1973 – 56th segment: “I’ll Sweeten My Coffee”

In this series we present 100 songs which have gone down in the history of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. They became widely popular, were played during important time periods, and some even won the hit parade of the year. Now it is up to you, our listeners, to vote for the best Czech song of the century. Let’s continue with the year 1973.

Photo: Supraphon

Many great hits which are associated with Czech singers were adopted from foreign authors and first known in their original versions. Selecting, rewriting and singing such a hit in Czech was a sure bet at that time.

1973 was yet just another year in the reign of Karel Gott and Ladislav Štaidel’s Orchestra on the Czech pop music scene. Karel Gott released three albums “Music is Not Bad,” “Mistral, and “Between the Vltava, the Don, and the Danube,” and he was featured in the film “Three Wishes for Cinderella,” an immortal film fairy tale. He also won his tenth Golden Nightingale Award.

The hit of 1973 comes from the work of Štaidl brothers, titled “I’ll Sweeten My Coffee.” Unfortunately, for lyricist Jiří Štaidl this was a tragic year. On October 9th, he died at the age of thirty in a traffic accident not far from Prague, and with his passing the Czech lyricist community lost a distinctive creative figure with a sixth sense for the hit.

Vote for the best song of the century!