All I ever needed to know...

Trying to better understand Linn's "sång" lyrics, I Googled "crystal and moss" and realized that I've learned a great deal of information over the last twelve years just by looking up information related to AOB. Yes, the information mostly consists of small facts - the type you'd use on Jeopardy. The information would also be what the Berggren's dad called "dead knowledge", I suppose. But, the information surely has provided some use over the years.

I've learned more about the media by being an Acer. The radio industry and music industry are very familiar to me due to all the research put in to understand things like royalties, promotion, airplay, and contracts. I think many Acers also have a basic knowledge of Journalism as well. I've taken two classes in Journalism and realized that I already knew most of it from being a fan all these years.

My vocabulary has also expanded as an Acer. I remember specifically learning certain words from AOB words and lyrics. A few of the words I know I learned directly are humility, succor, inscrutability, salvation, da capo. High school vocabulary lessons were a pain until I realized I could write sentences pertaining to AOB to better remember the meaning of a word - "Ace of Base's new album contains euphonious vocals and melodic hooks." I had written a splendid sentence concerning Ulf and chutzpah, but, sadly, that sentence has been lost to time.

In high school, just as Flowers/Cruel Summer was being released, our English class read "Catcher in the Rye" I spent a solid hour in mid-flight from Houston to Dallas trying to decipher the meaning of LIAF and NGL in relation to this passage from the book:

"What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy."

I also learned a great deal about Sweden over the years, even lived there a few times - learned Swedish too, and that has come in handy more than once.

So, actually, when I think about it, it's not all dead knowledge. Most of it is, but some of it isn't.

One day, you'll see me on Final Jeopardy answering "What is Kaksikymmentäkaksi rullatuolia?" when given the clue "The correct spelling of "22 wheelchairs" in Finnish." I'll be sure to use some of the cash winnings to gather more knowledge on obscure, AOB-related subjects.

Arose lyric changes - part 2

Thanks to Sylvain, there's a clip of High Life up on his site mister-ace.com. :) I still think it's very important for us to buy the album in order to support Jenny. Think of it this way, this is one of her jobs and when she goes to a record company for her solo album, they're going to take into consideration the success, or failure, of this Arose album. So, I think it's important to buy the album if you also choose to download the mp3s.

And what do I think about Linn supposedly singing on the album? I think it's not true. There was an Arose article where Magnus was interviewed and he mentioned Linn instead of Jenny in the article. Ray e-mailed Magnus and asked about it and Magnus said it was not true about Linn being on the album, that it was Jenny. It seems like the names were mixed up in that article and the same thing happened in the album liner notes.

It does appear that Jenny sings the "lyric change" on High Life. I have a little conjecture here: I have always felt that Emrik didn't really like the fact that Jenny was in the group. It showed in the Nyhetsmorgon interview last May. I thought he wasn't fond of her because of the "image" of AOB. But, I'm wondering if he wasn't happy with this lyric change in High Life. And when listening to the mp3, you hear Emrik in the background singing "good I felt" instead of echoing Jenny's "bad I felt". Either that is a big mistake in production, which would be quite hard to overlook, or it's a sort of protest by Emrik for the lyrics being changed. Now, I think Emrik has been much nicer about Jenny being in the band in recent articles. He hasn't made it seem like it's a bad thing and has actually mentioned she's in the group, which didn't happen much before. Either he's using her name for promotion OR he's more ok with it now. I wonder which. Or maybe it's all a conspiracy theory and I'm way wrong.

Don't Go Away

I adore "Don't Go Away". It was the single that should have been but never was. The song is superb in so many ways. I do think it's one of Ulf's best works. Right up there with STL. I like the lyrics, they contain a common theme of losing a love. But, the DGA lyrics push it a bit further with a pinch of egoism.

I find that this egoism begins in two little lines:

"Two wrongs don't make a right. You're gonna regret it when you're looking back on your life."

First off, these two lines imply that a wrong has been committed in the relationship by the first person and the other wrong implied in the "two wrongs don't make a right" line would be for person #2 to break up with person #1 for this mistake. We're never told what wrong person #1 has committed but it's grave enough for them to be dumped because of it. (Yes, we're never told what the wrong is, but maybe the line "fell for temptation. It didn't mean a thing" gives a clue.) So, here's where the egoism comes in. Person #1 has done something very wrong, yet they're turing the whole situation around and saying, "Yes, I have done wrong but if YOU leave, you'll regret it." Ouch.

And that's not all the egoism evidence:

"Wanna be more than a picture hanging on the wall?
Something to remind me of how it all went wrong?
Do you want to be more than a number encoded in a book?
Holding something special, so take another look."

[Note: Acer25 mentioned that I quoted the third line incorrectly. It should be "... a number forgotten in a book", not encoded in a book. Thanks for that find Acer25!]

