Hungary HUNGARY 2014 - András Kállay-Saunders - Running

[Knubelznarm]

Furthermore it's a synth driven pop song. The lyrics feel utterly out of place. It's like they are there to give the song some "edge" or something. I dare say it almost trivialises the subject matter.

Not only that.. they are also a wee bit banal? It's a very uninteresting song in my opinion, so it can be "quality" all it wants, I still don't get the praise.

 

[i anixi]

The lyrics feel utterly out of place.

That's exactly what I feel and meant to tell but failed to express!

 

[Mrm]

Lyrics of "Mamo" were very touching in 2009 but almost nobody have noticed them..

 

[RainyWoods]

Not only that.. they are also a wee bit banal? It's a very uninteresting song in my opinion, so it can be "quality" all it wants, I still don't get the praise.

Yeah you're right, the lyrics are a bit banal. They could address the subject matter in more of a subtle way without spelling it all out to the listener. That would be the tasteful way of doing a song like this.


Can anyone give any insight into the story behind the lyrics? Did Andras write this himself? I'd be interested to know how the song came about. If it's through personal events then I could at least understand it's creation a bit more.

 

[Joni]

Suus was also very sad song but that was not a problem because nobody understood the lyrics... here it's different, this song might be too dark to people.

 

[RainyWoods]

That's exactly what I feel and meant to tell but failed to express!

Yeah, it just doesn't connect with the music. I mean, i've listened to some pretty dark songs before and the music and the lyrics are one. In this case we have a cool pop song with lyrics about wife beating and pedophiles. People will be listening to this song and enjoying it, not realising it's actually incredibly dark.

 

[Sean]

A strange juxtaposition of lyric and music but I like this Reminds me a little bit of Compact Disco in the way it's sang so I guess Hungary just really like this kind of song Good luck!

 

[Matt]

I believe that the majority of people will be just fine with it, maybe a few people will find it off-putting (which would be a shame) but the juries will most likely make up for that loss. I mean people don't really pay that close attention to lyrics anyway. Rememember Boney M "Rivers of Babylon"? That's one depressing song but the melody is cheerful so we all sing a long and feel good about ourselves. Even though it's basically about slavery.

 

[i anixi]

Someone IS talking about it, obviously...and it IS a song, just like any other song. Artists aren't supposed to fix whatever is wrong with the world. Artists are just narrators unless they describe their personal story...and even then sometimes they do it in the 3rd person.
As for the staging, well, I don't see anything wrong with it...which part do you mean should be shunned??

You misundertand me, the staging is harmless as it is. It's just that as people were suggesting changes I added that should the staging be as crude as the lyrics are then prime time tv would be quite out of the question

Singing in the 3rd person makes it also a bit weird as we're more often used to songs where the artists talk about their own feelings and experiences, however fictionalized. However, third person is of course not unprecedented no doubt.

In this case you don't really get to know which part the singer takes in this drama, a neighbour, maybe, the police... It doesn't really matter, but thing is, no solution or "happy endind" is expressed in the lyrics.
The whole thing feels very out of place indeed and well... could cheap be the word?

 

[Mrm]

The same goes for Vaya con Dios - "Puerto Rico"..

 

[RainyWoods]

Suus was also very sad song but that was not a problem because nobody understood the lyrics... here it's different, this song might be too dark to people.

"Suus" was obviously very dark. You only had to witness Rona's interpretation of it to know the song came from a dark place. Rona's song was done very tastefully though. We still don't know what made Rona feel such despair, it was beautifully worded but nothing was spoon fed to us. "Birds" was also a dark song that I remember people got very upset over when they saw the video and actually started to put the pieces together, that it was a song about suicide.

All you have to do with "Running" is listen to the lyrics to know what it's about. It's too full on and not done very well or tastefully.. plus the lyrics have absolutely no connection to the music or the atmosphere of the song.

 

[Knubelznarm]

The whole thing feels very out of place indeed and well... could cheap be the word?

I would say so. I mean, this was his song from last year...

I find it hard to believe him going from that to a song about domestic violence.. It seems forced to me and yes.. cheap.

 

[toinou03]

This is actually a horror story told in the 3rd person about a a very sensitive theme that shouldn't be treated lightly like it's just any other song. And the point is that exactly: nobody was talking about it. People are mostly just discussing small litle details of staging and stuff.
Well, if staging is actually supposed to have any relation to the meaning of the song, this act (and the whole esc show consequently) would have to be shunned from prime time tv!

Well, we did nearly the same with "La Source" in 1968...

BtW, the story reminds me this one

Well I find it great that Eurovision can provide songs with TEXTS and MEANINGS. And not only Youpi Tralala I love you You love me and crap... In we love songs that tell a story.

 

[i anixi]

"Suus" was obviously very dark. You only had to witness Rona's interpretation of it to know the song came from a dark place. Rona's song was done very tastefully though. We still don't know what made Rona feel such despair, it was beautifully worded but nothing was spoon fed to us. "Birds" was also a dark song that I remember people got very upset over when they saw the video and actually started to put the pieces together, that it was a song about suicide.

All you have to do with "Running" is listen to the lyrics to know what it's about. It's too full on and not done very well or tastefully.. plus the lyrics have absolutely no connection to the music or the atmosphere of the song.

I always felt Suus must be about losing your own child or your life partner although I somehow knew it wasn't. Singing about heartbreaking things is not of course the problem, it has been done many times to great success. It's just that if you are going to sing about something terrible you'll have to find a song to cope with it and this just doesn't do it.

Strange Fuit is an example of a song bearing a horrific theme (slave's hanging) brillliiantly matching its tragic, deathly cadence. And yet the horrendous meaning is hidden in beautiful ironic poetry:

This was forbidden in America for some time anyway, long ago.

 

[Odalis]

I agree that the lyrics are way too "in your face", it feels uncofortable to read them, if only they could change that? I mean, they can but will they?

 

[Mrm]

I love "Songbird" lyrics in 2014 MF!

 

[balizeg]

András wrote the song himself, he is talking about it in this video interview (at around 2:20)

 

[busybee]

If this song is cheap, I really wonder what people think about the other songs that have been chosen so far...LOL

 

[toinou03]

I always felt Suus must be about losing your own child or your life partner although I somehow knew it wasn't. Singing about heartbreaking things is not of course the problem, it has been done many times to great success. It's just that if you are going to sing about something terrible you'll have to find a song to cope with it and this just doesn't do it.

I thought Rona's song expressed war in Kosova. I've got many pupils in my school who come from Kosovo, and their innoncence has been shot down, and they have the same expression in their souls...

 

[busybee]

András wrote the song himself, he is talking about it in this video interview (at around 2:20)

Thank you so much for this video.
Andras sounds like a great guy...and I did have a feeling that the song was based on a true story.