The most bizarrely creepy closing line in pop history: “A twist”
1976 was a major year for many music genres: while some were innovating big, stadium rock sounds, others were spearheading the peak of disco, with a few other notable milestones elsewhere and everywhere in between.
When comparing its diversity to other years, look no further than the best-selling singles of that year, and at the top was Brotherhood of Man’s Eurovision winner ‘Save Your Kisses for Me’, followed by Elton John and Kiki Dee’s ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, Pussycat’s ‘Mississippi’, ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ and Dr Hook’s ‘A Little Bit More’.
Brotherhood of Man set a different standard for Eurovision, reaching number one in several countries and becoming the best-selling Eurovision single of all time, and while the song had actually been written by band member Lee Sheriden a couple of years before, they decided to shelve it at the time, until Sheriden put it forward once again, and they decided it was time that it finally saw the light of day.
Sheriden was initially intended to be the one singing on the track, and actually felt that his sessions went so well that doing so was a no-brainer, until someone came in and suggested that Martin Lee sing it instead. This was a bit of a shock at first, but Sheriden also knew that the switch-up made sense, his suspicions confirmed when Lee came in and “sang it to perfection”.
Lyrically, the song follows the story of a man who leaves his loved one behind while he goes to work. We follow these romantic throughlines as the song progresses, as Lee sings about how much it “hurts” to “go away” even though it’s “impossible to stay”, reiterating how much he adores his lover, who keeps him “hanging on for one more smile” to savour before he returns once again.
The song’s jaunty, upbeat feel also enhances the romanticism of the sentiment – the repeated I love yous give it an endearing sort of simplicity, making it feel like nothing more than a simple love song that Sheriden wrote for whoever it was that had a desperate grasp on his heart at the time. It’s also endearing because we’re waiting for the wholesome moment when he finally reunites with his love at the end.
However, when he does, we’re faced with a twist: this was never about returning to a partner. Instead, it was about leaving his three-year-old daughter behind, the final lines confirming as much: “Save all your kisses for me / Bye, bye, baby, bye, bye / Don’t cry, honey, don’t cry / Won’t you save them for me even though you’re only three.”
Funnily enough, putting something in that surprised listeners was intentional. While working on a song for Eurovision, they knew they needed a twist at the end to make it unique, and instead of going for something relating to animals, they went for children. As Lee explained to The Guardian, “That last line gave the song a twist. Until then, you’d think it was a love song from someone going to work who wants his wife to save her kisses until he gets home, but that line reveals that he’s singing to his daughter.”
As is obvious, such a move wouldn’t fly in today’s landscape, especially when the song leads you to believe that this is a different kind of romantic love, with the twist included at the end purposefully for the shock factor alone. Although harmless, it’s hard not to feel a certain kind of way when you hear the song now, with an inherent, instinctual icky response that makes it hard to return to.
