The Cardigans

Burn it all and break your home
This one's for the boys
You're a vain and shameless man
But hell, I love your voice

Skinny fingers and mumbling mouths
I'd like to mark your words
'cause sometimes I don't trust you when you're singing
Of love and play
It's the story of you

Losing to your daydream
You dancing with a smokescreen
Goin' under with your daydream
In the wake of a big machine

Honey, honey, and money and man
All my lonely boys
Easy with the sleight of hand
You're talking sweet 'bout the pain and the ladies

And sometimes you look ugly when you're happy
And sometimes you look better when you're down
A real good song
It's the story of you

Losing to your daydream
You dancing with a smokescreen
Goin' under with your daydream
You're sliding through the big sleep

Man, you can sing
Like you're tryin' to break my heart
And you can hate
And you can blame it on the stars
You're strung up in your guitar
You're strung out on who you are
Come on boys, it's time you let it go

(Losing to your daydream)
(You dancing with a smokescreen)
(Goin' under with your daydream)
(You're sliding through the big sleep)

See me losing to your daydream
See me dancing with your smokescreen
Going under with your daydream

In the wake of a big machine
In the wake of a big machine
In the wake of a big machine

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.

more tracks from the album

Best Of (Bonus CD)

From the albums

I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer - Single (2005)
Best Of (Bonus CD) (2008)

The Cardigans popular songs

For The BoysThe Cardigans

The Cardigans

Best Of (Bonus CD)