"Satellit" (), known in English as "Satellite", is a soft rock song written by Swedish composer and singer

Ted Gärdestad Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad (; 18 February 195622 June 1997) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, musician and actor known internationally as Ted. Gärdestad began his acting career in 1966 and began playing music in 1971, signing with Polar Music. Ass ...

and lyricist

Kenneth Gärdestad John Charles Kenneth Gärdestad (9 May 1948 – 3 March 2018) was a Swedish songwriter, best known for writing lyrics for the songs of his brother, Ted Gärdestad. He participated at Melodifestivalen 1979 as a songwriter for the winning song "S ...

. Originally performed by Ted, the song was performed in its native language as the entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the Euro ...

, finishing in 17th place.

Background

Ted Gärdestad produced his first four albums together with

Benny Andersson Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...

and

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

, which featured backing vocals by

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse "Agnetha" Fältskog (; born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and a former member of the pop group ABBA. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 Agnetha Fältskog (album), self-titled debut alb ...

and

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad (born 15 November 1945), also known simply as Frida, is a Swedish singer who is best known as one of the founding members and lead singers of the pop band ABBA. Courtesy titles ''Principality of Reuss-Gera, Princess Re ...

, and were released on the record label

Polar Polar may refer to: Geography * Geographical pole, either of the two points on Earth where its axis of rotation intersects its surface ** Polar climate, the climate common in polar regions ** Polar regions of Earth, locations within the polar circ ...

. Ted, along with his elder brother and lyricist

Kenneth Kenneth is a given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

, had previously competed in

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 ...

, the Swedish pre-selections, three times before winning; in 1973 with "Oh, vilken härlig dag", finishing in fourth place, in 1975 with "Rockin' 'n' Reelin'", finishing in seventh place, and in 1977 when he and brother Kenneth wrote Lena Andersson's entry "Det bästa som finns", which finished in eighth place.

Song production

The midtempo rock track, originally composed with English lyrics, has a chorus that starts with "I feel like a satellite, high in the sky, and now I understand how small the world really is" and the verses include phrases like "just like the earth and the moon we're attracted to each other" and "when the sun sets I really need your warmth". The song, arranged and produced by guitarist

Janne Schaffer Jan Erik Tage "Janne" Schaffer (born 24 September 1945) is a Swedish songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as a session guitarist for ABBA but he has also recorded with artists such as Bob Marley, Johnny Nash, Art Farmer and To ...

, features a guitar and bass riff influenced by Toto's 1978 hit "

Hold the Line "Hold the Line" is a song included by American rock band Toto on its 1978 eponymous debut studio album. It was written by the band's keyboardist David Paich, and lead vocals were performed by Bobby Kimball. "Hold the Line" was released by ...

". During a recording session in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California for Gärdestad's 1978 studio album ''

Blue Virgin Isles ''Blue Virgin Isles'' is the fifth studio album and international debut album by Swedish singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released in November 1978 by Epic Records in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia. Background Recording The ''Blue Virgin ...

'', four of the band members,

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

David Hungate David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American retired bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his ...

and

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

were present in the session when Janne Schaffer heard the quartet experiment with the riffs that would evolve into "Hold the Line". Schaffer was inspired by the session, which led to his arrangement for Gärdestad's song "Satellit". Due to the perceived similarities between "Satellit" and "Hold the Line", Gärdestad's song caused disputes over the qualification for the Eurovision Song Contest. In February 1979, during an ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'' interview with Jeff Porcaro, Porcaro denied the notion of Gärdestad's song being a rip-off of "Hold the Line": "No, it's not a rip-off, Ted did not steal our song. Those piano

triplets A multiple birth is the culmination of a multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such births ...

and that bass and guitar line go back to the 1950s and the fact that we both have happened to use variations on the same theme in our songs right now is purely coincidental. Both the English language and the Swedish language versions of "Satellit" were recorded at

Polar Studios Polar Studios was a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, which operated from 1978 through 2004. The studio was formed by ABBA musicians Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and the band's manager Stig Anderson, owner of the Polar Music recording l ...

, Stockholm in 1979. The English-language version of the track, "Satellite", was included on subsequent editions of the album, which was issued in both Europe,

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

and Japan.

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes of 1979 Epic Records reissue of Blue Virgin Isles. *

– lead vocals, backing vocals, producer * Stefan Nilsson – piano, keyboards *

– guitars, producer, arranger * Mike Watson – bass guitar * Roger Palm – drums, percussion *

Malando Gassama Malando Gassama (born Malang Omar Gassam; 7 February 1946 – 25 January 1999) was a Gambian percussionist who spent most of his music career in Sweden. He recorded and performed with many notable Swedish and international artists such as AB ...

– percussion * Lars Samuelsson – string arrangement * Rose-Marie Gröning – backing vocals * Liza Öhman – backing vocals * Diana Nunez – backing vocals * Lennart Sjöholm – backing vocals * Peter Lundblad – backing vocals

Eurovision performance

The song was performed as entry number fifteen on the night, following ' Xandra with "

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

" and preceding 's

Anita Skorgan Anita Skorgan (born 13 November 1958) is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest in (14th), (11th) and with Jan Teigen in (12th). She was also a backing singer at the and contests, and co-wrote t ...

with "

Oliver Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver ...

". At the close of voting, it had received 8 points, placing it 17th in a field of 19, making it Sweden's second lowest placing in the contest at that point in time. Despite this the song counts as one of Gärdestad's signature tunes, the Swedish version of the song was a Top 10 hit on the singles chart and it also spent two weeks on the

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

radio chart. ille Wendt: ''Topplistan - The Official Swedish Single & Album Charts'', Premium Förlag, /ref>

Aftermath

Gärdestad returned to Melodifestivalen the following year with "Låt solen värma dig" ("Let The Sun Warm You"), sung as a duet with then girlfriend Annica Boller. The song finished fifth in the pre-selections and "Satellit" was succeeded as Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest at the 1980 contest by

Tomas Ledin Tomas Folke Jonas Ledin (; born 25 February 1952) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He grew up in the town of Sandviken, Sweden and has sold 3 million records. Career Tomas Ledin started his career in 1972 when ...

with " Just nu!". An English language solo version of "Låt solen värma dig", entitled "Let The Sun Shine Through", was included on Gärdestad's second international album '' I'd Rather Write a Symphony'' and a Swedish solo version on 1981's '' Stormvarning''.

Charts

Sources

Citations

{{Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision songs of 1979 Melodifestivalen songs of 1979 Eurovision songs of Sweden Ted Gärdestad songs Songs in Swedish 1979 songs Polar Music singles 1979 singles Songs about outer space Songs written by Ted Gärdestad