Anthem - Intellect

Signifying Europe
song is in a way in line with the EU motto as well as the social democratic ‘People’s
Home’ ideology, where there is room for ‘everyone’. The distance is actually not that
great from the Europe anthem, except that the moment of high culture elevation is
totally absent. However, a slight hint of the elevation theme may be heard in the talk of
a party going on to which only true Europeans are invited. Like some of the other songs
mentioned above, ‘I Love Europe’ can be heard as an example of how the European
motto of ‘united in diversity’ has been illustrated, while the desire of the Europa myth
has here been transformed to just pure happiness, and the diversity factor reduced to
highly superficial aspects of style, instead emphasising the natural unity in terms of
being ‘one big family’. With his deep voice and firm body, Christer Sjögren is like the
Zeus bull enjoying the company of the smiling nymphs, and the falling out of the flags
could then signify the dislocation resulting in the establishing of Europe. The absence
of any trace of past wars and pain may be typical for a country that has not since 200
years on its soil experienced such fearful destruction.
In 2010, the Lithuanian InCulto’s own ‘Eastern European Funk’ only made it to the
semifinal, but made an explicit symbolic statement on EU’s controversial expansion
to the east, in stark contrast to the previously analysed song. Five boys in checkered
brown trousers, white shirts and black ties, and playing with colourful plastic mock
instruments, sang and danced on the stage (Figure 7.7). The music was a funky modern
dance tune with a few Balkan brass elements lending it a mildly eastern sound. Let
me quote the whole English lyrics, presenting a fresh perspective on unification seen
from the ‘new’ part of the continent:
You’ve seen it all before
We ain’t got no taste we’re all a bore
But you should give us chance
Cause we’re just victims of circumstance
We’ve had it pretty tough
But that’s ok, we like it rough
We’ll settle the score
We survived the reds and two world wars
Get up and dance to our Eastern European kinda funk!
Yes Sir we are legal we are, though we are not as legal as you
No Sir we’re not equal no, though we are both from the EU
We build your homes and wash your dishes,
Keep you your hands all soft and clean
But one of these days you’ll realize Eastern Europe is in your genes
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