A place to stay

Well…  My publicist told me that I had to start making an international name for myself in the light of coming events.
So.
Where to start?

– Wine, Flaming lips´s “Christmas on mars” and a Friday night should do it.

Awaiting the press conference Monday morning when hopefully they will announce the artist whom will perform the song “A place to stay” (which I wrote) at the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2010 (hence the halabaloo). I of course know who it is but it´s a lot of hush hush and with newspapers sneaking around my backyard and roaming through my trashes I´ll keep my fingers and mouth shut just a little bit longer.

It is a nice little story though and I might just share with you a little of the workings how the song came to be.

About this time last year I had quite the low, didn´t get the job I wanted, was finishing off the band I´d been playing with the last ten years, was not very lucky in love and frankly just questioning the reason of living the way I did… Change was necessary but it is never as easy as it sounds, it is actually quite the opposite. So, what are the alternatives if you want to make it substantial? Cut the bonds to the people you know and love? Move to another part of the planet or the universe? Pretend to be someone else or… learn from people who has mysteriously succeeded? Nose down in inked paper, in other words. Could not do it at home though but opportunity nox and a good friend asks me to come live with her in Paris for a month. Nice! Studio apartment, 17 square meters, Rue Mouffetard, deal.

Spring in Paris, inked nose from studying other peoples mistakes and revelations, lips red from cheap wine and head up high from learning to walk straight, I started to write good music again and this song came to me when sitting in Jardin du Luxembourg adoring the sun and watching schoolgirls giggling and not daring to approach the boys… Everything felt very cinematic and I got this clear picture in my head; I even knew how the song should be sung. I did not have either the melody or the words, but I had the idea and that was quite enough. I put down some main points and walked down to Pont de la Concorde when the music slowly started to appear in my head, I continued to walk along the Seine and within an hour I had all the words written down on the backsides of various receipts.

Back home I rather quickly made a rough demo with my sister doing the vocals. And it is still the same, it sounds almost exactly as i did from the start but now there is another girl doing the lead…

This summer I was working part time as a head waiter/bartender on an island in the Dalarö archipelago called Dalarö Skans, a wonderful job with lovely people and every Saturday there was a wedding on the island. This is a very special place and the guests are always truly impressed with the view and the drama of the place, it is a small island with a fort from the 16th century high up on a hill and with a view that would make the gods envious. Anyhow, this special Saturday in august I met this Toast mistress who was toastmastering her sisters wedding and we got along quite well. I knew she was a well known artist but she had no idea that I was a songwriter until the second day when it eventually slipped my mouth. I had no thought about showing any of my songs to her. Still, I sent her a few in the week to come and she phoned me up almost immediately telling me I was a genius! That is probably not an exaggeration but I was still a little suprised, I thougth she would be a little more of a rock´n´roll chick, and not stuck on the ambient dance/house song I left last on the demo. So, here we are. Her voice is perfect for the song and obviously more people than she and I likes it because now it will be fighting for eternal fame in the “Svenska Melodifestivalen”. It will be a blast!

Love
/T