "We Are the Winners" was released as a CD single on 7 June 2006 through the M.P.3 record label and became the fastest selling CD single in years. On 21 June, it was certified gold (passing 3000 units of CD sales) and on 1 August it was certified platinum (reaching 5000 units of CD sales). It became the first platinum single in Lithuania in four years.

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2006 2006 songs Eurovision songs of 2006 Eurovision songs of Lithuania