Strummindude.com

CDBaby

Strummindude — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:40:00 +0000

The Writing On The Wall album is now up for sale at CDBaby.com. Click on the icon below to visit the page and purchase your own copy. It contains a four-page booklet with liner notes and the lyrics to all of the songs.

The whole album as well as the individual songs will also be available and purchasable through other electronic media outlets like iTunes, Amazon and Lala.

1. Writing On The Wall

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:54:58 +0000

Kicking off the album with a loose and happy sounding middle-of-the-road tune that should bring back images of head-bobbing 60′s pop, playing loud in an open convertible cruising down the parkway. It is not meant to be fancy, but rather square and maybe even a bit corny, in a tongue firmly planted in the cheek kind of way. For those of you not really into this kind of music, at least it’s mercifully short…

Micke Hujanen adds some exquisite, Byrds smelling electric guitar work to this song, and Robert Wirensjö plays a solid wurlitzer. Janne Hedlund lays down the steady drum beat.

Writing On The Wall
(Jana Persson)

Where a warm fire should be burning
There is cold ash and dying embers
Where before you lay, you are no more
Only emptiness

And the note you left me
Spelling out what I refused to see
Making clear the message
For a man who could not understand
The writing on the wall

Where beside me you should be walking
Walks no one – just a cold wind blowing
I can’t help but reach out for your hand
Only emptiness

And the note you left me
Spelling out what I refused to see
Making clear the message
For a man who could not understand
The writing on the wall

I know I’m not a genious
To read a woman’s mind
But I guessed if you were serious
I wouldn’t have to read it in a note
After you’re gone

And the note you left me
Spelling out what I refused to see
Making clear the message
For a man who could not understand
The writing on the wall

2. Gimme Water

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:07:16 +0000

This is a pretty hard edged rocking tune, although leaning heavily on the acoustic guitar groove. This combination I think keeps its naked feet solidly dug down in the earth, whereas with different instrumentation including distorted electric guitars and bigger sounding production it would surely have been soaring in arena rock orbit. I quite like it this way though.

The theme of the lyrics is stagnation in a relationship. The point when things stop happening. No matter how happy, a marriage goes stale if you don’t keep re-defining and re-inventing it. That’s just the way we humans work. Standing still is going backwards.

Janne Hedlund whacks out a solid beat on the drums, and also contributes a wicked blues harmonica, while Robert Wirensjö does great work on the Hammond organ.

Gimme Water
(Jana Persson)

Ain’t no mercy in the desert
Desert sun will suck you dry
Dried out bones will make you weary
A weary man is bound to die

Imagine rain on the horizon
Feel it running down my face
Oh, the joy of saturation
Baby, I’ve been waiting for days

Just gimme water, water
Please just gimme water, water
Baby, gimme water, water
Don’t you leave me here alone
Thirsty for your loving cup of water, water

Water changes as it ages
Clear and sparkling at first
Though with age it might get murky
Still it satisfies my thirst
I don’t care we’re getting older
I don’t mind our life’s a bore
I still see my pretty baby
I’m still thirsty for more

Just gimme water, water
Please just gimme water, water
Baby, gimme water, water
Don’t you leave me here alone
Thirsty for your loving cup of water, water
Please just gimme water, water
Baby, gimme water, water
Don’t you leave me here alone
Thirsty for your love

3. Good Times Again

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:12:25 +0000

If you enjoyed the early Eagles or other southern California based 70′s country rock, I think you will smile in recognition when listening to this song. It is a homage to those ballads in 3/4-time that were an all but compulsory entry on the albums of any self-respecting artist of the time. It was a lot of fun to make, especially the Eaglesque background vocal parts.

Janne Hedlund invented the legacy drum groove, and Robert Wirensjö contributes his usual tasteful ballad piano. Hasse Johnzon gives the song an extra shine by adding a soaring pedal steel guitar, contrasted beautifully by an earthy dobro. Oh, and he also plays the bass guitar.

Good Times Again
(Jana Persson)

Remember the dreams and the hopes
That you had for tomorrow
You fought every step of the way
You would beg, steal or borrow

The price of success and the
Fortunes of fame is a high one
So hard to hold on to a dream
If we ever should find one

Just so many Bentleys
And vintage Champagne
That can fill your day
Casanovas so eager to please
Once or twice, never stay

You wish for another
You wish for some more
You wish for the good times again
The hunt for the glory
The never ending chase
The good times again

The cost of relentlessly chasing the tail
Is a steep one
Betray the pursuit of so many a dream
Just to keep one

Just so many Bentleys
And vintage Champagne
That can fill your day
Casanovas so eager to please
Once or twice, never stay

You wish for another
You wish for some more
You wish for the good times again
The hunt for the glory
The never ending chase
The good times again

4. Always Have a Haven

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:22:25 +0000

I had the great privilege of working with Roger Gustafsson on this song. He had the groove already down for the verse and chorus parts when I got into the picture. Together we worked on tweaking it, adding a bridge, structuring the form and writing some lyrics. I think it turned out a great, commercial sounding country rock radio tune.

