"You and Me" is a song recorded by Swiss group

Takasa Takasa was a Swiss musical group that represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The group consisted of six Salvation Army soldiers. Career Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The band, originally named "Heil ...

, a band composed of six members of the Swiss Salvation Army. Written and produced by Georg Schlunegger for HitMill Records, the song competed in the Swiss national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...

, ''

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicond ...

''. After winning the selection organized by

Schweizer Fernsehen Schweizer Fernsehen (SF; "Swiss Television") is the German-language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in Switzerland for German-speaking Switzerland. It has its head office in Zürich.

, the German language division of the Swiss public broadcasting organization, on 15 December 2012 the song also won the national final, beating the remaining eight finalists. The song's win has therefore qualified it to represent Switzerland at the 58th Annual Eurovision Song Contest in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, Sweden. The band, known as Heilsarmee outside the contest, agreed to compete with a new name to gain acceptance by the contest, which does not allow any religious or political references in its entries or their songs. "You and Me" is a Pop Rock song with lyrics involving love and empowerment. It was be a part of the contest's second semi final, which was held on May 16.

Background

In 2012, the Swiss Salvation Army started considering the idea to participate in the national selection of

. According to the project manager of the Salvation Army, Martin Künzi, competing in the Eurovision Song Contest was initially "just a crazy idea", but it was well received by many "enthusiastic supporters" within the Christian movement. The owner of the recording company HitMill, Roman Camenzinds, partnered with the Salvation Army to conduct the project. An internal casting was therefore held among the members of the Salvation Army, resulting in the selection of the six musicians of the band, named Heilsarmee. The members of the band — Emil Ramsauer, Michael Sterckx, Katharina Hauri, Christoph Jakob, Sarah Breiter, Jonas Gygax — are amateur musicians between 20 and 94 years old. Ramsauer at 94 is the oldest ever Eurovison contestant, beating the record set in previous year by Natalya Pugacheva, one of the members of the Russian band

Buranovskiye Babushki Buranovskiye Babushki (russian: Бурановские бабушки, ; udm, Брангуртысь песянайёс, Brangurtyś pesänajos; both meaning "Buranovo Grannies") is an Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly wo ...

. In early October 2012, it was announced that, after recording the song, Heilsarmee had submitted it to the SF regional selection through the official website of the German-language Swiss television. On 12 November 2012 the song was admitted the national final, after a voting process combining internet televotes and points awarded by a jury of industry experts. On 15 December 2012, "You and Me" was therefore performed during ''

''. Heilsarmee's entry was the most voted song, thus beating the remaining eight contestants and being chosen to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in

, Sweden. The selection of the song received some criticisms by German entertainer and LGBT rights activist

Hella von Sinnen Hella Kemper (born 2 February 1959), known by her stage name Hella von Sinnen (lit. ''Hella out of her mind'', making pun of the aristocratic "von"), is a German entertainer and television presenter. She has been a regular on several TV shows o ...

. According to von Sinnen, since the Salvation Army is a strict Christian organization with conservative opinions about LGBT rights, this could represent an obstacle for Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, which has a strong gay and lesbian fanbase.

Track list

* Digital download # "You and Me" – 2:54

Personnel

* Takasa ** Emil Ramsauer –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

** Michael Sterckx –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

** Katharina Hauri – drum,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

** Christoph Jakob – lead vocals,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

** Sarah Breiter – vocals ** Jonas Gygax – electric guitar

Chart performance

Release history

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2013 2012 singles Eurovision songs of 2013 Eurovision songs of Switzerland English-language Swiss songs 2012 songs