May 8, 2006

Music : Gunnar Wiklund goes German


Many Swedish artists managed to expand their otherwise, from linguistic reasons, limited market by singing in German. Swedish singer/actress Zarah Leander became a big star in Germany already in the 30s and 40s (which caused problems for her after WWII). Later on, in the 50s and 60s, for instance Siw Malmqvist made the German charts and Swedish dansbands like Vikingarna (die Wikinger) are still popular in Germany.













Gunnar Wiklund was a big Swedish singer in the late 50s and 60s and he evidently also made German "musical ads" like this recording of Du bist schön wie der Sonnenschein (You Are Beautiful Like The Sunshine) which promotes shoes from Servas Schuhfabriken. At least his recording was used for this purpose. The nice song is overdubbed in a kind of funny way by the commercial speaker voice promoting the shoes. The song goes (in German) "...tell me when you'll have time for me" and then the speaker goes "...and time to buy Servas shoes!"


Link: The Record Robot: This One's Got Sole