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BERLIN A cheeky parody of Germanys winning entry to the Eurovision Song Contest has spread like wildfire on the Internet, mobile phones and the streets to become the countrys unofficial World Cup anthem.
To make the song, a group of students took the tune of “Satellite”, the hit that won 19-year-old Lena Meyer-Landrut Germanys first Eurovision title for 28 years in May, changed the words and recorded it.
Instead of Lenas “Love o Love,” the infectiously catchy chorus now goes “Schland o Schland” -- short for “Deutschland o Deutschland” (“Germany oh Germany”).
The students then made a video in a public park in the western city of Muenster, with bearded singer Christian Landgraf donning a long black wig and a little black dress to resemble Lena -- all in less than an hour.
The result was put online -- only last week -- and has since spread at Internet-Age speed, attracting hundreds of thousands of clicks on the YouTube website.
It has also become a popular ringtone on mobile phones.
The song was already in evidence at “fan mile” public showings of Germanys 4-0 destruction of Australia in their opening match on Sunday, and is set to become a regular fixture for the teams subsequent encounters.
Another success story this World Cup, the ubiquitous vuvuzela horn, has also been used, with the band combining the word with West Germany football legend Uwe Seeler and the Eurovision winner for their name Uwu Lena.
The eardrum-busting vuvuzela, which has been banned from many public viewing centres in German cities -- officially because it could be used as a weapon -- also features in the video.
There was just one problem, however the rights to “Satellite” are owned by record company EMI Music Publishing, which was none too pleased and saw copyright enfringment written all over Uwu Lenas efforts.
“This is not a cover version but a re-working of the song,” EMI executive Markus Hedke told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.
“Therefore the authors of the song need to give their approval.” The result was that the video had to be taken down from Uwu Lenas website -- http//www.schlandrut.com/.
But not for long.
A campaign by fans on social networking website Facebook and micro-blogging site Twitter soon ensured that “Schland o Schland” could survive.
Television personality Stefan Raab, the motor-mouth who spearheaded Lenas Eurovision campaign, intervened, and Universal Music signed a deal with Uwu Lena to bring out a single this Friday.
Now the band members have become overnight stars, with numerous television appearances planned, a spokeswoman for Universal told AFP.
“We never did the song for commercial reasons,” the band said in a statement.
“We had no idea that everyone would be talking about this so quickly and be the life of the party in the whole of Deut-Schland.” - AFP