The backing track is riveting and immediately catches your ear, all due to Roger’s genious with his instruments. There’s even some banjo in there if you listen closely…

Always Have a Haven
(Roger Gustafsson, Jana Persson)

Put a little lovin’
In that lovin’ cup of yours
You were all I wished for
Everything I wanted
It was such a sweet dream
Whispering the secret words
Now I know things will
Never be the same here

So now I’ve got a broken heart
So now you wanna make a new start
Somebody like you
Will always have a haven
Always have a haven

Shoulda seen the stop sign
Shoulda heard the thunder roar
Blind and deaf from my
Complete infatuation
Shoulda paid attention
Not to try and hold you back
Should have known you were
Too good to be true

So now I’ve got a broken heart
So now you wanna make a new start
Somebody like you
Will always have a haven
Always have a haven

All the days, all the passionate nights
All the love we made
Still too close to realize
That memories will fade away

So now I’ve got a broken heart
So now you wanna make a new start
Somebody like you
Will always have a haven

5. Dark Eyed Lover

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:21:23 +0000

I find that a song that sounds very good just singing it to an acoustic guitar, can sometimes be hard to translate to a full band setting. That’s especially true with ballads. It’s seems a lot of the natural dynamic balance of a composition often becomes a bit undermined as more people get involved in the performance of it. The different parts of the song are at peril of becoming either under- or overexaggerated.

This ballad, however, is a brilliant exception. It retains all of the dynamic qualitites of my original rendition of it with just an acoustic guitar, and I’m very happy with the way it turned out. A lot of it has to do with the brilliant guitar playing of Micke Hujanen. His sensibility towards the soul of a song is beyond most comparison. His work on this song turns it into a voice-guitar duet – the melody lines of the electric guitar intertwining and counterpointing against the vocals and lyrics in an almost sensual fashion.

Janne Hedlund’s attentive percussion and Robert Wirensjö’s sensitive piano and Hammond organ also help bringing the song to yet higher levels.

Dark Eyed Lover
(Jana Persson)

To my dark eyed lover
In the mountains of the east
There’s a long and ancient desert trail

Leading merchants and travellers
To the glory of beyond
To the dreams and the riches of the past

From afar to be near you
I would walk a thousand miles
For a journey of passion
Is the promise of my love

To my dark eyed lover
In the mountains of the east
I will go for to offer her my heart

Oh, what if I’ll go wrong sometime
I’ll let your spirit guide me through the night
Oh, what if you’re not there anymore
To search for you I will forever vie
The promise of our love can never die

To me dark eyed lover
In the mountains of the east
I will go for to offer her my heart

6. Stay With You

Strummindude — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:46:26 +0000

This is an example of one of these songs that come to me while driving. I don’t know what it is about driving a car that kindles musical inspiration, but it seems to happen quite often enough for it to be more than a coincidence. What I do then is I grab my phone and start its crappy audio recording function and sing the melody into it, hoping that at a later point at least some of it will be discernible through all of the noise, distortion and general crappiness. Maybe I ought to get myself a better one-purpose field recording device and keep it in the car. It’s not safe fiddling with a mobile phone while driving. Shame on me!

The melody and chord structure of this song reminded me of my roots in the American 70′s westcoast slick music. The kind of smoothly produced jazz-pop-r&b epitomized by the likes of David Foster, Jay Graydon, Michael Omartian, Gino Vannelli etc. The arrangement of the song was naturally guided by this impression and I really enjoyed doing some multi-layered guitar parts like in the old days. Robert Wirensjö helped out with some fat Fender Rhodes and chorus-tainted piano, and Janne Hedlund did the slick drums and also helped to flesh out the background vocal parts.

