Episode 2 - Spring
It’s April now and the ice on the lake is finally melting, enough to allow Geoff to go on the first fishing trip of the year with his father in law, the intimidating Sten, and his oddball loner brother in law Anders. The music I’ve chosen for this episode is a mixture of tracks that capture Geoff’s loneliness and feeling of being a fish out of water.
I’ll Take Sweden by Frankie Avalon is the theme tune to a movie of the same name from 1965, starring Avalon and Bob Hope, that played on the misplaced American notion of the time that Swedes were incredibly sexually liberal. It was a comedy film, but I don’t think the song was ever intended to be as funny as it seems now.
Roxette... what can one say? I absolutely loved them when I was a kid. They’re the second biggest Swedish band of all time, after Abba, having sold over 60 million records worldwide, had 19 UK Top 40 hits and four US Number Ones, including this track, Joyride, which felt appropriately the antithesis of Geoff’s comically miserable car ride with Sten and Anders. Per Gessle, their songwriter and guitarist, once had a band called Son of a Plumber, which must be one of the least glamorous band names ever.
This episode features songs from some of the most interesting of the current crop of Swedish indie bands and singers. The Tallest Man on Earth is the stage name of Kristian Matsson from Dalarna. His influences – American folk and Bob Dylan – are clear. I chose the King of Spain for its line “I am not from Barcelona, I am not even from Madrid. I am a native of the North Pole, and that can mess up any kid”, which harks back to Geoff’s nostalgia for his gap year in Spain now he’s stuck here in Northern Sweden.
Little Dragon are a band from Gothenburg, fronted by Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano. They make dance music with real instruments and have collaborated with Damon Allbarn’s Gorillaz. Ritual Union felt like a good accompaniment to the union that is sealed between Geoff, Sten and Anders over the Skål drinking ritual. There are also two Stockholm bands here, Azure Blue and Hyper Heart, both of whom have been exciting the trendy indie blogosphere.
The Hives are not really a current band as they have been around since the early 2000s, but they are still going strong and have had quite a lot of success in both the States and the UK for their brand of punk rock and their distinctive image, always wearing matching black and white suits. I love the energy of Hate To Say I Told You So.
Our honorary non-Swedes this episode include Simon and Garfunkel. Could there be a better song than The Sound of Silence to sum up Geoff’s melancholic feelings as he is ignored by Sten and Anders? Wanda Jackson, known as ‘The First Lady of Rockabilly’, briefly dated Elvis Presley. She developed a bit of a crush on Sweden with her songs ‘If I Could Take Sweden Home’ and ‘Meet Me in Stockholm’. Many American artists went over to Sweden in the 50s and 60s, including lots of black jazz musicians who found respite in Sweden from the racism back home and sometimes even settled there, including Don Cherry, the step-father of Neneh Cherry.
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra are here for their cover of The Clash’s London’s Calling, which sums up Geoff’s yearning to go home, but also just because with all the anti-Norwegian jokes flying about at the campsite, I felt I needed to redress the balance.
The Cold Swedish Winter – Jens Lekman
I’ll Take Sweden – Frankie Avalon
King of Spain – The Tallest Man on Earth
London Calling – The Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Hate To Say I Told You So – The Hives
The Sound of Silence – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