After person #1 berates person #2 for wanting to leave when #1 screwed up in the first place, person #1 continues the tirade by asking if #2 wants to be a nobody. It could be said in another way: "If you leave, you'll be just a picture, a number, a memory, a nothing. You've got me and I'm 'something special'. Don't be so stupid to give that up." Hrm.

"Make the most of this love I'm giving. Better take another look at my face." "Take a look, take a look. Take another look on your way."

Yeah. If a guy started saying things like this to get me to stay with him, I'd be walking out the door even faster.

Lest the Ulf fans go crazy on me, just because the lyrics imply egoism, it doesn't mean this characteristic automatically applies to the person or people who wrote the song. Jonas makes this same attribution error with Cecilia. Jonas falsely attributes the characteristics of the guy in the song Cecilia to the songwriters of the song itself, Simon and Garfunkel.

"Simon and Garfunkel had a little problem. It was something about their hearts. You used to break them and make them go down on their knees, on and on again."

Well, Cecilia was not interested in breaking the hearts of the songwriters, she was interested in breaking the heart of the guy in the song.

"Oh Cecilia, you're breaking my heart. You're shaking my confidence daily. Oh Cecilia, I'm down on my knees, I'm begging you please to come home."

Sometimes the song is autobiographical, as in Ravine, and sometimes it's not.

Foreign Language quiz

I just took a quiz that Mona put up on THB called "What foreign language should you learn?" And I laughed so hard when I saw my results:

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general. Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!

What Language Should You Learn?

I guess I picked the right language to learn.

Arose lyric changes

While listening to the sound clips on the Arose website, I noticed a little lyric change in High Life. If you listen to the clip of the song on the site, you'll hear Emrik sing:

"Everytime I woke up
in some other girl's apartment
I took the easy way out
then you know how fucking good I felt."

But, on the Nyhetsmorgon clip (and probably the album clip) you'll hear Jenny sing this:

"Everytime I woke up
in some other man’s apartment
I took the easy way out
can you understand how bad I felt."

Interesting. A little like the Tuesday's "I was Thinking of You" and AOB's "Thinking of You" is it not?

I tried to download the album from the GP and Skivhugget digital music site but it wouldn't let me, as my ISP is not located in Sweden. Grrr. But, where there's a will, there's a way.

Valentine's and Arose

Two AOB news items this week, I see. I like the card that Ulf made for the Heart and Lung foundation in Sweden for Valentine's Day. It seems he's quite influenced by Eastern ideas and culture. It would be cool to hear him talk about that. I'm surprised he signed the card with his name on the outside. Maybe he thought they were supposed to do that. Dunno.

And the Arose project is heating up again. It will be interesting to see how the album turns out. I do agree with some Acers that the group seems to be using Jenny for promotion, but I think she's able to use her place in Arose to her advantage too. People will see her as a more serious musician from this, I believe. So, it goes two ways. We will see how the project turns out in the end.

eBay listings

Oh, the joys of searching eBay for more AOB cds! For every one hundred cds I see, there is only one I want. And that one is the one every single other Acer wants! Quit bidding on my stuff guys! ;oP

Even if I don't end up buying anything, I do think some of the eBay listing titles are fun to see.

Here are a few listings on eBay at this very moment:

"ace of the base" - This one is for a HN Danceball album. You'd think it would be easy to look at the cover and see how to spell the band's name. Guess again.

"ace of base don't turn it arround" - At least they spelled the band's name right. You'll find the "dont turn it around strect version" on this copy.

"N1304 Trendy Ace of Base Casino Poker Necklace +Gift" - When's the last time you saw the word trendy and AOB together in the same sentence? This is for some funky Ace of Spades necklace charm. I don't get the connection to AOB, but there it is.

"ACE OF BASE?THE BRIDGES?1995 ????? - ? ????" - This guy doesn't know what he has. Is it AOB? He's not quite sure.

I laugh when I see listing titles such as this: "MEGA-RARE!!! The Sign album! Buy it NOW!" I do wonder what their definition of rare is. Rare as in thirty million rare?

There's always the odd Love is a Flower, Whell of Fortune and The Sing. One current eBay listing offers "sancer in a dayfream" on a DTA single. I'm quite sure that's the demo version.

HN Latin and symbolism in lyrics

Neglecting my Statistics and American Lit studies tonight. Hey, I've studied them all day! I get a break some time. And that break is NOW.

Somehow, I started googling the Latin lyrics in Happy Nation. I found this info on a page:

"Laudate omnes gentes laudate, Magnificat in secula

This probably woun't be too much help, but I have heard these words in a song. I hope to find a translation...


Praise him, praise him, all peoples, make him great forever, even my soul, praise him.

