Released: October 14, 2005

Songwriter: Peter Svensson Nathan Larson Nina Persson

Producer: Tore Johansson

[Verse 1]
Good morning Joan
Now pick up your phone
It was bad but just a dream
And you are remembered
Put on something pretty
Go back to the city
In town the sky's just space
No starlight in your face

[Verse 2]
Listen to Eve
She's got stuff up her sleeve
To her there's no excuse
You've gotta use before you get used
Or talk to Louise
She knows all about freezing
She got lost in early May
And now it's December

[Chorus]
I'd call on you if I could
If you were less like me, I would

[Verse 3]
Good morning Joan
Did you wake up alone?
Did you dream you woke up happy
With a phone book full of names?
Just forget about Mary
She says everything's scary
She got locked inside her skin
Get near her, she'll drag you in

[Chorus]
I'd call on you if I could
If you were less like me, I would
Save you from this if I could
If I were less like you, God knows I would
Save you from this
Spare us all this shit
But you're all just like me, so I quit

[Outro]
My name is yours
Can I sleep on your floor?
See my heroes changed their minds
And I lost my numbers

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.