The Cardigans

Released: August 12, 1996

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nina Persson

Producer: Tore Johansson

[Verse 1]
Baby boy
Your face is pretty and your life's a toy
Master man
I'm never better than your latest plan

[Pre-Chorus]
Poor donee
What are you gonna try to be?
Where are you gonna go without me now?

[Chorus]
I've been your mother, I've been your father
Who can ask me for more?
I've been your sister, I've been your mistress
Maybe I was your whore
Who can ask me for more?

[Verse 2]
Superstar
I've tried to educate your childish heart
I made your bed
And I was in it when your faith was dead

[Pre-Chorus]
Poor donee
What are you gonna try to be?
Where are you gonna go without me now?

[Chorus]
I've been your mother, I've been your father
Who can ask me for more?
I've been your sister, I've been your mistress
Maybe I was your whore
Who can ask me for more?

[Verse 3]
Sweetie pie
I'm your personal pro, you know
You know what number to try when to cry

[Chorus]
I've been your mother, I've been your father
Who can ask me for more?
I've been your sister, I've been your mistress
Maybe I was your whore
I've been your mother, I've been your father
Who can ask me for more?
I've been your sister, I've been your mistress
Maybe I was your whore
Who can ask me for more?
You can't ask me for more

Ahh-oh, ahh-oh
Ahh-oh, ahh-oh

One of the most pleasing pop groups of the ‘90s, the Cardigans specialized in sugary confections that would grow annoying very quickly if they weren’t backed by solid musicianship and clever arrangements. The band’s 1995 breakout album, Life, reflected the Cardigans at their most saccharine – the sunny disposition of vocalist Nina Persson being the major argument in favor – and critics inserted the group into the space age pop revivalist camp. the Cardigans later proved that they were more difficult to pigeonhole, however.

Even the band’s origins showed that their later appearance was quite misleading; two heavy metal fanatics formed the group in October 1992 in Jonkoping, Sweden. Guitarist Peter Svensson met bassist Magnus Sveningsson in a hardcore group, though he had previously trained in music theory and jazz arranging. The two later grew tired of metal and decided to form a pop band with vocalist Nina Persson – an art-school friend who had never sung professionally – plus keyboard player Lars-Olof Johansson and drummer Bengt Lagerberg.

All five Cardigans moved into a small apartment in 1993 and began recording a demo tape that entered the hands of producer Tore Johansson later that year. He liked what he heard and invited the group to record at his Malmö studio. Signed to the dance-oriented Stockholm label, the Cardigans released Emmerdale in May 1994. The single “Rise & Shine” became a hit on Swedish radio soon after the release of the LP, and a readers poll in Sweden’s Slitz magazine voted Emmerdale the best album of 1994.

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