Throughout the movie, "Jaja Ding Dong" is the only song that Lars (Ferrell) and Sigrit (McAdams) sing that the crowds in their local Icelandic home venues want to hear. Their cover of Pharrell's "Happy," for one, fails to inspire. The duo offers to play their original songstheir entries into the titular Eurovision contestbut the only one anyone has any interest in hearing is the jovial "Jaja Ding Dong."
Make ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong’ From Netflix's Eurovision the New National Anthem
Throughout the course of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams perform five songs together on-screen (While Ferrell does his own singing, McAdams' vocals are mixed, and probably mostly provided by Swedish pop singer Molly Sandn, who herself participated four times in the real Eurovision song contest.) While these songs range from fantastical large scale epics, to pop bangers, to power ballads, the one that has most stuck with audiences (both in real life and in the film's world) is the most basic: a call and repeat instant classic called "Jaja Ding Dong."
Make ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong’ the New National Anthem
Viewers then go the entire duration of the film without hearing it in its entirety (it's played for about a minute early on). The other four songs performed by the Ferrell/McAdams duo come and go, and by the end of the movie, just when "Jaja Ding Dong" has almost become a distant memory, it gets brought back and we get to hear it, complete with not-so-subtle sexual innuendos , in its entirety.
It's at the wedding of Lars' stoic father (played to perfection by a gracefully-aged Pierce Brosnan) that we once again are treated to hear "Jaja Ding Dong" just as the movie's credits begin to roll. Not only do we see the Icelandic locals (who get checked in on periodically throughout the rest of the film) explode with excitement when they begin to play, but even Erick (Brosnan) is smiling, hollering, and singing along. In a way, the whole thing invokes a little bit of Parks and Recreation "Lil' Sebastian" energy. Everyone loves it! Why? It doesn't matter.
Within the world of the Eurovision movie, "Jaja Ding Dong" is supposed to be a traditional Icelandic bar songwhich would explain why everyone else already knows and loves it so much (the other songs are supposed to be Fire Saga originals). Director David Dobkin says he's already heard from people who were fooled into thinking the song really is just a timeless old bar song. Ive had a few people tell me, Thats like an Icelandic pub song or something? Like, nope! Thats a new song," he told Vulture .
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So, well, hey. Maybe the irresistibility of it all means we should consider elevating "Ja Ja Ding Dong" to higher heights. Recently, activists have suggested that the U.S. consider changing the national anthem"The Star Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key, who was a slave owner; his poem-turned-song also includes a commonly-ignored third verse that mentions a "hireling and slave." One option being thrown out recently was John Lennon's "Imagine."
In this case, we want to consider throwing "Ja Ja Ding Dong" into the mix. Because why not? In case you're wondering, yes, the song was written by Gustaf Holter and Christian Persson, a writing/composing duo that hails from Sweden. And yes, in the movie it's clearly an Icelandic folk classic. But is there anything we as Americans love more than a good sing and chant bar song? Think about how many random bands you've heard cover Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" (BAH BAH BAH!) in your life. And this one, as the closing moments of Eurovision show, is perfect. Plus, it doubles as a dream wedding song tooif it's good enough for Pierce Brosnan's wedding, it's good enough for anyone's wedding.
Just throwing the idea out. In the meantime, though, it's good to know that we can just keep hitting the repeat button on both YouTube and Spotify. We can wait and see what happens from there.
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