Stay With You
(Jana Persson)

Had a hell of a time
Overwhelmed by love and pleasant company
For a while just sat back and enjoyed
Just hearing people laugh and talk

Didn’t notice at first
You were looking at me across the hazy room
Mmm, you had it in for me
Oh, I was an easy catch
Now I can’t get enough of your love

I want to stay with you
Just run away with you
For every day
Every moment of my life
I want to stay with you
Just run away with you
For every day
Every moment alive
I just want to stay

I Know the feeling so well
Like a tunnel of love
That shuts out everything
You were holding my gaze
As we stood up and met
Halfway across the floor

Not a word was said
Til we finally stood in the parking lot
Mmm, you fell into my arms
Oh, my soul was singing out
Hey, I can’t get enough of your love

I want to stay with you
Just run away with you
For every day
Every moment of my life
I want to stay with you
Just run away with you
For every day
Every moment alive
I just want to stay

7. Nightmare Land

Strummindude — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:55:23 +0000

This song was originally done by Vagabond, but with Swedish lyrics, entitled “Närmare Land”. It can be heard on the album “I En Annan Tid”, elsewhere on this site. Tricia Tenpenny got to hear it, and thought the Swedish lyrics sounded something like “Nightmare Land”. She was inspired to do her personal interpretation of the song, based solely on the sound of the Swedish words. Pretty cool. I’m please to have an opportunity to finally put it to good use on this album.

Roger Gustafsson does some stunning work producing the backing track on this song. He plays and programs just about every instrument (there are a lot of them) and also did the arrangement. He did not hear the Vagabond version of it, but did his own interpretations as I presented the song to him with just a guitar. It turned out really great, as both lyrics and instruments represent an entirely new take on the song. Robert Wirensjö also contributed some organ.

Nightmare Land
(Jana Persson, Tricia Tenpenny, Roger Gustafsson)

The sea turns the deepest shade of indigo
As clouds fill the sky, a cold wind starts to blow
The waves keep on coming and soon I’m overboard
I’m too far out and I can’t make it back to shore

Nightmare land
Where spirits threaten harm
Then I wake up and find
That I’m safe in your loving arms

The sea comes to be a fierce and angry foe
Then out of the darkness calls a voice I know
You pull me ashore and we head for a place that’s warm
You hold me and whisper, there’s no need to fear the storm

Nightmare land
Where spirits threaten harm
Then I wake up and find
That I’m safe in your loving arms

8. CO2

Strummindude — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:36:45 +0000

An upbeat country song with lyrics about climate buffs shouting about the horror of carbon dioxide. I guess it reveals my view on things. That’s ok, I don’t mind sticking it to the hysterical climate prophets who have turned awareness and scientific research into an obnoxious religious movement.

Hasse Johnzon is ripping some pretty cool twang lines out of his huge library of licks, counterpointed by the steel guitar, which he also plays, as well as the bass guitar. Janne Hedlund pounds out a steady beat as usual, and Robert Wirensjö delivers some honky tonk piano.

CO2
(Jana Persson)

Anytime I read the news
Anytime I hear the furnace kicking on
Anytime I start the car
Anytime I feel the gasses coming on

Something inside me sighs – It’s CO2
Something inside me breathing out – It’s CO2

For a while I joined the train
For a while I joined the holiest crusade
For a while I was in awe
For a while almost believed the prophets saying

Something inside me sighs – It’s CO2
Something inside me breathing out – It’s CO2

Be aware of simple truths
Be aware that you’ll be hung to dry
Once they change their minds

Sad to see it going down
Biting off too much will choke your breath
Why not stick to what is known
Lose the righteousness
Cause who knows what is right

For a while I joined the train
For a while I joined the holiest crusade
For a while I was in awe
For a while almost believed the prophets saying

Something inside me sighs – It’s CO2
Something inside me breathing out – It’s CO2

Be aware of simple truths
Be aware that you’ll be hung to dry
Once they change their minds

9. Leave It All Behind

Strummindude — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:08:12 +0000

This was one of the last songs on the album to be adorned with lyrics. I wrote them while on a 24-hour sea cruise with my daughter, a friend of hers and the friends father, Mårten, who is an accomplished songwriter. The theme is chaos beneath a calm surface. It is pretty abstract in its form and could well apply to a lot of different settings. I picture a couple lying in bed, and one of them is cheating and has a tongue-slip.

Janne Hedlund plays the drums and Robert Wirensjö contributes the keyboard parts. The slide solo is trying to illustrate a brief glimpse under the lid of tranquility to the raw chaos beneath.

Leave It All Behind
(Jana Persson)

Like a ripple on the surface of the ocean
As a feather gently drifting in the breeze
Even stillness holds an embryo of motion
Breaking waves upon the calm, unchanging peace

Gentle quiver on the edge of all my senses
Icy fingertips that touch the glowing skin
Daunting truth is hiding just beneath pretences
Stripped of all of our defences
Laying bare what lies within

Whisper or call
Listen to your heart
Feel it come apart
You can leave it all

Muted echoes penetrate a roar of silence
Looming large, the fear is veiled within the dark
Apathetic rage and motionless defiance
Incoherent self-reliance
Just an innocent remark

Whisper or call
Listen to your heart
Feel it come apart
You can leave it all

Whisper or call
Listen to your heart
Feel it come apart
You can leave it all behind

Leave it all behind …