The Cardigans

Released: October 1, 1998

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nina Persson

Producer: Tore Johansson

[Verse 1]
I'm glad you came around today
I sure need a good companion
I'm losing it but you're the same
Without you I move at random
Abusing you cause you are a friend
And there's no Jesus here to explain

[Chorus 1]
And take me higher
Come take me higher
Come take me high above our time
Take me higher
Oh, take me higher
Come take me high above our time
We'll make it out of here, oh yeah

[Verse 2]
You justify and you are not afraid
And I won't feel like this forever
You wait with me because you know
There's so much more than this before we go

[Chorus 2]
To take us higher
Come take us higher
Come take us high above our time
Take us higher
Oh, take us higher
Come take us high above our time
We'll make it out of here
Come take us out of here
Take us anywhere, oh yeah

[Bridge]
Higher
Higher
Higher

[Chorus 3]
Take us higher
Come take us higher
Come take us high above our time
Take us higher
Oh, take us higher
Come take us high above our time
We'll make it out of here, oh yeah

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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