At number 43 on the Eurovision Top 100 list, we once again say hej to Sweden with their 1968 song, “Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej.”
You may have noticed in our main Top 100 article that we said Sweden has nine songs on the list. This is only the third of those songs. That should tell you that Sweden, while not having the most songs on the list, has a high density of them near the top. Seven are in the top 50, and five are in the top 25. That’s how you know your country has figured out how to Eurovision, so to speak.
As for this song, from the first listen-through of all the Eurovision songs to the most recent one, we have loved it every time. It may not stand out to you as an iconic Swedish entry, but for us, it was Sweden’s best pre-ABBA effort. This came in 1968, which is one of our favorite contests.
Vital Information: “Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej”
| Song | Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej |
| English Translation | It’s starting to look like love, I’ll be damned |
| Performed By | Claes-Göran Hederström |
| Written By | Peter Himmelstrand |
| Country | Sweden |
| Year | 1968 |
| Language(s) Performed In | Swedish |
| How It Fared | 5th Place (15 Points) |
| Was It Fair? | About two spots too low |
What I Liked
As soon as he started getting down when the music started, you knew we were in for a good one. This song was fun, extremely catchy, and made you want to learn Swedish so you could sing along to it. Yes, there are karaoke versions of this song out there – I’ve checked.
Claes-Göran did a good job singing, sure, but did I mention this song is catchy? For what is an obvious composition of 60s pop, this aged quite well.
Other Facts
- Claes-Göran performed this song around Sweden many times over the years following his Eurovision appearance. There was also an English-language version called “My Time Has Come.”
- This was Sweden’s third top-five finish to this point. Sweden got its best scores from Ireland and neighboring Norway.
- Sweden went eighth out of 17 songs in the running order in 1968.
- Claes-Göran passed away in 2022.
Show Some Love to “Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mej”
The contest uploaded the video to YouTube.
