1962–45th Segment: “Oh, That Heavenly Love”

In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. On Czech Radio’s web pages you can find a poll, in which you can vote for the best hit from the past century. We look forward to your vote! We continue with the year 1962.

1962

On February 22 the first section of the Družba pipeline was commissioned to bring Soviet oil to a refinery in Bratislava.

On November 6 the demolition of the giant Stalin monument at Prague's Letná was completed.

The band The Rolling Stones was founded.

In past segments we referred to Prague’s immensely popular Semafor theatre. Theatrical bands became a specialty of this small venue in the 1950s and 1960s and this so-called ‘text appeal’ made it a treat for the ears as well as for the eyes. The most popular show was about a girl named Zuzana. It featured countless interesting songs and performers. Part of its repertoire was a song written by Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr.

Photo: Supraphon

It is important to mention that a couple of very well-known singers, Eva Pilarová and Waldemar Matuška, also performed in the production as young members of the company. At this point it will be clear to some audience members that the song we are referring to is “Oh, That Heavenly Love.” Since 1962, over a quarter of a million albums featuring this song have been sold, including cover versions by various artists.

Vote for the best song of the century!