Conception "Save Your Kisses for Me" was originally written by
Brotherhood of Man's member
Lee Sheriden in August 1974. On bringing the song in to the next songwriting session, others thought that the title was clumsy and reworked it into "Oceans of Love". Sheriden was unhappy with the changes and the song was shelved. A year later when it came to coming up with songs for their next album, they discovered that they needed one more song and Sheriden again put forth "Save Your Kisses for Me". This time it was accepted, as he later recalled: "I'd had a year to think about it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do on the arrangement, the glockenspiel on the beginning and the big 12-string acoustic guitar and the strings, and then came the day to record the song... It was about midnight and I sang it and it went well. I could see everyone behind the glass panel getting excited and I thought great, they all really like the song, and as I finished I was waiting for them to press the button so they could speak to me and say 'great, we've got a hit' or whatever, and the person pressing it said: 'Lee, we think Martin should sing this song'. But I didn't mind because Martin came in and sung it to perfection."
Eurovision Soon after, manager
Tony Hiller was keen for the group to try for Eurovision, as the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had changed its selection rules. Up till then, a singer was internally selected, but for 1976 it was opened up to different singers to enter their own songs. Brotherhood of Man put forward "Save Your Kisses for Me" and the BBC accepted it as one of the twelve finalists. On 25 February 1976, "Save Your Kisses for Me" competed in
A Song for Europe 1976, the
national final organized by the BBC to select its song and performer for the of the
Eurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition, beating second-placed "Wake Up" by
Co-Co by just two points, and becoming the , and Brotherhood of Man the performers, for Eurovision. At the close of voting, the song had received 164 points –being awarded the maximum twelve points by seven countries–, beating the second-placed French entry with 147 points, and being the second consecutive Eurovision winner that was performed first in the order of presentation.
Aftermath After winning the contest, the song reached No.1 in many countries across Europe and eventually sold more than six million copies. The song also hit number one in a number of other countries, such as France where it remained in the peak position for five weeks. In the United States, the song was a moderate pop hit –No. 27 on the
Billboard Hot 100– but went all the way to No. 1 on the
Easy Listening chart; it would be the only hit the band –in its post-1973 incarnation– would have in the US. The song is reported to be the biggest selling single for a winning entry in the history of the contest. It also still holds the record for the highest relative score under the voting system introduced in 1975 –which has been used in every contest since–, with an average of 9.65 points per jury. It is still one of the best-selling singles of all time in the UK, with sales of over a million copies. It also won four
ASCAP awards in 1977. At the same time as the single was at No.1, the group released their latest album;
Love and Kisses, which featured "Save Your Kisses for Me". The group followed this up with the similarly themed "My Sweet Rosalie", which was also a hit around Europe. The group continued to score hits in the UK, with two more chart toppers in the next two years; however, this was not the case in the United States, where "Save Your Kisses for Me" was the group's final chart entry –and only one under this lineup–. Brotherhood of Man performed the song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show
Songs of Europe held on 22 August 1981 in
Mysen. The song was one of fourteen songs chosen by Eurovision fans and a
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reference group, from among the 992 songs that had ever participated in the contest, to participate in the fiftieth anniversary competition
Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest held on 22 October 2005 in
Copenhagen. It was re-enacted by the group along with twelve dancers dressed in matching red, white, and black costumes with briefcases and a live orchestra as the original footage was shown in the background. It came fifth in the final voting. They also performed the song in the Eurovision sixtieth anniversary show ''
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' held on 31 March 2015 in London. Brotherhood of Man have re-recorded the song twice as well as releasing a Spanish version titled "Tus besos son para mi" as a single in 1991. ==Track listing==