The Cardigans

Released: March 24, 2003

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nina Persson

Producer: The Cardigans Per Sunding

[Verse 1]
I came home in the morning and everything was gone
Oh, what have I done?
I dropped dead in the hallway
Cursing the dawn
Oh come on, sun, why must I burn?
I'm just trying to learn

[Verse 2]
I stared into the light to kill some of my pain
It was all in vain, 'cause no senses remained
But an ache in my body
And regret on my mind
But I'll be fine

[Chorus 1]
'Cause I live and I learn
Yes, I live and I learn
If you live, you will learn
And I live and I learn

[Verse 3]
Got kicked in the head
So I started a fight
'Cause I knew I was right
But I learned I was wrong
I remember a slaughter
I remember I fought for the money I'd brought

[Chorus 2]
I got blistered and burned
And lost what I'd earned
But I lived and I learned
Yes, I lived and I learned

[Bridge]
I got, I got it now
I got, I got it now
(She’s got, she’s got it now)
I got, I got it now
(She’s got it now)
I got, I got it now
(She’s got, she’s got it now)

[Verse 4]
I came to on a corner
With some help from a man
And goddamn, I don’t seem to have learned
That a lady in need is guilty indeed
So I paid and got laid in return
And I don't know what I've learned

[Chorus 3]
Well, you get what you give
And hell yes, I lived
But if you live as you learn
I don't think I can learn

[Post-Chorus]
Oh, with the sun in my eyes
Surprise, I'm living a life
But I don’t seem to learn
No, I don't think I can learn

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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