"Främling" (; "Stranger") is a song recorded by Swedish singer

Carola Häggkvist Carola Maria Häggkvist (; born 8 September 1966), commonly known simply as Carola, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco ...

with music composed by

Lasse Holm Lars-Eric Gustav "Lasse" Holm (born 9 December 1943) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and television host. Holm has also hosted and appeared in several television shows. As singer Since childhood, he was interested in music and was a member of ...

, Swedish lyrics written by Monica Forsberg, and arranged by . It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1983 The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, West Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Nicole. Although this was Germany's first victory, 1983 was t ...

held in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, after winning the Melodifestivalen 1983.

Background

Conception

"Främling" was composed by

, with Swedish lyrics by Monica Forsberg, and was arranged by .

National Selection

"Främling" performed by a 16-year-old

competed in the 22nd edition of the

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; ) is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almo ...

, winning the competition. As this Melodifestivalen was organised by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

(SVT) to select its song and performer for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, the song became the , and Carola the performer, for Eurovision.

Kikki Danielsson Ann-Kristin "Kikki" Danielsson (born 10 May 1952) is a Swedish country music, country, dansband and pop singer. Sometimes, she also plays the accordion and she has also written some lyrics. She has gained notice for yodeling in some songs. Danie ...

was first asked to sing "Främling", but instead she chose " Varför är kärleken röd?", which finished second. In addition to the Swedish language original version, Carola recorded the song in English –as "Love Isn't Love" with lyrics by Stuart Slater–, German –as "Fremder"–, Dutch –as "Je ogen hebben geen geheimen"–, and in an English-Dutch-Swedish version.

Eurovision

On 23 April 1983, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the in

hosted by (BR) on behalf of ARD and broadcast live throughout the continent. Carloa performed "Främling" fourth on the evening, following the 's " I'm Never Giving Up" by Sweet Dreams, and preceding 's entry " Per Lucia" by

Riccardo Fogli Riccardo Fogli (born 21 October 1947) is an Italian singer-songwriter. Biography Early career Riccardo Fogli was born on 21 October 1947 in Pontedera. He was fond of music since his childhood and taught himself to play the electric bass guita ...

. Anders Ekdahl conducted the event's live orchestra in the performance of the Swedish entry. At the close of voting, it had received 126 points, placing third in a field of twenty.

Chart history

"Främling" became a huge hit in Scandinavia, charting in Finland, Norway and Sweden, peaking at number six, one and five, respectively.

Weekly charts

Legacy

* The Swedish heavy metal group Black Ingvars covered "Främling" on their 1998 album '' Schlager Metal''. * Finnish singer Meiju Suvas covered the song in Finnish, as "Muukalainen" (also translating as "stranger"). * The Norwegian free-jazz band

Farmers Market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

has covered "Främling" on several concerts, and on their 2008 album ''

Surfin' USSR "Surfin" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys that was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. It was released as the debut record by the Beach Boys (with "Luau" on the B-side) in November 1961 on Candix Records and was included on the O ...

''. Farmers Market often use unusual time signatures, and their version of Främling switch between 11/16, 15/16, 7/16 and 13/16. The live version usually also has four bars of 2/4.

References

{{Authority control 1983 singles 1983 songs Carola Häggkvist songs Eurovision songs of 1983 Eurovision songs of Sweden Mariann Grammofon singles Melodifestivalen songs of 1983 Number-one singles in Norway Song recordings produced by Lasse Holm Songs written by Lasse Holm Songs written by Monica Forsberg Songs in Swedish