Songfacts®:

• "Fairytale" was the Norwegian entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, and the eventual winner. Performed by vocalist and violinist Alexander Rybak, the song smashed the record at the Moscow based event in the competition's 54-year history with a massive 387 points.
  
  Rybak, who also wrote the song, was born in Minsk in what was then the Soviet Union. While not the most powerful of ballads, it was a worthy winner, especially as he wrote it in English, which although the lingua franca of the known Universe, is not his first language. As he was only 23 years old at the time of his victory, one has to take issue with the opening line, "Years ago when I was younger," unless he was referring to a kindergarten romance, as in the Al Stewart song "A Long Way Down From Stephanie." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England
• Rybek is a highly trained classical musician and he performed the song at the contest while playing the violin.
• Rybak was born in Belarus. He said his background helped him to win the competition as whilst the happiest people in the world live in Norway, Belarus is known for the melancholy of its people. The song features east European-styled folk rhythms.
• Rybak composed this up-tempo number about a lost love. It was inspired by his memories of a former girlfriend, Ingrid Berg Mehus, whom he got to know through the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. Said Rybak: "I was traveling through Norway in the mountains on the west coast. Every day, I walked for several hours, thought a lot and observed the life around me. When I was on the highest mountain, I took out my violin and started playing the melody. For several days I was thinking about this song, and then I started writing the words for it. I told the story of a girl with whom I was in love, and so 'Fairytale' emerged. The fairytale world is very close to my heart. I love Disney stories - my favorites are Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio and The Lion King. Everything is always very simple in these cartoons - very simple words and simple melodies." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  DeeTheWriter - Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation
• After his Eurovision victory, Bjoern Risvik, the technical director at Oslo city hall, told reporters that the bells of the city hall will play the song once a day throughout the summer.
• This became the first foreign winner of the Eurovision Song Contest to reach the UK Top 10 since 1987 when Irishman Johnny Logan took "Hold Me Now" to #2. In the press conference afterwards, Rybak said he won as he was one of the best singers and he had a story to tell.