Sometimes a jury knows best! If it wasn’t for the jury in the Danish national final in 1995, ‘Fra Mols Til Skagen’ would likely never have reached the Eurovision stage. Today, the song is a classic in Denmark and loved by many fans.
In 1993, Denmark’s Tommy Seebach failed to impress the European juries. Under Stjernerne På Himlen might be a Danish classic today, but back then it finished 22nd at the Eurovision Song Contest. Due to the existing rules, the country was unable to participate at the 1994 contest. No national final was held, and when we came to 1995, Danish broadcaster DR wanted to give the whole Dansk Melodi Grand Prix a make-over.
The result was the new ‘Musik Event’. Televoting (who couldn’t be trusted as they selected Tommy Seebach!) was dropped, and DR had a dream of an event attracting the biggest stars, who would only be judged by other professionals. This new national final was an experiment, which was so unpopular by the TV viewers, that it never took place again. In 1996, the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix was back – and so was televoting.
Many Danes were dissatisfied with Fra Mols Til Skagen right after the national final. It was doomed too boring. It’s very likely that with televoting in place, the song would never have won. At the Eurovision Song Contest, Denmark finished 5th – to the surprise of most Danes. Afterwards however, things changed – and this song is now a classic in Denmark.
Fra Mols Til Skagen – opinions from fans
In order to find out what Eurovision fans today think of this Danish entry from 1995, we asked our Eurovision Fan Panel. It includes team members as well as fans from all over the world.
🇮🇪 Paul K. – This is a nice, chill piece. One of the things I love about Eurovision is how much diversity there is in every aspect, including music, and this song is definitely something that can stand out from many others! It’s a nice mellow tune that I can just play whenever I want to just have some me-time, as Dadi Freyr calls it 😅 but yeah this is really beautiful.
🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – I admit, I am like the majority of Danes when it comes to this one. I didn’t immediately hear the quality in it, and I had another favourite in the Danish final that year. It took me a couple of months to realise just how brilliant this is. The simplicity and the emotions makes it extremely powerful. A fully deserved 5th place at Eurovision. With a bit more luck in the running order, it could have finished in top 3. Nowadays it’s a classic in Denmark – for all the right reasons. This is one of Denmark’s finest.
🇪🇸 Mária P. – It’s an original style, but apart from that I didn’t manage to catch its appeal, neither that year nor now. It’s not that I dislike it, but I find it too monotonous and I didn’t expect its 5th place, in my opinion it was overrated. By the same songwriter, Lise Cabble, I like much better the Danish entries of 2013 and 2019.
🇬🇧 Michael O. – This was the only time that Denmark received my 12 points. This sultry rhythm of a song was the highlight of 1995, and is still in my Top 100 of all time.
🇳🇱 🇩🇰 Wouter V. – Don’t be sad if you don’t understand the lyrics. They make very little sense anyway. But that doesn’t matter. This song is all about the music. The vocals are just one of the instruments. The percussion carries the song right from the beginning to the very end, much like I’d use a satnav to guide me from Mols to Skagen. I love it.
🇹🇷 Güneç G. – I have to say with my apologies that it’s really boring. With all due respect to Aud Wilken’s struggle on stage to give its best, the song is far from being powerful.
🇨🇴 🇫🇮 Alvaro S. – The song is very relaxing but I don’t see it as a winning performance. It is more like the type of music I would put on autoplay while I do my office work or try to relax which is fine in its own way, but it did not see a winning performance.
🇬🇧 Paul G. – Not my favourite from 1995 that place still belongs to Spain, but a brilliant song and a well deserved 5th place.
🇩🇰 Tina M. – What do I think of the song Fra Mols Til Skagen? When I first heard it back in 1995 I didn’t like it – not at all. I thought it was boring, it was without a catchy melody and did not have a great chorus. I also thought that Aud Wilken seemed theatrical. Today I’m not quite so annoyed at the song, but it is still not a song I like. For me the song is monotonous, it has no chorus you just have to sing along to – and I do not think the song does Aud Wilken’s voice justice. I will give the song 3/10.
Enjoy Aud Wilken’s performance from the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest in the embedded video. Below the video, you can read more about her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8li9ACwEc
Aud Wilken – a mini biography
Her father was Danish, her mother German, and Aud grew up in East Germany (DDR). Born in 1965, Aud Wilken was 9 years old when she in 1974 moved to Denmark with her father. Her parents had divorced, and in a documentary on DR TV, she told the story about how much of a culture shock it was to move from the safe, secure Eastern Germany she knew to the vibrant colourful Copenhagen. Her mother and older sister wasn’t allowed, by the DDR authorities, to travel to Denmark. To see them, Aud and her dad had to visit them in Eastern Germany.
Musically, Aud Wilken has performed for several bands, and also released a solo album in 1999, Diamond In The Rough. Today, Aud lives in United States where she has worked as language teacher in Danish and German. She also founded the project SongSeedsTN, which offers music classes for kids.