Latin frequently omits direct object pronouns (though elementary textbooks only manage to fret about omitted *subject* pronouns) -- so if this is from a Christian context, we supply "him" (as my rendition presumes), if an Earth-Goddess context, "her", and if a polytheism context, "them". I presume a typo, translating MAGNIFICATE ("make great") rather than MAGNIFICAT ("she/he makes great"). ET functions adverbially, since all the imperatives are plural."

(from: http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:womZjjb37LcJ:www.proz.com/kudoz/1655+%22laudate+omnes+gentes%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11)

It presents a slightly different translation than the ones we have when a few Acers took a crack at translating the lyrics. This one is obviously from someone who knows a decent bit about Latin. It doesn't look like the guy translated the whole text though.

Anyway, that leads me to some lyrical waxings on "Happy Nation" itself. I always wondered what "Nation" they meant in the song. When I was 12, I always assumed they were talking about Sweden but as I grew up, I realized the song wasn't meant to be about an actual nation, a named nation on Earth, it was more an idea. Kinda like the idea in Perfect World.

A few months ago I was thinking about it and thought it sounded much like the body of believers in Christianity. Yeah, you might say that the thought is influenced by what I believe. Maybe, but maybe not.

There's the beginning of the song in Latin, which is set up like a hymn of thanksgiving. The Latin lyrics are about praise, 'all people praise him'. Then, it is about a Happy Nation of people dreaming of perfect man. Afterwards, it mentions a situation, which leads to sweet salvation. This salvation being for the good, for mankind. We hear that a man will die but not his ideas. And afterwards, tell them we've gone too far.

Eh, I suppose it's like yesterday's post. Take it how you want.

I think a lot of AOB's lyrics have a basis in their beliefs and I never noticed it until a few years ago. I brought up the thought on THB quite a while back, but I didn't get much agreement. The general consensus was that I was interpreting the lyrics as I wanted them to be interpreted. Maybe that's true. But, it's hard to say there hasn't been any influence on AOB's lyrics.

Just thinking of some AOB song lyrics:

Angel shows up in AOL, AE, LFS, DrS, HD. Heaven in EOH, OD, KOTR. God in R, SW, TTR, E, and WTNOTG. The idea of eternity and immortality in WFM, YAI, IP, RTW. Pray in R, IP, WH, E. Other songs mention soul, mercy, disiciple, reedemer. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, not to mention lines like these:

*I'm a prisoner of hope
*God bless you for being by my side when I fell through
*Love is devoted to those who see that the last dance you dance with the truth.
*You better believe in angels. There's no other substitute.
*Will you pass through Heaven's gate?
*Keep the focus on the rising sun.
*Please God, let it be.
*I'm living for the light. Don't cry for me today.
*Situation leads to sweet salvation. For the people, for the good, for mankind, brotherhood.
*Oh, come down and guide us before it is too late.

You could debate some of those, such as the 'rising sun' one but you can see how they can have double meaning, especially in the context of the song.

I suppose that's it for tonight. Back to my studies!

Da Capo and its meaning

Ok, now that the intro is over, it's time to get down to business. First order of business, Da Capo. The song. I was reading one of Swan's recaps yesterday. Hilarious. If you want to look like a complete crazy when you're at work or school, read them.

One of the recap comments had to do with DC and its meaning. It seems that Jenny made a comment about the song's meaning during the Meet and Greet on German tv, the one that Nadia won in 2002. Jenny said the song had to do with the Berggren's dad. That's what I thought it was about on the first listen but the recap comment made it seem like most Acers didn't think that, or don't think that. Is it just me that thought "It's about their dad" upon first hearing the song or are there more Acers with that same thought?

I love analyzing lyrics and sometimes analyze too much maybe.

"One level ahead, I'm calling to you but touch you I cannot do."

And you guys are gonna think I'm really corny but I might as well start out that way. This is a blog after all. *grin* But, at the IAM BBQ in 2003 we were listening to AOB. We were all dancing and having a great time and all of the sudden, I had this sweeping feeling that their dad was there too. I know that sounds weird... cause it is. I've never met the man, don't really know anything about him. That's why I think it's weird. I wasn't even thinking about it, just dancing away to the beat, enjoying being there and having fun, when it strikes me. "He's here. His spirit is here." It felt like he was acknowledging the joy his children bring to us through their music. It didn't dampen the mood or weird me out, but it was quite unusual in the middle of this BBQ.

You can take that however you like. And now you all think I'm nuts. :oP

A bridge over time...

I had this idea of starting a blog after a discussion in one of my communications classes today. I have little thoughts about AOB that don't really fit in to threads at THB or TAB, so I thought it would be fun to experiment with a blog about all those little thoughts that clank around in my brain each day. Today is the official start of this experiment then! I might have small little thoughts or big ramblings that go on for pages. What tomorrow brings the future knows!

Swan's recaps on the Come To Me board were also part inspiration for this blog!