Released: October 14, 2005

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nathan Larson Nina Persson

Producer: Tore Johansson

[Verse 1]
Don't blame your daughter
That's just sentimental
And don't blame your mom
For all that you've done wrong
Your daddy's not guilty
You came out a little faulty
And the factory closed
So you can't hold them liable

[Pre-Chorus]
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubbery knife

[Verse 2]
Your autograph's worthless
So don't send me letters
And don't mail me cash
'Cause your money is no good
What's left in your mattress
Is holes that lack of love left
Some hair from a horse
But none of it is yours, man

[Pre-Chorus]
You come from an island
You're cutting diamonds
With a rubbery knife

[Chorus]
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter

[Bridge]
Read me your tombstone
Tell me you're sorry
Fax me your will
You owe me something still
Blood is like water
The bath that you poured me
Has drained and it's gone
Don't blame it on your son

[Chorus]
And the song you sing today
Wasn't always in your head
The words you try to say
Are the ones you should've said
They're glistening like diamonds
Go out and find them, boy
The world is full of diamonds
Go out and find them
But don't blame your daughter

The Cardigans

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.