"Lilla stjärna" performed by Alice Babs

Alice Babs

Alice Babs is a singer and actor from Kalmar in Sweden. While she has worked in a wide number of genres - e.g. Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera - she is best known internationally as a jazz singer...

 was the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1958

Eurovision Song Contest 1958

The Eurovision Song Contest 1958 was the third Eurovision Song Contest. The convention that the winning country from a year hosted the following year's contest was introduced in this year. France's win was their first. It was the last time to date that the United Kingdom did not enter the contest...

 held in Hilversum

Hilversum

is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Located in the region called "'t Gooi", it is the largest town in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller villages...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. This was Sweden's first song in the contest, and the first time that the Swedish language

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 was performed on the Eurovision stage.

Sweden's very first participation in the Contest was the source of some controversy between the artist Alice Babs and the composer; the song was originally titled "Samma stjärnor lysa för oss två" ("The same stars shine for the two of us"), but neither Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio

Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...

 nor Babs approved of the lyrics and commissioned journalist and lyricist Gunnar Wersén (at the time an employee of the TV station) to rewrite the song as well as providing it with a new title: "Lilla stjärna" - this without the knowledge or approval of original composer Åke Gerhard. As a result of this, Gerhard in turn wouldn't allow Alice Babs to make a studio recording of what legally still was his work, albeit in considerably rewritten form. The only existing audio recording of "Lilla stjärna" is consequently sourced from the TV footage of Babs' live performance at the Contest in Hilversum, which had its first commercial release as part of the Swedish CD compilation Rätt Låt Vann?! - Vinnarna - in 1994.

Dressed in the Leksand

Leksand

Leksand is a locality and the seat of Leksand Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,861 inhabitants in 2005.- Sport :Leksand is famous for the Leksands IF ice hockey team. Leksand is also home to the Leksands Baseball and Softball Club, one of the oldest and more successful baseball clubs...

 national costume

National costume

Folk costume expresses an identity through costume which usually to a geographic area or a period of time in history, but can also indicate social, marital and/or religious status...

, Babs performed 5th in the running order on the night of the contest, following Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

's Solange Berry

Solange Berry

Solange Berry is a Belgian singer.- Eurovision Song Contest 1958 :In 1958, Berry was the Luxembourgish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 1958 with the song "Un grand amour"...

 with "Un grand amour

Un grand amour

"Un grand amour" was the Luxembourgish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958, performed in French by Solange Berry....

" and preceding Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

's Raquel Rastenni

Raquel Rastenni

Raquel Rastenni , born Anna Rachel Rastén, was a popular Danish singer. She was born in Copenhagen, and grew up in a little apartment in the poor central part of the city. Her Jewish parents had immigrated to Denmark from Russia at the start of the 1900s...

 with "Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog

Jeg Rev Et Blad Ud Af Min Dagbog

"Jeg rev et blad ud af min dagbog" was the Danish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958, performed in Danish by Raquel Rastenni....

". the song received 10 points, placing 4th in a field of 10.

The song was succeeded as Swedish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959

Eurovision Song Contest 1959

The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Cannes, following the French victory the previous year....

 by Brita Borg

Brita Borg

Brita Borg, full name Brita Kerstin Gunvor Borg was a Swedish singer, actress, and variety show artist. Her variety show career spanned from 1943 into the 1970s, while her singing career trailed away at the end of the 1960s. However, she was still an active actress in the 1980s...

 with "Augustin

Augustin (song)

"Augustin" was the Swedish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, performed in Swedish by Brita Borg.The song was the winner of Melodifestivalen 1959, there performed by Siw Malmkvist...

".

In popular culture

The name of John Ajvide Lindqvist

John Ajvide Lindqvist

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish writer, mostly of horror novels and short stories. Ajvide Lindqvist grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. His debut novel Let the Right One In a romantic, social realistic vampire horror story published in 2004, enjoyed great success in Sweden and abroad...

's novel Lilla stjärna is taken from the song title.