A song which has stuck in our collective conscience and continues to find new listeners, despite the fact that trends, times and tunes have changed so many times since the very first time it was modern and "in". Just what is it that makes some songs remain with us - generation after generation?
Joint frame of reference
The Danish Canon Committee has collected 12 individual evergreens with a 37-year gap between the oldest and the newest. All 12 are songs capable of bringing people together despite their differences, songs that have become a joint frame of reference for all Danes.
Who can't sing along with such classic numbers as "Two Candles on a Table" ("To Lys Paa Et Bord"), "As Long As I Live" ("Saa Laenge Jeg Lever") and "Call it Love" ("Kald det Kaerlighed")? These are all songs which express basic, eternally valid feelings, being at the same time utterly straightforward and tuneful. Folksy, simply. Not that there isn't room for ambivalence.
In the song "Denmark" ("Danmark") the Shu-Bi-Dua group sings: "Other people exist who aren't Danes/they live in caves and fight all day long." Is this a tribute to the homeland? Or can it be seen perhaps as a reference to Danish self-sufficiency?
Modern technology
The various songs also tell a lot about the times they were written in. The difference in text, composition and performance can be clearly heard when listening for example to Sven Gyldmark and Erik Leth's "Are you a Friend of the Birds in the Sky" ("Er Du Dus Med Himlens Fugle") and the Gnags' "Under the Beech Tree" ("Under Boegen"). A quarter of a century separates the two songs, but they have both nonetheless proved their durability. New evergreens are born every year, but the old ones are still remembered. Or else you can use modern technology to keep them alive.
The contemporary Outlandish group has also subjected "Dance Song" to treatment, incorporating a sample of the song in their own "Come again" ("Kom igen") in 2005. A greater compliment can hardly be paid to an ancient Danish evergreen, surely?
Peter Elsnab is a music journalist and Jesper Nykjaer Knudsen a culture journalist.
Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann performs the song "Dansevise" that won the Eurovision Song Contest grand prix 1963 Foto: Emil Christensen/ Scanpix.